experts conducted one of the nation's most extensive reviews to collect car insurance information over 18 months. We surveyed over 18,000 policyholders from all 50 states, asking them about their experience with their insurance company’s customer service, renewal process, claims handling, and more.

Here’s a breakdown of how our verified Founders policyholders ranked the company:

4.6

111 Reviews

5 Stars

73.87%

4 Stars

14.41%

3 Stars

10.81%

2 Stars

1 Star

0.9%

So, is Founders a good insurance company?

Overall, Founders Insurance Company is great for drivers who want basic coverage and who don’t prioritize customer service.

Our review of Founders Insurance uses only real, verified customer reviews. The results were almost universally positive, with 92% of customers satisfied, 8% neutral, and zero dissatisfied!

Compared to the national average of 64% positive reviews to 18.54% negative reviews, Founders stands head and shoulders above the rest.

The good: Founders Insurance outperformed the insurance industry average in every category, but it excelled in processing claims, selling policies, and renewing policies.

Free quotes were cheap and convenient

Nonstandard customers found great savings

Customers needing SR-22 insurance found reasonable rates

On the other hand: Customers didn't have many harsh words for Founders, but the company’s website, list of products, and discounts are all fairly barebones.

Jump to:

Founders Car Insurance Reviews

Founders Pros and Cons

We asked policyholders to rate Founders on its cost, customer service, claims process, purchase, renewal, and overall satisfaction.

Here’s how Founders performed against the national average of all the companies we surveyed:

Criteria	Founders's Rating	Industry Average
Overall	4.6	4.1
Cost / Price	4.4	3.8
Claim Experience	5	3.5
Customer Service	4.5	4
Renewal Experience	4.5	4

To give you a complete picture of Founders Insurance, we sought ratings from the most respected reviewers in the industry. Here’s how organizations like AM Best, the Better Business Bureau (BBB), and the National Insurance Commissioners Association (NAIC) felt about the company:

Critera	Founders	Score Out Of
BBB Rating	A+	A+
A.M. Best Rating	A-	A++

Founders car insurance reviews

If you’d prefer to hear about the Founders experience from its customers, we’ve got that covered, too. Read on to see how policyholders rated the company in their own words:

Founders pros and cons

After looking at what customers and third-party reviewers had to say, we’d say Founders offers great rates (especially for non-standard drivers), but it needs to expand its website and communication tools. Purchase a policy from Founders and you can expect:

Pros

Affordable rates for a variety of drivers

Electronic claims filing

No-frills, no-fuss coverage

Cons

High rate of complaints from unverified third-party websites (including Google and the BBB)

Sparse website and policy management tools

Small coverage area, list of products, and discounts

Is Founders the right insurance company for you?

You might ignore the cons and love the pros of Founders if you:

Are single and want simple, affordable coverage

Have a bad credit score

Have a history of traffic violations, minor or major

Have a spotty driving record

Have a suspended, foreign, or international driver’s license

Have an SR-22 filing requirement

Keep in mind: Founders Insurance only serves

Indiana

Ohio

Wisconsin

, and its home state of

Illinois

Founders is a genuine local business, covering just four states and retaining only a couple hundred employees. It’s a member company of the Utica National Insurance Group and benefits from an A financial strength rating (which is only one tier below an A+ rating, the best result).

Founders Insurance Company offers:

Auto insurance

Commercial auto insurance

Home insurance

Liquor liability insurance

Renters insurance

To read more about each of these plans, click on the buttons below:

Is Founders car insurance expensive?

Single drivers, drivers with bad credit scores, and drivers missing clean driving records say that Founders offered great insurance rates.

Founders itself states on its website that it accepts drivers with “prior losses”. New customers aren’t required to have a prior insurance history or pass a credit check.

Of all the reviews we collected, a third directly mentioned cost—two-thirds of customers said they loved their insurance premiums, while one-third said they could be improved.

In the policy cost category, Founders placed ninth out of over 50 other car insurance providers of a similar size. Customers rated it 4.3 points out of 5.0—much higher than the national average of 3.81.

You can see for yourself how Founders did against the competition below:

Founders Policy Cost Rating	Ranking	Industry Average
4.4	9	3.8

Keep in mind: Depending on their driver profiles, two customers from the same city might receive offers hundreds or thousands of dollars apart. You need multiple personalized car insurance quotes to make an accurate comparison.

As with every auto insurance company, Founders

calculates its car insurance rates

using a complicated formula that includes factors such as:

Age and demographic

Car insurance history

Driving record

Experience level

Household members of driving age (and

whoever you add to your policy

)

Policy coverage limits

Policy coverage type

Vehicle make, model, and year

ZIP code

Insurers set their own premiums, but if you look at the data, you can see some general trends state by state.

Founders cost reviews

Check out how real Jerry users rate Founders based on cost below:

Will Founders raise your rates?

As a rule, Founders (and every other car insurance company) charges a little more each year.

Your premiums could increase with the next

car insurance renewal

if:

The inflation rate rises

You add a new driver to your policy

You add a new vehicle to your policy

You move to a large city, like

Chicago

You’re involved in a car accident

You receive a traffic ticket

Around 60% of the reviews we collected for Founders Insurance mentioned renewals; customers ranked the company’s renewal process fifth overall.

Remember: Your insurance rates will fluctuate over time, even if you don't change anything. Providers often adjust their prices.

Does Founders resolve claims fast?

As a small company, Founders Insurance sometimes struggles to resolve claims quickly.

About 60% of our survey responders shared what it was like to file a claim with Founders Insurance, giving the company a five-star rating for efficiency and overall satisfaction. For comparison, the national average satisfaction index is 3.5.

That said, the company has a less-than-perfect score on third-party sites like Google and the BBB. Drivers who

filed a car insurance claim

after being hit by a Founders policyholder reported a lack of communication from insurance adjusters.

Founders Claims Resolution Rating	Ranking	Industry Average
5	1	3.5

Does Founders have good customer service?

The verified Founders customers who responded to our survey said the company’s customer service made them feel valued.

In terms of overall ratings, survey respondents rated Founders’s customer service department a 4.4/5. Compared to the national average for customer satisfaction of 3.9, Founders is doing great.

But local Google and BBB reviewers beg to differ. The NAIC also reported an above-average number of complaints for the company.

Founders Customer Service Rating	Ranking	Industry Average
4.5	8	4

Founders customer service reviews

You can see the positive side of Founder’s customer service below:

Founders car insurance discounts

Look elsewhere for diminishing deductibles or telematics programs—Founders offers only a short list of common

car insurance discounts

You can save on the usual things—like a good credit score or clean driving record—or join a savings program like:

Multi-policy discount: Get a

homeowners and auto insurance bundle

(or a renters and auto insurance bundle) and save.

Multi-car discount: Similar to bundling, when you insure multiple cars with the same company, you save.

Renewal discount: Renew year after year with Founders for preferential rates.

Transfer discount: Switch from a competitor and you’ll get a nice insurance rate as an incentive.

Around 17% of survey respondents said they liked the discounts at Founders. If your needs are simple and you don’t have a family with drivers of different ages, you’ll be able to save money.

That being said, discounts and qualifying criteria change over time. Make sure to visit the Founders website or contact customer service for the latest information.

Founders coverage options

Founders Insurance products cater to Ohio, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Illinois’

minimum insurance requirements

. Here are the

types of insurance

, add-ons, and extra coverage options that you can find with Founders:

Collision coverage

pays for repairs to your car after a collision with another vehicle or stationary object.

Comprehensive coverage

pays to repair or replace your vehicle after a weather-related incident, vandalism, or theft. Combine it with collision insurance and you’ve got a

full-coverage auto insurance

policy.

Liability insurance

pays for any damages you cause while driving, including

bodily injury liability (BIL)

and

property damage liability (PDL)

Non-owner insurance

provides supplemental liability coverage whenever you rent or borrow a vehicle. Founders allows non-owners to add Accidental Death Benefits and Legal Expenses Coverage to their policies.

SR-22 insurance

must be filed directly with the DMV, a service that Founders is happy to provide.

Uninsured motorist (UM) and underinsured motorist coverage (UIM)

pays for any damages you suffer in a car accident with a motorist who isn’t carrying enough insurance—or any insurance at all.

Founders' additional tools and services

As a small company, Founders offers few tools to customers looking to manage their experience. Here’s how you can manage your policy:

Founders website: Founders policyholders can sign up for an online account to manage their payments, policies, and coverage. You can also use the contact form to email the company.

Founders mobile: Founders doesn’t have a

car insurance mobile app

, but it does have a mobile version of its website (mobile.foundersinsurance.com) that allows you to make payments and access digital

proof of insurance

on the go.

Fax: Founders makes use of fax for signed paperwork and other documents.

Local insurance agent or agency: You can find Founders Insurance agents or brokers on the "Contact" page.

Mail: Founders'

Des Plaines

office accepts payments and paperwork by mail.

Phone: There are separate phone numbers for customer service, payments, and claims listed on the Founders’ website. Lines are open Monday to Friday from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM CST, and Saturday from 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM CST.

Discounts, tools, and services can vary over time. Make sure to get contact information directly from the Founders website or its customer service department.

FAQs

What’s the most popular car insurance company in the USA?

By market share, the largest and most popular car insurance company in the USA is State Farm. We collected and analyzed over a thousand real customer comments in our

State Farm car insurance review

What’s the best car insurance company in the US?

Your driver profile is what determines the best car insurance company in the US. Each company calculates rates differently, so the car insurance quotes you find could differ by hundreds or thousands of dollars from company to company.

How do you choose the best car insurance company?

To find the best car insurance company, you’ll need to compare quotes from multiple providers. For the most accurate comparison, try using a

trustworthy insurance app

to gather and sort hundreds of personalized offers in minutes.

Read all Founders car insurance reviews

Methodology

The Insurance Research Team analyzes insurance products and services to drive insights and help consumers make informed purchase decisions. Insurance research: We analyzed over 25 million car insurance quotes; conducted the largest insurance shopping survey (over 18,000 customers surveyed and 120 carriers reviewed in the past 18 months). We surveyed insurance policyholders for their experience with their insurers in the following areas: (1) insurance cost (2) customer service (3) insurance buying experience (4) insurance renewal experience (5) claim experience. In addition, we asked people what they like about their insurers and what areas in which their insurers could improve. The driver characteristics used in calculating average rates for auto insurance include: single driver, single car, currently insured, clean driving record. For the quotes and sold policies included in this article, please note that personal information has been hidden. Not all customers find savings. Team: The team consists of licensed insurance agents, insurance industry veterans, and data scientists.

Meet Our Experts

R.E. Fulton

Licensed Insurance Agent —Senior Content Writer

R.E. Fulton is an expert insurance writer specializing in car ownership topics from car shopping and loan advice to insurance and repair guides. R.E.’s mission is to create unique and accessible content that helps readers to become more successful and independent car owners. R.E. has written and edited over 900 high-performing articles for Jerry, with an average of 1 million+ views.

As a senior writer on Jerry’s editorial team, R.E. draws on over 10 years of experience as a professional writer and digital publishing specialist. Prior to joining Jerry’s editorial team in 2021, R.E. worked as a writing coach at Columbia University, the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), and the University of Rochester. They serve as a managing editor for peer-reviewed history publication Nursing Clio, where their work has appeared regularly since 2015.

Lina Zhang

Licensed Insurance Agent

Licensed in 50 states and Washington DC

Lina Zhang is Vice President of Operations at Jerry. She helped to found Jerry in order to take the confusion and mystery expenses out of car ownership and help drivers achieve financial success. Leading a global team responsible for operations, talent acquisition, legal, and content, Lina has been a key contributor to the AllCar™ app’s 10x growth in its first year of operation. Prior to Jerry, Lina and her Jerry co-founders, Art Agrawal and Musawir Shah, created YourMechanic, the largest on-demand car repair services provider. In one year, Lina built and scaled YourMechanic operations from just five markets to more than 50. The trio left YourMechanic to incubate Jerry at Y Combinator in 2017. Lina’s previous roles include intellectual property attorney at Morrison & Foerster LLP and a biomedical researcher at Stanford University.

Josh Damico

Head Of Insurance Operations

18+ Years Experience in Insurance

Josh Damico is Jerry’s vice president of insurance operations and a licensed insurance professional with nearly two decades of experience in the industry. Previously, Josh held executive roles at Geico, where he had vast regional oversight and leadership opportunities. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and management from Medaille College, and has appeared on news channels including FOX and CBS to offer insurance expertise and tips to drivers across the country. His work has appeared in Business Insider, Kelley Blue Book, and Digital Insurance and been quoted in The Balance, GOBankingRates, and Inspiring Workplaces.

*Illustration only. For all the pricing information presented in this article (including various tables), please note that not all customers find savings and the information is for illustrative purposes only. Savings depend on type of car, location, policy features, driving history and other factors. Drivers who switch through Jerry save over $70/month on average.