Buying insurance with a little handholding may be worth it to you.

If purchasing insurance makes you feel dizzy, having someone knowledgeable along for the ride can be a big help. And this is precisely what Answer Financial wants to offer you: knowledgeable, independent agents helping you find the coverage you need.

Customers can use an easy-to-navigate website to review quotes from several well-rated insurance companies—and connect to an agent at any point for help. After choosing, the customer is connected with the selected insurance company and finishes their purchase.

While Answer Financial won’t be right for every single person looking for insurance, it is a good fit for those who want advice and guidance in their purchasing process.

What is Answer Financial?

Answer Financial is an insurance agency. For those of you not spending your life in the industry, an insurance agency is a company that writes and binds an insurance policy on behalf of an insurance company. And it typically works with several different companies at a time. The insurance company is what protects you and your property through an agreement called an insurance policy.

What does Answer Financial do?

Answer Financial helps customers understand their insurance options and make empowered buying decisions. Agents assist customers most often with purchasing auto insurance and home insurance. However, they can help with pet insurance, health insurance, renters insurance, and RV insurance.

For good measure, Insurify is an insurance comparison website built to inform and empower consumers wishing to protect themselves and their property. An insurance comparison website can be used in tandem with an agency or company, as it is meant to compile insurance quotes for consumers. However, it does not write nor bind insurance policies.

Bear in mind that bind does not mean issue. Think of binding as the verbal or handshake agreement before the contract’s set in place. Temporary coverage may be issued, but the policy is not officially issued until the insurance company has reviewed the application.

Of course, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ever use an insurance agency. And if you decide an agency is right for you, Answer Financial is a great option. Of course, I would recommend still using a tool like Insurify to verify you’re getting the best insurance for the best rate, no matter where you are in your shopping journey.

How does working with an Answer Financial Agent work?

Because Answer Financial is not an insurance company, it doesn’t service your policy or answer for a claim. You don’t call its customer service line when you have a question about your policy. It’s essential to be clear about how an agent with Answer Financial is different from your agent with your insurance company.

You’ll work with an agent at your insurance company to assist with questions about your policy and claims. Your insurance company may even provide a local agent in your area. But you use your Answer Financial agent to review quotes from different insurance companies, discuss differences in policies and companies, and answer general questions about coverage. If you want to work with your Answer Financial agent in the future, you will need to ask for a direct line. Otherwise, be prepared to answer the same questions every phone call.

You can also use an independent agent. Becoming rarer these days, independent insurance agents build relationships with clients over many years. Typically they’re local, licensed in all personal and property lines, and offer other types of financial services as well. Lastly, they tend to provide more handholding and accountability than an agent in a call center of a software-based company.

Either way, working with agents who are independent of a single company offers advantages by lending you the eyes of an expert. Whether you want the ease of phone-based service or the reassurance of in-person service is up to you. And for those who have more obvious insurance needs, an independent agent of any kind may be overkill.

Answer Financial: One user’s experience

One of the things this reviewer enjoyed about Answer Financial’s website is the Call Now button at the bottom of the screen. I’m nearing the end of my car insurance policy, so now is a great time to review my options. I filled in my contact information and received a phone call within 60 seconds. After my information was verified, I spoke with an agent about my car insurance needs. She was able to give me:

• Accurate information

• Good advice

• Friendly service

But even if I didn’t want to speak with an agent, the process is still straightforward. The online form was short and sweet. It didn’t, however, offer much by way of screening for car insurance discounts, so be sure to do your research or speak with an agent about your eligibility. I received four quotes, and I’m happy to report that I didn’t get an annoying phone call two seconds later.

I did, however, receive a phone call about an hour later to follow up on my experience. Overall, everyone I spoke to was courteous and seemed knowledgeable. And I’m happy to report that my spam-radar didn’t go off once.

Even so, be prepared to be reached out to over the phone. And be ready to receive offers in the mail. If you hate receiving junk mail, you may not want to use this service. But if you view junk mail as couponing opportunities, then this shouldn’t cause much of a stir.

Is there an additional fee?

Information about fee structures or how people get paid was not readily available on the company’s website. I did speak to an agent about fees for using Answer Financial for purchasing insurance. He assured me that Answer Financial would not charge any additional costs to purchase my policy.

Answer Financial Reviews: Here’s what customers are saying…

It’s a tale of two companies when it comes to reviews. Many people love the level of customer service and ease of use.

Read Janett A.’s review of Answer Financial on Yelp

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But most negative reviews seem to be the result of misunderstanding the role of a company like Answer Financial. Many customers seem shocked to have discovered that Answer Financial is not an insurance company.

 This has prompted members of the customer service team to issue a clarifying statement on the matter:

We take this type of feedback very seriously and are willing to make changes to our process if needed. Answer Financial (AFI) is a personal lines insurance agency dedicated to serving customers sent to us from multiple lead sources- such as online requests for insurance. Our company is unique in that we work with over twenty top-rated insurance carriers to ensure that we get our customers the best possible coverage at the best possible price. Once we reach a customer, our sales team asks a series of detailed underwriting questions to complete the quote. These quotes are conducted on a recorded phone line. Our system then uses the information collected to produce the most competitive carriers.

And the worst of the complaints suggest bait-and-switch tactics—or incorrect quoting data at best.

Read Christian V.’s review of Answer Financial on Yelp

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) gives Answer Financial an A+ rating and gets high marks from Consumers Advocate, which ranks the company as “Very Good” or 3.8 out of 5.

Even so, the folks at Consumers Advocate add an important caveat: “While its lack of online reviews concerning customer service holds the company back somewhat, Answer Financial is a marketplace very much worth looking through, if only to better understand the options available.”

This table shows Answer Financial’s official Insurify Composite Rating, based on a combination of reviews from aggregator sites:

Answer Financial is rated 4.2 out of 5 based on 107 reviews.

Your car insurance shopping journey doesn’t have to start or end with Answer Financial.

Let Insurify be your virtual agent and find a policy that fits your needs in mere minutes. Browse, Compare, Discover with Insurify today!

More about Answer Financial

Answer Financial, Inc. is part of The Allstate Corporation and was incorporated in 1997. Articles about Answer Financial have appeared in Yahoo! Finance, Insurance Journal, and the Chicago Daily Herald.

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