Germania Insurance Review & Complaints: Life, Home & Auto Insurance (2023)

Texas-based Germania Insurance offers a full range of personal and commercial products. They are a farm mutual company with local roots in rural communities.

What is Germania?

Germania Mutual Aid Association was founded in 1896 in Perry, Texas. The association initially offered property insurance in small towns and rural areas where coverage was hard to get.

In 1960 the name was changed to Germania Farm Mutual Aid Association, although a formal change in name didn’t take place until 1982. Eventually, the company name was shortened down to simply Germania Insurance, but the company remains a farm mutual, making customers also members of the association. There are 360 local chapters (agencies) throughout the state.

Insurance policies are sold through these local agencies. Today the company headquarters is located in Brenham, Texas. The policy offerings have been greatly expanded over the years to include auto insurance, home insurance, life insurance, commercial insurance, and specialty insurance.

What products does Germania offer?

Germania has a lot of products, and their website offers only an overview of each. Their offerings range from personal auto to property insurance for churches.

Auto Insurance

Germania’s auto insurance program includes all of the basics as well as a range of optional coverage. Germania’s optional 24-hour roadside assistance includes towing, battery services, lockout service, and a variety of travel discounts.

Most of the common discounts are offered by Germania, including multi-car, anti-theft, and a good student discount.

Home Insurance

Germania has a full range of home insurance policies for various types of homes, including non-owner occupied. These include:

• Standard Homeowners
• Renter’s
• Landlord Insurance
• Ranchette Insurance
• Condo and Townhome
• Rural Home
• Barndominium – coverage for a specific type of barn

Each of these policies covers the specific needs of the type of home it protects. Renter’s policies cover mainly personal property and liability, while the landlord policy provides for the specifics of a rental dwelling, including loss of rent.

The “Barndominium” policy is one of the more unusual home insurance options, covering a specific type of metal barn with roll-up doors.

Specialty Insurance

Germania offers a few specialty policies for things like recreational vehicles and, of course, for farms and ranches.

Farm and Ranch

Germania is a farm mutual company, so it’s not a surprise they offer specialized coverage for farming operations. In addition to the previously mentioned “ranchette” and rural property home insurance policies, they also have programs for larger operations.

Farm Liability and Farm Equipment policies can be added to the home insurance policy to create comprehensive coverage for a farm operation. These cover a variety of different risks and various pieces of farming and ranching equipment.

Recreational Vehicle

RV insurance is available to cover travel trailers, 5th wheels, and several other types of recreational vehicles, including horse trailers with living quarters.

Church & Organization

This specialty package offers liability, property, and other necessary coverage for churches, private schools, and similar organizations.

Life Insurance

Germania has multiple life policies, including both term life insurance and whole life insurance options to choose from. Some types of life insurance plans are offered with no medical exam.

Whole life products include:

• Participating Whole Life
• 10 Pay & 20 Pay Whole Life
• Economy Whole Life
• Indeterminate Premium
• Prime Life
• Juvenile 10-Year

Term life products include:

• 5-Year Renewable Term
• Level Term with 10, 20, and 30-year terms

What types of commercial products does Germania offer?

Germania has a full range of Commercial Products available, including package as well as a la carte offerings.

Business Owner’s insurance is the main package policy that includes all of the basics such as liability, business property, and loss of income coverage.

Additionally, Germania writes:

• Commercial Auto
• Commercial Liability
• Worker’s Compensation
• Management & Professional Insurance
• Business Property
• Data Breach Coverage
• Home-Based Business

What other products are offered?

Germania also writes separate liability coverage for personal and business needs, as well as a farm liability type of policy. They also offer Umbrella insurance in both personal and commercial.

Flood insurance is also offered for both homes and businesses.

Are the insurer’s rates competitive?

Germania is an entirely agent-based company and does not offer any online quoting or rates. As a small, local insurer, we would not expect them to compete with national level companies. Instead, this type of company generally relies on reputation and good service to make up for what are usually slightly higher rates.

How are claims handled?

Germania has online claims reporting for both auto and property insurance. There is also an easy to remember toll-free claims line at 877-GERMANIA. Claims services for liability, auto glass claim, and roadside assistance are handled separately.

For an auto insurance policy, the company offers Germania Premier Service, which is their preferred repair network. Customers can always choose their own repair shop, even if it is out of network.

Claim status can be reviewed online through the customer portal. The website offers plenty of information regarding how to file and what to expect when filing a claim.

The website has a Claims Experience Survey, indicating that the company is interested in customer feedback about the claims system, always a good sign.

Are the ratings and consumer reviews positive?

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) gives Germania an A+ rating. This is based on five reviews, although there are only two complaints on file in the past three years and only one in the past 12 months.

There are 51 total complaints on Pissed Consumer. Most of them are complaints regarding claims handling and customer service. Germania does appear to make an effort to respond to complaints on this website, which is a positive thing to see.

There are eight reviews of Germania on Yelp. A few of them are positive, and the rest negative. Again, there are complaints about slow claims handling and difficulty contacting insurance adjustors and customer service. And again, we see responses from Germania.

Much of what we see with these complaints are similar to complaints filed against most insurance companies. The effort to respond to complaints certainly weighs positively for Germania.

What’s the bottom line?

Germania has a lot of products, although we were unable to find a lot of detail or any rates to compare them to other companies. They are likely to appeal to those who prefer a local, homegrown company, and those who like to work with an insurance agent. While there does seem to be quite a few complaints, it is in Germania’s favor that they make a visible effort to respond to and handle these complaints.