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

Horace Mann is an insurance and financial services company that aims its products at the needs of educators and other school employees. They provide a range of personal insurance as well as savings and retirement products and several other services.

What is the Horace Mann Insurance Company?

Horace Mann was founded in 1945 by two Illinois teachers; the purpose of the new insurance company was to provide quality service and affordable auto insurance for educators. The company expanded both its geographical reach as well as its product lineup over the years, and also opened its doors to all school employees.

Named for the founder of modern public education, the insurance company aims many of its services at the needs of teachers, including things like student loan assistance and assistance with classroom funding. Workshops and other financial planning services are also available.

Insurance products include auto, home insurance, life insurance, and supplemental products, with annuities and IRAs among the financial products.

Products are sold through agents, who are often former educators. The company’s headquarters is in Springfield, Illinois, with agencies and offices throughout the country.

What products are offered?

Horace Mann offers the big three in personal insurance – auto, home, and life, along with a few other options and several financial products.

Auto Insurance

Horace Mann’s auto insurance program offers all of the basics of coverage options including legally required coverage like comprehensive coverage, collision coverage, roadside assistance, and rental reimbursement.

The Educator Advantage package is also included in every insurance policy sold to a teacher at no additional charge. This includes a number of benefits:

• Increased roadside assistance coverage (if this option is added to the base policy)
• Waiver or reduction of the deductible on vandalism that occurs on or near school property or at a school-sponsored event
• New car replacement
• $1,000 in pet coverage
• Liability coverage for transportation of students in the insured vehicle

Discounts for teachers on the auto policy include an educator discount for teachers and administrators, association discount for members of certain educational associations, and a payroll deduction discount. There are also standard discounts like multi-policy.

Home Insurance

The home insurance package policy is basic, covering the dwelling and other structures, personal property, liability, and loss of use. Extra coverage can be added on to customize the policy, including:

• Refrigerated goods
• Scheduled personal property
• Replacement cost on personal property
• Identity theft

There is an Educator Advantage endorsement for this policy as well, covering money or goods for a school-sponsored event against theft, lock replacement and re-keying, and a deductible waiver on claims for items stolen during a school-sponsored event away from home.

The discounts are similar to those found with other policies; new construction, protective devices, and auto/home among them. There is also a loyalty discount for those moving from a renter’s policy to a homeowner’s policy with the company.

The company’s renter’s policy is as standard as the homeowners, covering personal property, liability, and loss of use.

Life and Disability Insurance

The company has several life insurance options available including term life insurance, universal life insurance, and whole life insurance.

The site does not offer details on the policies, just general overviews of the type of insurance and how it works. Visitors are directed to contact an agent for more information.

Disability insurance is also available, but as the life policies, details are not available.

Financial Products

The company offers a range of financial products and financial services aimed mainly at retirement savings, but also college savings. These include:

• 529 College Savings
• Investment Management Services
• Stocks
• Annuities
• Traditional and Roth IRA
• Horace Mann Educator Advantage IRA
• 403(b) and 457(b) savings plans

Are the company’s rates reasonable?

Online quoting is not offered by the company, and rates are only available through an agent. An agent locator is found on the website that helps visitors to find a local source for rate information.

Since the insurer serves only a specific market, it is not surprising that the offer quotes only through agents.

In searches of the California Department of Insurance sample rate database, the company frequently appears among the lowest price for car insurance. We ran a sample through that system for this review and found Horace Mann to be the third least expensive option for standard coverage.

How are claims handled?

Claims can be reported to Horace Mann’s claims offices 24/7 through a toll-free number that is the same for life, auto, or home but differs for other claims. A separate number is listed for glass-only claims as well as for disability claims.

The company does offer online claims filing, but only when logged into the insured’s web account. There is a mobile app, but it does not appear to have a claim filing function.

Glass claims are handled through Safelite, a national mobile glass repair and replacement company. They are used by many large insurance companies and work directly with the claims department for direct billing.

The site provides a checklist for each type of claim and a basic overview of what to expect from the process. Claims information and an email address are easy to locate on the site and presented clearly and concisely.

Are the ratings and consumer reviews of the company positive?

Horace Mann has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB), with a total of 19 complaints on file in the past three years. There are 11 negative customer reviews on the website, many of them complaining about poor customer service and billing issues.

We were unable to find much in the way of customer reviews elsewhere, including the usual insurance review sites. A lack of reviews usually denotes a positive reputation, since people are less likely to write a review when happy than when dissatisfied.

What’s the bottom line?

Horace Mann has a good reputation and appears to have low rates, at least based on the information we were able to find. They are well worth a look for those who are school employees and are seeking a company aimed at the needs of educators. Products are basic but solid and should meet the needs of most customers, with added benefits for teachers.