New London County Mutual Insurance Review & Complaints: Auto, Home & Commercial Insurance (2023)

New London County Mutual (NLC) is a small regional insurer with more than 175 years in business. They write basic personal and commercial lines insurance policies in three states.

What is NLC Mutual?

Like many mutual insurance companies, New London County Mutual was founded by a group of local businessmen to protect each other against the financial impact of fire. They provided group coverage for local buildings, with the main focus on farms in Norwich, Connecticut, and surrounding areas.

NLC continued to focus on farms for the first hundred years of its existence, and in 1940 began to shift into new lines of business. Homeowner’s and dwelling fire policies grew to make up most of the company’s business. In 1985, NLC started writing personal auto insurance. In 2010, NLC entered into an agreement with Hingham group, affiliating four mutual insurers in the New England area and expanding the group’s overall reach.

NLC sells policies in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island through local independent agents.

What Types of Insurance Products Does NLC Offer?

NLC Mutual’s website has a very dated feel, and it does not provide a lot of details about their policies. There are basic outlines of the types of coverage they write but is lacking specifics. Based on available information, they do not appear to write life insurance policies.

Auto 

Currently, NLC writes car insurance only in Connecticut and Rhode Island. They appear to write a basic auto insurance policy that includes liability insurance and common options including comprehensive coverage, collision coverage, towing & labor, and rental car coverage.

The website states that the company plans to add auto loan and lease (gap coverage) as an option soon.

Home

NLC writes homeowners insurance for various types of homes in all three of the states they cover.

Their homeowner’s policy is a standard base package with the option to add on additional coverage, including replacement cost for structures and personal property and identity theft. They also have an add-on package that combines several popular additional options in one endorsement.

In addition to homeowner’s NLC insurance companies also write renters insurance policies.

Commercial

NLC offers very little information on their business insurance. They appear to offer a commercial coverage package policy that can be customized to meet the needs of a variety of business types.

Are the Company’s Rates Competitive?

Rates for NLC products can only be obtained by contacting an agent directly. Online quoting is not offered, which is not really surprising for this type of regional company. It is even less surprising given the dated website that seems to indicate a lack of interest in bringing in new business through that avenue.

How Are Claims Handled?

In keeping with the lack of online information and services we have already noted, NLC does not offer online claims filing. There is a list of phone numbers for the claims department – one is for during business hours and the other an after-hours emergency line. The website does not specify what the hours of operation for the regular claims line are, but it is very clear that the after-hours line is for emergencies only.

Are the Ratings and Consumer Reviews Positive?

New London County Mutual has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau (BBB). There are only two complaints on file in the past three years, and none closed in the past twelve months.

There are nine customer reviews on Google for a total rating of 2.8 stars. The negative reviews by policyholders cite poor claims service and being dropped by the company immediately following a claim. There are also a few positive reviews, although only one offers any detail.

Yelp has only three reviews of NLC by policyholders, with an overall 2.5-star rating. The content of the reviews is similar to what we saw on Google.

Overall, complaint volume is low and there is little of major concern in the complaints.

What’s the Bottom Line?

There is not enough information offer on NLC insurance to form a solid opinion of it. They might appeal to those customers who prefer to work with an independent agent and like a small, regional company. We would not expect them to be competitive on rates, but the value added by personal service over other insurers might make a difference to some insurance shoppers.