Other than Indiana, Illinois is the longest state we’ve had a presence in at Steffey Insurance. We have served customers in Illinois for over 20 years and counting, and hope to continue the tradition in the future. Although we serve the entire state of Illinois, the majority of our insurable interests lie in the Chicago, or “Chicago land” area. Because it is a large, highly populated city, there are different aspects that come with insuring the Chicago area that do not apply to other metropolitan areas.
Firstly, Chicago and the rest of Illinois are highly competitive territories. Keep in mind, State Farm and All State both call Illinois home, as both of these companies are headquartered here. This being said, State Farm and All State have a large part of the market share in Illinois and both companies compete hard for their share of the market. This is common for companies in their home state. For instance, Erie Insurance has a market share in the state of Pennsylvania MUCH larger than their market share in any other state. Secondly, Chicago, Illinois auto rates are going to be higher than most other places by a long shot. Because of the sheer amount of people and cars in the area, Chicago auto rates are going to be higher than many other cities in the United States. When you have this many drivers in an area, you can expect there to be more accidents, thefts, and vandalism to vehicles than in most other areas. This holds true for most urban areas throughout the United States as compared to their rural counterparts, but especially cities like Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, etc.
Our competitive position in Chicago is growing. Every company we represent at Steffey Insurance is licensed to write business in Chicago. Primarily, we have written renters insurance and auto insurance in the Chicago area. There are a high amount of renters in the Chicago area compared to homeowners. Furthermore, most homeowners insurance will be condo as opposed to single family stand-alone homes. More often than not, these were people we insured in Indiana that had moved to the Windy City, just a couple of hours up Interstate 65 from Indianapolis. More recently, partly due to the advances in technology and our willingness to adapt quickly to these advances, we have seen Chicago clients come to us. Chicago residents want choices, and they are surprisingly under served for the size city they live in. We are happy to help them with their insurance needs and are an agent they cant trust for quick service to fit their fast paced life styles. We currently write auto, home, life, and business within the Chicago area. And we expect to grow along all lines of business in the future. Our latest growth has been experienced with insuring coffee related business in Chicago. Chicago had many coffee shops and roasters located within the city limits, and giving that is our niche market, we have provided these businesses with knowledge of their industry and great prices at the same time. For more on our coffee niche, checkout our other blog posts.
If you are a Chicago, Illinois resident, or live elsewhere in the Land of Lincoln, please contact us for a quote. Quotes are always free and we are happy to help you as quickly as possible. We are licensed in Illinois with all of our companies (Erie, Travelers, AAA, Hanover, Progressive, Foremost, and more), so you will have options when you call us, unlike the State Farm’s and All State’s of the world. We want to thank all of our current clients who stuck with us during their move to Illinois and continuously rave about how our agency still feels like we’re right next door. Thank you!