Individuals & Families
Claim Center
We're in the business of helping people, providing prompt and personal claims service when you need us the most.
Call 877-242-2544 anytime, day or night, to report claims. You may also contact your independent agent to report a claim.
Plan & Protect
Reduce risks and enjoy peace of mind with these tips and insights to protect what matters most.
The name at the top of the policy reads, “The Cincinnati Insurance Companies.” But whether you’re in Seattle, St. Louis or Savannah, we are as much your neighbor there and everywhere in between as we are to those living in the Queen City itself.
For 75 years, we at Cincinnati Insurance have prided ourselves on our next-door service. Our local teams live and work in their communities and have the ability and the authority to do what our agents and insureds need on the spot. From delivering policies to people when and where they need them, to helping them piece their lives back together after a natural disaster, we leverage the local knowledge, relationships and expertise that our field teams bring every day.
An on-the-ground presence has been part of the Cincinnati Way since day one. Our four founders spent much of their time on the road, meeting with agents and their clients, learning about their needs, writing policies and cutting checks in their offices and homes, without needing to wait for permission from the home office.
As our coverage area grew beyond Ohio and neighboring states, our field underwriters were joined by field claims personnel and field loss control experts. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, we hired and trained dozens of new field associates to meet growing demand in our communities, including those in new states and territories. All the while, empowering our local representatives, operating from their homes rather than far-flung regional offices, to price and make on-the-spot decisions about new policies. “Cincinnati Insurance gave our field marketing representatives the power to bind the company on a risk on a Saturday night,” said Jack Schiff, Jr., director emeritus, former president, CEO, and chairman of the board, and the son of company co-founder Jack Schiff, Sr. “When the homeowner comes in to the agent and says, ‘I’m closing this afternoon on my house. Can I get a policy?’ The answer is ‘yes.’”
“That was unheard of at the time,” said retired Vice President Jody Wainscott, who joined our company in 1971. “It was so innovative that these people were working out of their homes and had the authority and autonomy to do what needed to be done to treat our policyholders and claimants just like you would like to be treated.”
The field marketing system was only part of the “magic” of Cincinnati Insurance, Schiff said. The other part was our system of local claims personnel. While other carriers often turn to third-party adjusters with little or no personal connection to independent agencies and their clients, we assign a claims professional to each agency. And they, as they always have at Cincinnati, have the authority to settle claims on the spot, often within a matter of hours of a loss. When Cincinnati offers a new coverage product, like when Cincinnati Specialty Underwriters wrote its first excess and surplus lines policies in 2008, agents are typically still able to rely on the same field claims representatives they know and trust.
“The difference between Cincinnati and others is just knowing the people,” Nick Burgdorf, a senior field marketing director based in Nashville, said. “Our agencies know us on a personal level. They know that their adjuster is a resource for them. They know their loss control representatives very well. And we know not only the principals and owners of the agencies. We know all the employees. We want to make this like a family for each agency.”
At Cincinnati Insurance, we are not only there where you need us, but when you need us. Shortly after being named to her first managerial role, Jody Wainscott had a meeting with Jack Schiff, Sr., when he took a phone call. “It was a homeowner policyholder,” she said. “Even though he was at such a high level, he explained to them a change that was going to take place on their policy.”
That commitment is also evident in the independent agencies we choose to represent us. Late one night when Alvin Roehr, CEO of the Roehr Insurance Agency, was visiting his children who were studying abroad, he received a call from a client. “They said, ‘Where are you?’ And I said, ‘I’m walking down an alley in Barcelona.’ They said, ‘Why did you answer the phone?’ And I said, ‘Because you called me.’”
CEO Steve Spray said, “When times are at their worst, they know we will respond and hold their hand through the difficult time.”
As The Cincinnati Insurance Companies celebrates 75 years of being A Bridge to Better, we honor our legacy of putting agents first, our noble industry, and our commitment to meeting the ever-evolving needs of policyholders.