135 Years Of Service In An Extraordinary Time

Dec 2, 2020, 1:20 PM

One of the traditions for me and many other people at the end of the year is to take a look back at the past year: where we are today and how we got there. One thing I can say for certain is that this year was unforgettable! I got a new car but didn’t travel much. I made improvements to my house, but now I see all the other projects left to work on. I cut my work commute to less than a minute, but I haven’t seen many of my co-workers in person for a long time.

The end of the year is a time for us at Hastings Mutual to look back, too. In fact, 2020 marks our 135th anniversary as a company. We were founded as the Michigan Mutual Tornado, Cyclone and Windstorm Insurance Company in 1885 and have grown steadily ever since. Now we reach six states (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin). 

We’ve always been in Hastings, beginning with an office downtown and moving to our current home just a few blocks away in 1961. Since then the building expanded in the 1980s and 1990s. We’re actually in the midst of a remodel now, with an eye to more open space and more room to meet and share ideas. It will continue into 2021; we’ll give you a tour when everything is in place. 

Two Big Projects

There were two big projects for Hastings Mutual this year, one we anticipated and another no one expected. Of our six states, Michigan is the one with the most customers, and we made sure drivers — even the ones who aren’t Hastings Mutual policyholders — were prepared for no-fault reform, the major change to auto insurance that affected the entire state of Michigan in July. 

We created an informative website for our policyholders with access to all the forms they needed to make the change as simply as possible. The change to the law resulted in a related lower fee for many drivers, and we took responsibility for giving policyholders the benefit of that lower fee, so their agents didn’t have to do additional work. It turned out to be a great model for future special projects; look for a helpful webpage and plenty of valuable information when there’s something we want to tell you about.

The other big project for us in 2020 was, of course, COVID-19. We quickly adapted to working from home without any hiccups and made sure to keep in contact with our policyholders, agent partners, and one another throughout the quarantine period. We refunded auto policyholders for driving less and temporarily expanded several of our coverages to accommodate the unusual situation for everyone. Our Hastings Mutual Helps webpage was part of our process, too, a resource to keep readers updated on what we were doing to assist them in this extraordinary time of need.

We’re There When You Need Us

Since 1885, we’ve emphasized the way we support our policyholders. In a world where you can contact someone or do research any time, day or night, we take pride in the education and information we provide. Our current policyholders and people interested in purchasing a policy can find out what we offer just by looking online for webpages, PDFs, videos, and more. 

We also have a reliable, far-reaching network of local independent insurance agents. We keep them up to date on our products and services with webinars and in-person and virtual training. When you want to learn more on your own, Hastings Mutual is ready for you. When it’s time to find an agent using our new and improved Find an Agent tool to customize your insurance coverage to your needs, Hastings Mutual is ready for that, too.

The Mutual Understanding blog and Hastings Mutual videos are made available for educational purposes only. The information referred to is not an official company statement, corporate policy, or offer of coverage. Refer to your insurance policy for specific coverage. There is no representation as to the accuracy or completeness of any information found by following any link on this site. Please contact your local independent insurance agent with further questions and for more details on any insurance policy-related information you read here.

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