American Family Insurance business insurance

Overview

American Family Insurance is a Madison, Wisconsin, mutual best known for home and auto insurance. Business insurance is a small share of its premium, but the group is large enough that its commercial book still ranks nationally. The NAIC group ranked No. 41 among U.S. business insurers by 2025 commercial lines direct premiums written, with $2.43 billion, based on NAIC market share data. That is about 13.5% of the group's $17.95 billion of total direct premium. Other liability led at $1.18 billion, followed by commercial multiple peril (business owner's and package policies) at $494.6 million, commercial auto at $274.7 million and farmowners at $256.6 million. The group ranks No. 8 in the country in farmowners insurance.

American Family says it has four operating groups: American Family Mutual Insurance Company, S.I. and its subsidiaries; American Family Connect (the former Ameriprise Auto & Home); Homesite, a direct writer based in Boston; and Main Street America Group, the independent-agent commercial carrier. Bowhead Specialty, a New York specialty casualty underwriter, also issues its policies on American Family affiliate paper. That helps explain why other liability is the group's largest commercial line. Bill Westrate is chair and CEO.

How you buy depends on the door you use. American Family-brand business policies come from its own contracted agency owners or online. Main Street America sells only through independent agents.

History

Herman Wittwer founded Farmers Mutual Automobile Insurance Company in Madison on October 3, 1927. It took the American Family name in 1963 and added commercial lines in 1975. In 1985 it formed American Family Brokerage to place hard-to-place risks with other insurers. The more recent history is a run of deals:

• 2012: Bought Nashville-based Permanent General Companies, known as The General, a nonstandard auto insurer.
• 2013: Brought in Homesite, a Boston-based direct homeowners insurer.
• 2018: Announced a merger with The Main Street America Group, a Florida-based independent-agent carrier founded in 1923; policyholders approved it in October 2018.
• 2019: Acquired Ameriprise Auto & Home and rebranded it CONNECT, powered by American Family Insurance.
• 2020: Invested in Bowhead Specialty at its founding.
• 2022: Bill Westrate succeeded Jack Salzwedel as CEO.
• 2024: Main Street America said in August it would exit personal lines to focus on commercial, farm and ranch, and surety business. In November it agreed to move its personal lines renewals in 22 states to Safeco, a Liberty Mutual company, starting in the second quarter of 2025. American Family sold The General to Sentry Insurance in a deal that closed December 31, 2024.
• 2026: On August 3, American Family agreed to buy the rest of Bowhead Specialty Holdings (NYSE: BOW) for $34 a share in cash, about $1.2 billion. Closing is expected before the end of 2026, subject to regulatory and Bowhead shareholder approval. Bowhead will keep its brand and CEO, Stephen Sills.

Business insurance products

American Family brand. A business owner's policy (see What is a business owner's policy (BOP)?), general liability, workers' compensation and business auto for small firms, plus building and business personal property, auxiliary building and rented-space coverages. There is commercial and personal umbrella, and add-ons for spoilage, sewer backup, employee dishonesty, employment practices liability and cyber. Flood is written through the NFIP. Farm and ranch policies combine the farm dwelling, outbuildings, livestock, tractors and equipment, equipment breakdown, farm income and irrigation systems with farm liability, and American Family also writes agribusiness coverage.

Main Street America. Business owner's policies, general liability, commercial auto, workers' compensation, commercial umbrella, commercial flood, farm and ranch, and fidelity and surety bonds. Main Street America said in 2024 that it wrote more than $1.1 billion of annual premium through independent agents. Its companies include NGM Insurance Company, Main Street America Assurance, Old Dominion, Grain Dealers Mutual (Indiana) and Austin Mutual and Spring Valley Mutual (Minnesota). A Homesite-run site sells Main Street America small business policies online.

Bowhead Specialty. Casualty, professional liability and healthcare liability for complex risks on an admitted and excess and surplus lines basis, plus Baleen Specialty, a digital platform for smaller accounts.

Who it insures

American Family's own pages target contractors (painters, landscapers, plumbers, HVAC), auto service and repair shops, professional offices, restaurants, bakeries, retailers and landlords, plus farms and ranches. See Farm and ranch insurance. The American Family brand sells in 19 states, so a business outside that footprint will usually reach the group through Main Street America instead. Main Street America's pages highlight dental and medical offices, pet shops and groomers, photographers, hair salons and artisan contractors, and its companies are licensed in nearly every state. Main Street America said its personal lines exit lets it focus on small businesses and farms. Bowhead goes after mid-sized and larger casualty and professional accounts that neither consumer-facing brand would write.

How to buy

• American Family: Through one of the more than 2,400 agency owners under contract with American Family. They are independent contractors who represent the company, a captive agent model. Small businesses can also quote and buy online, and policyholders get 24/7 online access to certificates of insurance, policy changes and claims.
• Main Street America: Only through appointed independent agents ("Agents First, Agents Only"). Main Street America said in late 2024 that it worked with nearly 4,000 of them.
• Bowhead: Through brokers.

See independent agent, broker, captive agent or direct? for how the channels differ.

Claims

American Family takes claims 24/7 at 800-692-6326 (1-800-MYAMFAM), online or in the MyAmFam app. The same number is used for emergencies and roadside assistance. Main Street America takes business owner's, general liability, workers' comp and commercial auto claims 24/7 at 877-425-2467, and commercial auto claims can also be filed online. Farm and ranch claims go to 833-561-3126, option 1, and bond claims go by mail to Main Street America, Attn: Bond Claims, 55 West Street, Keene, NH 03431. Main Street America's claims mailing address is now American Family's Madison headquarters.

Financial strength and ratings

AM Best affirmed the A (Excellent) financial strength rating and "a+" issuer credit ratings of American Family Mutual Insurance Company, S.I. and its core affiliates in September 2025, with a stable outlook. On August 6, 2026, after the Bowhead deal was announced, AM Best said the group's ratings were unchanged. It called the deal modest relative to American Family's operations and said it did not expect a material effect on balance sheet strength or operating performance. Main Street America cites the same A (Excellent) rating, stable outlook and "a+" issuer credit rating in its releases.

The group's 2025 annual report shows net income of $3.18 billion, members' equity of $14.3 billion, revenue of $19.5 billion and assets of $45.5 billion. The report says underwriting profitability improved in 2025.

Strengths and weaknesses

American Family is a large, well-capitalized mutual whose business insurance is built mainly for the small end of the market: Main Street firms, landlords and farms. Its strengths are scale, a top-10 farm book and several ways to buy. Its weakness for business buyers is that commercial lines are a sideline for the American Family brand and are split across separate operations.

• Strengths: A (Excellent) rating with an "a+" issuer credit rating, and $14.3 billion of equity at year-end 2025; No. 8 nationally in farmowners; small businesses can buy online or through an agent; Main Street America gives independent agents a commercial-only market after its 2024 exit from personal lines.
• Weaknesses: The American Family brand sells in only 19 states; the American Family and Main Street America products are built for small accounts, so mid-sized and complex risks depend on Bowhead; since Main Street America left personal lines, its agents must place clients' home and auto elsewhere; the pending Bowhead deal and the 2024 sale of The General show a group still reshaping itself.

How to contact American Family Insurance