October 2, 2024 • 21 mins
Ever wondered how to cut your insurance premiums by more than half without losing coverage? Join us as we sit down with Ethan Hamby from East Street Insurance, an expert who helped transform my family's insurance costs from a burdensome $1,000 a month to a manageable $465. Ethan, inspired by his father's career in insurance, brings a wealth of knowledge and shares how his agency's focus on personalized customer service and efficient claims handling sets them apart, especially for residents of Indiana and Ohio.
Discover how the COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped the insurance landscape, and learn how companies like East Street Insurance have navigated these changes to continue supporting high-risk vehicles and providing robust homeowner's insurance. Ethan provides invaluable tips on how to stabilize your premiums and underscores the importance of working with local insurers who understand regional challenges. Don't miss our discussion on the substantial savings and peace of mind that come from working with dedicated experts like Ethan. Stay tuned until the end for an invitation to share your feedback and follow us for more insightful episodes.
Contact Ethan Hamby:
email- Ethan.Hamby@eaststreetins.com
phone- (812) 267-7845 (Call Or Text)
Text hawkeye to 36260 to download his app
Sarah Thress
614-893-5885
First Time Home Buyer course: https://sarahthress.graphy.com/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sarah_thress_realtor/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/SarahThressRealtor/
https://www.youtube.com/@LIFEINCOLUMBUS
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi and welcome to this week's episode of Come to
Find Out.
This week we have Ethan Hambywith East Street Insurance, so
not to be confused with EasyStreet, although he does make it
very, very easy.
So I was recently introduced tohim through a mutual contact of
(00:22):
ours who knew that I was havingdifficulty with my insurance.
Anyone that has been listeningfor a while knows that I have
four teenagers and three of themare drivers and, as I've
mentioned in previous podcasts,with the price of everything,
with inflation and everythinggoing up, our insurance was.
(00:44):
It was literally $1,000 a monthjust for our car insurance,
which is insane.
So when we shopped around andtried to find something because
my husband and I both have Kias,we were not able to get any
other insurance until we wereintroduced to Ethan, who was
able to really look ateverything, get us the exact
(01:07):
same coverages for everythingthat we needed for $465 a month,
so clearly a massive savingsalso was able to save us money
on our insurance, for ourhomeowner's insurance.
So if anyone is like me, andthey received their new amount
that they're going to have topay on their monthly mortgage
(01:29):
and it went up ours had gone upsignificantly, so he again was
able to save us money.
So I wanted to make sure thateveryone heard about Ethan and
East Street Insurance, becausehis customer service was
impeccable.
I was even bothering him on theweekend and he got right back
(01:49):
to me, did everything.
So, ethan, thank you so muchfor taking time out of your day
to come and talk to us.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Absolutely yeah.
Thank you for having me on.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Yeah, of course.
So I'd love to kind of hear alittle bit about you and you
know kind of how you got intoinsurance and then you know how
you ended up at East StreetInsurance, because it's my
understanding that it's kind ofnew to the Ohio area, but not a
new company.
So we'd love for you to justkind of fill us all in.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Right, yeah, so my dad has worked in insurance for
the last 12, 13 years, so that'swhat originally got me into it
for the last 12, 13 years.
So that's what originally gotme into it.
And once I was in my senioryear of college, I decided to
apply for an open position, gotthe job, and so that's what kind
of started me with my interestin insurance, just being around
(02:37):
it, growing up around it, and soI've been there for four years
now, started on October 1st tobe four years, and so we have
Indiana and Ohio where we writeinsurance at.
East Street is a subsidiary ofIndiana Farm Bureau insurance,
but we're all the same company,same writing.
We just write through our owncarrier.
(02:58):
We've been doing insurance inIndiana for about a hundred
years and Ohio, uh, three, fouryears now.
So, yeah, we're new to Ohio,but not new to insurance.
And, yeah, I've been four yearslooking forward to seeing how
it goes.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Yeah, I love that and , um, help us to kind of
understand, cause obviouslyevery insurance company is, you
know, a little bit different.
Um, you know, everyone kind ofhas their own thing.
Like obviously you'll hear likeprogressive, like bundle, and
all of that stuff.
You know a little bit different.
You know everyone kind of hastheir own thing.
Like, obviously you'll hearlike progressive, like bundle,
and all of that stuff.
You know.
So what is it you know aboutEast Street Insurance that is
(03:33):
different than you know othercarriers?
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Yeah, so it depends on which insurance types of
companies you go to.
Independent agencies are goingto shop several different
companies, which can be can bebad, depending on how that goes.
We are a captive agency, so weare.
We only write through our owncarrier and we are Indiana, ohio
, so we're local to the Midwest.
(03:57):
So any other issues that happenin California, in New York,
whatever it is, that's not goingto be affecting us.
We just help ensure the key isas well, because we have local
problems, local company, localproblems.
But the biggest thing that Iwould say sets us apart is our
customer service ability tocontact an agent.
So seven days a week you cancontact me call or text and most
(04:22):
hours of the day I'll be ableto get back to you.
So that's one of the biggestbiggest parts.
But an even bigger part ispaying claims, which you know.
What's good is insurance whenit comes to claim time and your
company doesn't want to pay.
So we try to pride ourselves onour ability to pay claims, how
fast we can pay claims and howpainless we can make that
process.
And many companies we work withbody, body shops, restoration
(04:46):
companies, whatnot call us thegold standard when it comes to
claims because, for example,tornadoes happened a year or two
ago.
Greenwood, indiana, knockeddown a bunch of houses, knocked
it out completely, tore themdown.
We had everybody already paidout.
Construction started before anyother company even arrived on
the scene.
So it's things like that thatreally set us apart.
(05:08):
So you have the low price,which most people want to go for
, just the low price only, whichis great.
We have those, but also on topof that, you're going to get
great customer service andyou're going to have the comfort
knowing that your client willbe taken care of when it comes
time for that to happen.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Yeah, that's amazing.
So, like with us, you know wewere referred to you, we called
you and, um, you know, we sentyou all the information.
Is that kind of how ittypically works with you.
You know, I can imagine thateveryone that is working with
you is so excited to refereveryone they know to you.
Um, so kind of walk me throughthe process, like if someone
calls you and they're like hey,I'm, I'm trying to save money on
insurance, like what, what youknow?
Just what is your process?
(05:51):
Like, what do you do?
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Yeah, yeah.
So, um, you give me a call.
I do get a lot of calls, so ifI don't answer, just leave a
voicemail or text message.
I'll get right back to you.
But basic process is just getyour basic information name,
address, date of birth, vinnumbers on the cars and then
I'll be able to get a quote withthat info and at least take a
(06:15):
look and see.
Take a look and see.
It doesn't cost anything to runa quote, so it's free to just
take a peek if you want to, justto see if we'd be able to save
you money and most of the timewe were able to do that and
we'll get you in the door, getyou taken care of.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Yeah, I love that.
Now, if you pull thatinformation and you're like kind
of shopping, I know you knowsome people are afraid that,
like if they start shoppingaround, you're going to like let
their other company know thatthey're shopping around or
whatever.
So is that like, whenever youenter in that information, does
that flag anything?
(06:48):
Or flag the insurance company?
Or like whenever someone isapplying for a loan, sometimes
that will, it triggers all theseother lenders to start reaching
out to you and like trying toget your business.
So is it kind of the same thingwith you guys, or?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
No, insurance is a little different, so we're not
going to notify your company oranything like that.
You can shop with as manycompanies as you want and your
current company may never knowunless you tell them.
And then the worst thing I'dsay you have to worry about is
there's a soft pull on credit,but it's not like a hard pull or
(07:24):
anything like that, so it's notgoing to affect your credit.
But they do take a look at thatto determine rates sometimes,
but it's like similar to howCredit Karma does it, where it's
like not going to affect yourcredit or anything.
So, but beyond that, no, it's apretty, pretty simple, pretty
painless to get a quote.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Yeah, I love that.
Now, obviously, car and homeinsurance are things that you
cover.
Is there anything else that youguys do, or is it just car and
home?
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Yeah, so we've got car home renters, life and we
have some business insurance.
Right now we're working onexpanding that in Ohio.
We're pretty well establishedwith that in Indiana, but the
Ohio one.
It just depends on what kind ofbusiness you have.
But we are able to do somebusiness and coming soon we'll
be able to do most businesses.
But, yeah, car home renters,life are the main things we do
(08:14):
right now.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Yeah, that's great and I feel like that's something
that everyone that ispurchasing a home should be
thinking about is, you know,life insurance, you know making
sure that you're protecting thatasset that you just bought,
also making sure that you're,you know, protecting your family
if something happened, andthings like that.
So I love that you guys kind ofhave that.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Yeah, for sure.
It's definitely the mostimportant product, especially
because it's pretty cheap.
Most people don't realize howcheap it is until they actually
get a quote on it and, um, youknow, hundreds of thousands of
dollars pay off your mortgage,pay off all your debt.
Go to your family if you die,for the cost of a pizza a month.
So it's, it's pretty pretty, uhpretty important product.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Yeah, absolutely.
Now do you have differentcompanies that you work with
with the life insurance part ofit, or is it all still with the
Indiana?
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yeah, we have two carriers, One's called United
Home Life, one's the otherUnited Farm Family Life, under
the same umbrella with FarmBureau.
So it's pretty, pretty similarsituation where we just we keep
it all in-house.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Yeah, when I like that you brought up renter's
insurance too, because anyonethat's listening to this if you
are renting at the moment,hopefully you have renter's
insurance.
If you don't, I highlyrecommend it because if anything
happens or someone was to breakin, steal all your stuff, or
maybe there's some sort ofdamage that happens you know, a
(09:41):
fire or whatever Hopefully yourapartment complex is going to
help with some of that, but youdefinitely want to have your
renter's insurance to be able tocover all of your items that
were inside the home.
So do you?
Do you get a lot of people thatcall you about renter's
insurance?
Like, how do you kind ofexplain that?
Yeah, yeah, I get a you aboutrenter's insurance.
How do you kind of explain that?
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Yeah, I get a ton of renter's insurance.
Most people do bundling withthe auto because it gives you
the same bundling discount ashaving a home with your auto, so
that's a benefit of it, andmost of the time it's only $10
to $15 a month, so it's prettycheap, and there have already
been a handful of instances inthe last month or so of people
(10:21):
needing to use the renter'sinsurance that maybe otherwise
wouldn't have got it.
So it's also important.
But you know, I work in theinsurance industry so I think
most all insurance is importanttoo.
But yeah, it's a great product.
It bundles with your auto, soyou save a lot of money on your
auto too if you bundle bothtogether.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Yeah, I love that.
Now, do you guys have?
So you know, obviously in thenews you know we've heard a lot
about, like, insurance companieshaving to raise their rates or
having to drop.
You know, certain people Like,especially you know I think we
hear it more in like justbecause of like all of the like
(11:02):
hurricanes and all of that stuff.
Have you guys ever had aninstance like that where, like,
maybe there were so manytornadoes or so much stuff that
you guys had to just dropclients or like?
I guess I would just love yourtake on the insurance industry
right now, since all we'rehearing is like oh my gosh like
people can't get insured andinsurance companies are going
(11:22):
under because of all of the youknow catastrophes around the
world.
So yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Insurance is a very reactionary type business and
most companies weren't doingincreases over COVID.
The first couple of years ofCOVID they weren't doing any
increases, and most of the majorcompanies that you know of and
you see commercials I've lostbillions of dollars, so they had
to unload a lot of clientsbecause of that.
We took gradual increases withCOVID and it was able to help us
(11:52):
stay sustainable, and now a lotof those companies are having
to take larger increases thanthey otherwise would have if
they just had done smallerincreases at a time.
But as for us, we haven't hadto unload any clients like that
since the 1980s and so, as faras I've been told, they don't
(12:14):
plan on ever doing that again.
They're staying ahead of thegame on it.
So our financial rating was A,a plus, I think I forget it was.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
It was the top tier, whatever the top tier rating was
listed by Forbes.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Our financial rating was yeah, we're in pretty good
standing as far as that goes.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Yeah, I love hearing that because you know, like I
said, everybody in the you knoweverybody listening to the news
media is thinking.
You know, like I said,everybody in the you know
everybody listening to the newsmedia is thinking you know the
sky is falling with basicallyeverything.
But you know, and I love that,you guys kind of took that
approach where it's like, hey,we're just going to gradually
increase so that we continue tostay ahead of the curve.
It reminds me of kind of likethe Southwest model where you
(12:57):
know, when they first started,they, like, you know, their
first year, they, you know, like, didn't want to lay anybody off
, so they, you know, sold aplane to make payroll instead of
laying people off.
So it kind of reminds me ofsomething very similar to that
that you guys are forwardthinking and making sure that,
like, you're not droppingclients, dropping employees,
just to, you know, make thingsright with financials.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
So yeah, yeah, we.
We reacted, I would say, ontime, whereas most companies
figured the COVID inflation andall the inflation over the last
few years was just going to be atemporary blip and then it
ended up sticking around for acouple of years.
So I think that's what hurtthem is they were betting on
that to not be a long-term thinginstead of going ahead and
(13:43):
taking care of it then and there.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Yeah, I love that.
I just love that you guys areforward thinking and, like I
said, I love that you guys areso easy to work with, especially
if anyone listening has a Kiaand if it is, what?
Is it 2022 or older?
It is very difficult to getinsured anywhere else except
(14:05):
East street insurance.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Yeah, we have no, no restrictions on any Kias.
So, yeah, any Kia that you havewe'll be able to do it.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Yeah, which it's my understanding that that's just
because they've been on the hitlist for people that are
carjacking and things like that.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Right, yeah, a lot of companies decided to drop it,
but most of the companies thatare dropping it because of the
carjackings and the peoplestealing them are covering
places like San Francisco, newYork City, dallas, you know.
They got a whole range of bigcities around the entire country
, whereas we're just Indiana andOhio.
So we're not really havingthose same problems that the
(14:42):
national companies are having,because we're a local company.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Yeah, I like that.
I wondered how you guys wereable to do that.
Yeah, that absolutely makessense For sure.
Kind of the law of averages?
Yeah, I love that.
So, in terms of homeownersinsurance, when someone calls
you and they say, hey, like I'min the process of buying, a lot
(15:05):
of people that are listening tothis are first time home buyers.
So how would you kind ofexplain to them why they need
homeowner's insurance?
Obviously, if they're getting ahome loan, they're going to
have to have homeowner'sinsurance.
But let's just say, forwhatever reason, they were
buying it with cash.
And you know, like what wouldyou explain to people?
Telling them, hey, this is whyyou need homeowner's insurance.
This is what we do, this is howwe're able to help, you know.
(15:27):
And then the customer servicethat you guys provide when they
do need to file a claim.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Right, yeah, so the biggest thing is mitigation of
risk.
So even if you have the cash topay pay off your house, pay a
house in cash you still want tomitigate that risk and put it on
somebody else.
Basically.
So you put $400,000 onto ahouse, buy it in cash and it
burns down.
A week later you don't haveinsurance.
(15:52):
You just lost $400,000.
So that's a big reason of whyinsurance is so important is
because if you lose everything,we'll pay to replace your house
as good or better than it waswhen it was standing and, as far
as the claims process goes,you'll be able to reach out to
(16:15):
me directly.
If you don't want to reach outto me, there's always the 1-800
number, and the biggest thingabout our customer service is
you have options with ourcompany.
So most other companies aregoing to just send you the 1-800
number.
You're going to get a differentrepresentative every single
time they come on the line,whereas with E Street Insurance,
you're going to have me everysingle time, if you choose.
(16:36):
If you don't like what I say,you can call customer service.
If you don't like what they say, you have an adjuster assigned
to you.
If you don't like what theadjuster says you can go to the
adjuster's manager.
If you don't like what they say, you can go to my manager.
So it's just like a wholevillage, a whole team of people
around you to walk you throughyour claim and to try to find a
satisfactory way to appease bothparties.
(17:00):
So of course we don't want toupset anybody but if it comes to
that, like I said, you have theentire village there, lots of
people to talk to, the wholechain of command around you.
Everybody's located in eitherIndiana or Ohio, so they're
either locally or mildly locally.
That'll really set our customerservice apart when it comes to
(17:21):
having a claim, because when youcall you're not going to get a
person in New York and thenyou're going to get a person in
LA York and then you're going toget a person in LA and then
you're going to get a person inum, you know wherever it is and
you're not going to have thatissue with us.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Yeah, I love that Cause I feel like now, uh, a lot
of times I mean, anyone thatlistens to this show knows that
I am so passionate aboutfive-star customer service and I
only recommend people that aregoing to give, you know, that
five-star customer service and Ionly recommend people that are
going to give that five-starcustomer service.
And so I love that you all arelocal and you're able to do that
(17:53):
, because a lot of times now, Ifeel like whenever you call to
complain about something or youcall a customer service number
or whatever, you're gettingsomeone in another country that
barely speaks English, andthere's nothing wrong with that
other than you know you're notgetting that five-star customer
service.
Sometimes there's some you knowtranslation issues and you know
it.
Just, it becomes quite a hassle.
(18:14):
So I love that you guys havethat all figured out.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Yeah yeah, and sometimes you don't want to do
everything over the phone.
If you file a claim and you'renot satisfied with how things
are going, or you feel likemaybe you're not getting an
understanding of not just aclaim but anything with
insurance related and you wantto meet me in person, just let
me know.
We'll find a time that worksand we'll set that up and I'll
be able to do a review with youin person.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Yeah, I love that.
So you guys are only Indianaand Ohio right now.
Do you guys have any plans ofexpanding into other states?
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Yes, I'm not 100% sure which ones we're going to
be adding next, but I know thetalk to expand has been on the
table, so stay tuned for what weadd next.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Yeah, I love that.
I love that.
Well, I'm going to make surethat I have all of your
information in the show notes,that way, if someone wants to
reach out to you, you know.
Are you okay if we put yourcell phone and your email?
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Perfect.
Do you have socials that you'dlike people to follow?
Speaker 2 (19:15):
I do have a Facebook page Ethan Hamby, E Street
Insurance.
So if you want to go give thata like, give it a follow,
That'll be my.
That's the only social mediapage that I have for business
right now.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Okay, perfect, I'll put all those links in the show
notes then.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Sounds good.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Yeah Well, thank you so much.
Like I said, whenever you know,we were connected to you and
you were able to save us so muchmoney and you made everything
so easy.
I mean I literally like, textedyou pictures of the cars,
texted you event numbers, gaveyou all the information that you
needed, texted you pictures ofthe cars, texted you event
numbers, gave you all theinformation that you needed and
within hours, you were like hey,look, I'm saving you so much
(19:52):
money.
So, um, thank you for that, andthat's why I was like I have to
have you on here so you canspread the word, uh, to more
people about how amazing you are, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
I appreciate that.
I'll help everybody as much asI can, yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
I love that.
Well, thank you so much fortuning in.
Please make sure that you leavea review, because feedback is
the greatest gift that you cangive.
Please make sure you're alsosharing this with anyone,
because that is the greatestcompliment that you can give
Ethan and I and also follow theshow so you never miss another
episode.
Thanks so much and we'll seeyou next time on Come to Find
(20:24):
Out.
Hi and welcome to this week's episode of Come to
Find Out.
This week we have Ethan Hambywith East Street Insurance, so
not to be confused with EasyStreet, although he does make it
very, very easy.
So I was recently introduced tohim through a mutual contact of
(00:22):
ours who knew that I was havingdifficulty with my insurance.
Anyone that has been listeningfor a while knows that I have
four teenagers and three of themare drivers and, as I've
mentioned in previous podcasts,with the price of everything,
with inflation and everythinggoing up, our insurance was.
(00:44):
It was literally $1,000 a monthjust for our car insurance,
which is insane.
So when we shopped around andtried to find something because
my husband and I both have Kias,we were not able to get any
other insurance until we wereintroduced to Ethan, who was
able to really look ateverything, get us the exact
(01:07):
same coverages for everythingthat we needed for $465 a month,
so clearly a massive savingsalso was able to save us money
on our insurance, for ourhomeowner's insurance.
So if anyone is like me, andthey received their new amount
that they're going to have topay on their monthly mortgage
(01:29):
and it went up ours had gone upsignificantly, so he again was
able to save us money.
So I wanted to make sure thateveryone heard about Ethan and
East Street Insurance, becausehis customer service was
impeccable.
I was even bothering him on theweekend and he got right back
(01:49):
to me, did everything.
So, ethan, thank you so muchfor taking time out of your day
to come and talk to us.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Absolutely yeah.
Thank you for having me on.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Yeah, of course.
So I'd love to kind of hear alittle bit about you and you
know kind of how you got intoinsurance and then you know how
you ended up at East StreetInsurance, because it's my
understanding that it's kind ofnew to the Ohio area, but not a
new company.
So we'd love for you to justkind of fill us all in.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Right, yeah, so my dad has worked in insurance for
the last 12, 13 years, so that'swhat originally got me into it
for the last 12, 13 years.
So that's what originally gotme into it.
And once I was in my senioryear of college, I decided to
apply for an open position, gotthe job, and so that's what kind
of started me with my interestin insurance, just being around
(02:37):
it, growing up around it, and soI've been there for four years
now, started on October 1st tobe four years, and so we have
Indiana and Ohio where we writeinsurance at.
East Street is a subsidiary ofIndiana Farm Bureau insurance,
but we're all the same company,same writing.
We just write through our owncarrier.
(02:58):
We've been doing insurance inIndiana for about a hundred
years and Ohio, uh, three, fouryears now.
So, yeah, we're new to Ohio,but not new to insurance.
And, yeah, I've been four yearslooking forward to seeing how
it goes.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Yeah, I love that and , um, help us to kind of
understand, cause obviouslyevery insurance company is, you
know, a little bit different.
Um, you know, everyone kind ofhas their own thing.
Like obviously you'll hear likeprogressive, like bundle, and
all of that stuff.
You know a little bit different.
You know everyone kind of hastheir own thing.
Like, obviously you'll hearlike progressive, like bundle,
and all of that stuff.
You know.
So what is it you know aboutEast Street Insurance that is
(03:33):
different than you know othercarriers?
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Yeah, so it depends on which insurance types of
companies you go to.
Independent agencies are goingto shop several different
companies, which can be can bebad, depending on how that goes.
We are a captive agency, so weare.
We only write through our owncarrier and we are Indiana, ohio
, so we're local to the Midwest.
(03:57):
So any other issues that happenin California, in New York,
whatever it is, that's not goingto be affecting us.
We just help ensure the key isas well, because we have local
problems, local company, localproblems.
But the biggest thing that Iwould say sets us apart is our
customer service ability tocontact an agent.
So seven days a week you cancontact me call or text and most
(04:22):
hours of the day I'll be ableto get back to you.
So that's one of the biggestbiggest parts.
But an even bigger part ispaying claims, which you know.
What's good is insurance whenit comes to claim time and your
company doesn't want to pay.
So we try to pride ourselves onour ability to pay claims, how
fast we can pay claims and howpainless we can make that
process.
And many companies we work withbody, body shops, restoration
(04:46):
companies, whatnot call us thegold standard when it comes to
claims because, for example,tornadoes happened a year or two
ago.
Greenwood, indiana, knockeddown a bunch of houses, knocked
it out completely, tore themdown.
We had everybody already paidout.
Construction started before anyother company even arrived on
the scene.
So it's things like that thatreally set us apart.
(05:08):
So you have the low price,which most people want to go for
, just the low price only, whichis great.
We have those, but also on topof that, you're going to get
great customer service andyou're going to have the comfort
knowing that your client willbe taken care of when it comes
time for that to happen.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Yeah, that's amazing.
So, like with us, you know wewere referred to you, we called
you and, um, you know, we sentyou all the information.
Is that kind of how ittypically works with you.
You know, I can imagine thateveryone that is working with
you is so excited to refereveryone they know to you.
Um, so kind of walk me throughthe process, like if someone
calls you and they're like hey,I'm, I'm trying to save money on
insurance, like what, what youknow?
Just what is your process?
(05:51):
Like, what do you do?
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Yeah, yeah.
So, um, you give me a call.
I do get a lot of calls, so ifI don't answer, just leave a
voicemail or text message.
I'll get right back to you.
But basic process is just getyour basic information name,
address, date of birth, vinnumbers on the cars and then
I'll be able to get a quote withthat info and at least take a
(06:15):
look and see.
Take a look and see.
It doesn't cost anything to runa quote, so it's free to just
take a peek if you want to, justto see if we'd be able to save
you money and most of the timewe were able to do that and
we'll get you in the door, getyou taken care of.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Yeah, I love that.
Now, if you pull thatinformation and you're like kind
of shopping, I know you knowsome people are afraid that,
like if they start shoppingaround, you're going to like let
their other company know thatthey're shopping around or
whatever.
So is that like, whenever youenter in that information, does
that flag anything?
(06:48):
Or flag the insurance company?
Or like whenever someone isapplying for a loan, sometimes
that will, it triggers all theseother lenders to start reaching
out to you and like trying toget your business.
So is it kind of the same thingwith you guys, or?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
No, insurance is a little different, so we're not
going to notify your company oranything like that.
You can shop with as manycompanies as you want and your
current company may never knowunless you tell them.
And then the worst thing I'dsay you have to worry about is
there's a soft pull on credit,but it's not like a hard pull or
(07:24):
anything like that, so it's notgoing to affect your credit.
But they do take a look at thatto determine rates sometimes,
but it's like similar to howCredit Karma does it, where it's
like not going to affect yourcredit or anything.
So, but beyond that, no, it's apretty, pretty simple, pretty
painless to get a quote.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Yeah, I love that.
Now, obviously, car and homeinsurance are things that you
cover.
Is there anything else that youguys do, or is it just car and
home?
Speaker 2 (07:51):
Yeah, so we've got car home renters, life and we
have some business insurance.
Right now we're working onexpanding that in Ohio.
We're pretty well establishedwith that in Indiana, but the
Ohio one.
It just depends on what kind ofbusiness you have.
But we are able to do somebusiness and coming soon we'll
be able to do most businesses.
But, yeah, car home renters,life are the main things we do
(08:14):
right now.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
Yeah, that's great and I feel like that's something
that everyone that ispurchasing a home should be
thinking about is, you know,life insurance, you know making
sure that you're protecting thatasset that you just bought,
also making sure that you're,you know, protecting your family
if something happened, andthings like that.
So I love that you guys kind ofhave that.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Yeah, for sure.
It's definitely the mostimportant product, especially
because it's pretty cheap.
Most people don't realize howcheap it is until they actually
get a quote on it and, um, youknow, hundreds of thousands of
dollars pay off your mortgage,pay off all your debt.
Go to your family if you die,for the cost of a pizza a month.
So it's, it's pretty pretty, uhpretty important product.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Yeah, absolutely.
Now do you have differentcompanies that you work with
with the life insurance part ofit, or is it all still with the
Indiana?
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yeah, we have two carriers, One's called United
Home Life, one's the otherUnited Farm Family Life, under
the same umbrella with FarmBureau.
So it's pretty, pretty similarsituation where we just we keep
it all in-house.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
Yeah, when I like that you brought up renter's
insurance too, because anyonethat's listening to this if you
are renting at the moment,hopefully you have renter's
insurance.
If you don't, I highlyrecommend it because if anything
happens or someone was to breakin, steal all your stuff, or
maybe there's some sort ofdamage that happens you know, a
(09:41):
fire or whatever Hopefully yourapartment complex is going to
help with some of that, but youdefinitely want to have your
renter's insurance to be able tocover all of your items that
were inside the home.
So do you?
Do you get a lot of people thatcall you about renter's
insurance?
Like, how do you kind ofexplain that?
Yeah, yeah, I get a you aboutrenter's insurance.
How do you kind of explain that?
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Yeah, I get a ton of renter's insurance.
Most people do bundling withthe auto because it gives you
the same bundling discount ashaving a home with your auto, so
that's a benefit of it, andmost of the time it's only $10
to $15 a month, so it's prettycheap, and there have already
been a handful of instances inthe last month or so of people
(10:21):
needing to use the renter'sinsurance that maybe otherwise
wouldn't have got it.
So it's also important.
But you know, I work in theinsurance industry so I think
most all insurance is importanttoo.
But yeah, it's a great product.
It bundles with your auto, soyou save a lot of money on your
auto too if you bundle bothtogether.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Yeah, I love that.
Now, do you guys have?
So you know, obviously in thenews you know we've heard a lot
about, like, insurance companieshaving to raise their rates or
having to drop.
You know, certain people Like,especially you know I think we
hear it more in like justbecause of like all of the like
(11:02):
hurricanes and all of that stuff.
Have you guys ever had aninstance like that where, like,
maybe there were so manytornadoes or so much stuff that
you guys had to just dropclients or like?
I guess I would just love yourtake on the insurance industry
right now, since all we'rehearing is like oh my gosh like
people can't get insured andinsurance companies are going
(11:22):
under because of all of the youknow catastrophes around the
world.
So yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Insurance is a very reactionary type business and
most companies weren't doingincreases over COVID.
The first couple of years ofCOVID they weren't doing any
increases, and most of the majorcompanies that you know of and
you see commercials I've lostbillions of dollars, so they had
to unload a lot of clientsbecause of that.
We took gradual increases withCOVID and it was able to help us
(11:52):
stay sustainable, and now a lotof those companies are having
to take larger increases thanthey otherwise would have if
they just had done smallerincreases at a time.
But as for us, we haven't hadto unload any clients like that
since the 1980s and so, as faras I've been told, they don't
(12:14):
plan on ever doing that again.
They're staying ahead of thegame on it.
So our financial rating was A,a plus, I think I forget it was.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
It was the top tier, whatever the top tier rating was
listed by Forbes.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Our financial rating was yeah, we're in pretty good
standing as far as that goes.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Yeah, I love hearing that because you know, like I
said, everybody in the you knoweverybody listening to the news
media is thinking.
You know, like I said,everybody in the you know
everybody listening to the newsmedia is thinking you know the
sky is falling with basicallyeverything.
But you know, and I love that,you guys kind of took that
approach where it's like, hey,we're just going to gradually
increase so that we continue tostay ahead of the curve.
It reminds me of kind of likethe Southwest model where you
(12:57):
know, when they first started,they, like, you know, their
first year, they, you know, like, didn't want to lay anybody off
, so they, you know, sold aplane to make payroll instead of
laying people off.
So it kind of reminds me ofsomething very similar to that
that you guys are forwardthinking and making sure that,
like, you're not droppingclients, dropping employees,
just to, you know, make thingsright with financials.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
So yeah, yeah, we.
We reacted, I would say, ontime, whereas most companies
figured the COVID inflation andall the inflation over the last
few years was just going to be atemporary blip and then it
ended up sticking around for acouple of years.
So I think that's what hurtthem is they were betting on
that to not be a long-term thinginstead of going ahead and
(13:43):
taking care of it then and there.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
Yeah, I love that.
I just love that you guys areforward thinking and, like I
said, I love that you guys areso easy to work with, especially
if anyone listening has a Kiaand if it is, what?
Is it 2022 or older?
It is very difficult to getinsured anywhere else except
(14:05):
East street insurance.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Yeah, we have no, no restrictions on any Kias.
So, yeah, any Kia that you havewe'll be able to do it.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
Yeah, which it's my understanding that that's just
because they've been on the hitlist for people that are
carjacking and things like that.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Right, yeah, a lot of companies decided to drop it,
but most of the companies thatare dropping it because of the
carjackings and the peoplestealing them are covering
places like San Francisco, newYork City, dallas, you know.
They got a whole range of bigcities around the entire country
, whereas we're just Indiana andOhio.
So we're not really havingthose same problems that the
(14:42):
national companies are having,because we're a local company.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Yeah, I like that.
I wondered how you guys wereable to do that.
Yeah, that absolutely makessense For sure.
Kind of the law of averages?
Yeah, I love that.
So, in terms of homeownersinsurance, when someone calls
you and they say, hey, like I'min the process of buying, a lot
(15:05):
of people that are listening tothis are first time home buyers.
So how would you kind ofexplain to them why they need
homeowner's insurance?
Obviously, if they're getting ahome loan, they're going to
have to have homeowner'sinsurance.
But let's just say, forwhatever reason, they were
buying it with cash.
And you know, like what wouldyou explain to people?
Telling them, hey, this is whyyou need homeowner's insurance.
This is what we do, this is howwe're able to help, you know.
(15:27):
And then the customer servicethat you guys provide when they
do need to file a claim.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Right, yeah, so the biggest thing is mitigation of
risk.
So even if you have the cash topay pay off your house, pay a
house in cash you still want tomitigate that risk and put it on
somebody else.
Basically.
So you put $400,000 onto ahouse, buy it in cash and it
burns down.
A week later you don't haveinsurance.
(15:52):
You just lost $400,000.
So that's a big reason of whyinsurance is so important is
because if you lose everything,we'll pay to replace your house
as good or better than it waswhen it was standing and, as far
as the claims process goes,you'll be able to reach out to
(16:15):
me directly.
If you don't want to reach outto me, there's always the 1-800
number, and the biggest thingabout our customer service is
you have options with ourcompany.
So most other companies aregoing to just send you the 1-800
number.
You're going to get a differentrepresentative every single
time they come on the line,whereas with E Street Insurance,
you're going to have me everysingle time, if you choose.
(16:36):
If you don't like what I say,you can call customer service.
If you don't like what they say, you have an adjuster assigned
to you.
If you don't like what theadjuster says you can go to the
adjuster's manager.
If you don't like what they say, you can go to my manager.
So it's just like a wholevillage, a whole team of people
around you to walk you throughyour claim and to try to find a
satisfactory way to appease bothparties.
(17:00):
So of course we don't want toupset anybody but if it comes to
that, like I said, you have theentire village there, lots of
people to talk to, the wholechain of command around you.
Everybody's located in eitherIndiana or Ohio, so they're
either locally or mildly locally.
That'll really set our customerservice apart when it comes to
(17:21):
having a claim, because when youcall you're not going to get a
person in New York and thenyou're going to get a person in
LA York and then you're going toget a person in LA and then
you're going to get a person inum, you know wherever it is and
you're not going to have thatissue with us.
Speaker 1 (17:33):
Yeah, I love that Cause I feel like now, uh, a lot
of times I mean, anyone thatlistens to this show knows that
I am so passionate aboutfive-star customer service and I
only recommend people that aregoing to give, you know, that
five-star customer service and Ionly recommend people that are
going to give that five-starcustomer service.
And so I love that you all arelocal and you're able to do that
(17:53):
, because a lot of times now, Ifeel like whenever you call to
complain about something or youcall a customer service number
or whatever, you're gettingsomeone in another country that
barely speaks English, andthere's nothing wrong with that
other than you know you're notgetting that five-star customer
service.
Sometimes there's some you knowtranslation issues and you know
it.
Just, it becomes quite a hassle.
(18:14):
So I love that you guys havethat all figured out.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Yeah yeah, and sometimes you don't want to do
everything over the phone.
If you file a claim and you'renot satisfied with how things
are going, or you feel likemaybe you're not getting an
understanding of not just aclaim but anything with
insurance related and you wantto meet me in person, just let
me know.
We'll find a time that worksand we'll set that up and I'll
be able to do a review with youin person.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Yeah, I love that.
So you guys are only Indianaand Ohio right now.
Do you guys have any plans ofexpanding into other states?
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Yes, I'm not 100% sure which ones we're going to
be adding next, but I know thetalk to expand has been on the
table, so stay tuned for what weadd next.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
Yeah, I love that.
I love that.
Well, I'm going to make surethat I have all of your
information in the show notes,that way, if someone wants to
reach out to you, you know.
Are you okay if we put yourcell phone and your email?
Speaker 2 (19:11):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (19:12):
Perfect.
Do you have socials that you'dlike people to follow?
Speaker 2 (19:15):
I do have a Facebook page Ethan Hamby, E Street
Insurance.
So if you want to go give thata like, give it a follow,
That'll be my.
That's the only social mediapage that I have for business
right now.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
Okay, perfect, I'll put all those links in the show
notes then.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Sounds good.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Yeah Well, thank you so much.
Like I said, whenever you know,we were connected to you and
you were able to save us so muchmoney and you made everything
so easy.
I mean I literally like, textedyou pictures of the cars,
texted you event numbers, gaveyou all the information that you
needed, texted you pictures ofthe cars, texted you event
numbers, gave you all theinformation that you needed and
within hours, you were like hey,look, I'm saving you so much
(19:52):
money.
So, um, thank you for that, andthat's why I was like I have to
have you on here so you canspread the word, uh, to more
people about how amazing you are, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
I appreciate that.
I'll help everybody as much asI can, yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
I love that.
Well, thank you so much fortuning in.
Please make sure that you leavea review, because feedback is
the greatest gift that you cangive.
Please make sure you're alsosharing this with anyone,
because that is the greatestcompliment that you can give
Ethan and I and also follow theshow so you never miss another
episode.
Thanks so much and we'll seeyou next time on Come to Find
(20:24):
Out.
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