American Centennial Auto Insurance Review

What is American Centennial Auto Insurance?

The American Centennial Auto Insurance Company no longer exists. Some sources suggest that it never existed in the first place. The business named American Centennial is currently held by Berkshire Hathaway’s financial and car insurance arm, though it is not listed on any official subsidiary documentation. American Centennial may have once sold insurance for cars or other items, but that time is long since gone. 

If you’re interested in purchasing an American Centennial insurance policy or would like to look at other, more realistic options, consider using our comparison tool. You can compare auto insurance policies from all the companies in your area and decide which one works for your needs for FREE by entering your ZIP code in our car insurance quote comparison tool.

Who is American Centennial Auto Insurance?

Founded in 1970, the American Centennial Insurance Company was originally intended to provide underwriting services for liability insurance policies. They mainly did business with multinational pharmaceutical, chemical and manufacturing businesses, providing company-wide insurance and specializing in industry-specific solutions..

The company struggled since its creation to support itself. Over the past twenty-five years, American Centennial has been bought, sold, traded and merged many times over. Its many struggles within the insurance industry have led to its lack of recognition by the major financial ratings companies, including A.M. Best, Weiss Ratings, and the Better Business Bureau.

Where is American Centennial Auto Insurance Located?

In its relative heyday, American Centennial once held offices in Delaware. However, according to the state’s insurance department, the company no longer holds any state licenses. However, its last known address was at 3501 Silverside Rd. in Wilmington, DE 19810. 

American Centennial also had major offices in California, where it still maintains a license. Research suggests, however, that this license isn’t current, as the California Department of Insurance doesn’t have any updated information on its website with regard to the insurance company.

In its prime, the company offered insurance underwriting services to companies all over the United States as well as international businesses.

As American Centennial is owned by Berkshire Hathaway, you may be able to find information about it through these channels. Berkshire Hathaway maintains offices in Omaha, NE, Alpharetta, GA, San Francisco, CA, and Pasadena, CA. Agents for Berkshire Hathaway’s insurance arm are located all around the country.

Of course, if you don’t want to go through the trouble of searching for Berkshire Hathaway agents, consider instead comparing auto insurance companies for FREE! Simply type in your ZIP code and you’ll get a number of the eligible companies in your area along with price quotes. You can easily compare and choose the best car insurance deal for yourself and your family.

Why Should I Get an American Centennial Auto Insurance Policy?

The main reason to get an auto insurance policy from American Centennial is because of the careers available with the company. Of course, you might be hard-pressed to find a job as an insurance agent with a defunct company; therefore, the next best move would be to seek a career with Berkshire Hathaway. You may do this in two ways.

• Be an independent agent. This is essentially a contractor relationship, as you will be asked to represent Berkshire Hathaway but will not qualify for any benefits from the company.
• Get a salaried job working for the company. Available positions include those for lawyers, marketers, customer service representatives, marketers and similar business-related careers.

How Did American Centennial Fall?

The fall of the American Centennial Auto Insurance company is a cautionary tale for both buyers and sellers of insurance policies. The company’s first mistake was taking and honoring the extensive claims made in the 1990s with regard to asbestos exposure. It had branched out and begun offering home insurance in addition to auto insurance.

While this difficult set of insurance claim payments were being made, the company was attempting to reorganize itself to become a reinsurance company rather than an underwriting services company. While this would have been less risky, the reorganization couldn’t have come at a worse time. American Centennial’s financial outlook was poor and getting worse.

In the late 1990s, the company entered dire straits and suffered heavy losses. It began failing to pay full insurance claims, which led to court cases and further loss of money due to legal fees. The company entered a financial downward spiral as the company attempted to pay less and less to its clients.

Asbestos exposure was a difficult issue, since most claims had to do with old enough cases that the insurance company was no longer collecting money from the involved companies. However, American Centennial still had to pay, as the the initial reports of problems were made when the involved companies were still paying their premiums.

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