Car insurance company with history of consumer complaints to pay Illinois over $200,000

First Chicago Insurance — a car insurer that's drawn attention for its high number of consumer complaints — and a related company have agreed to pay Illinois $201,750 and improve their claims handling practices, after state insurance examiners uncovered numerous irregularities.First Chicago and United Security Insurance, both owned by Warrior Invictus Holding Co., sell nonstandard auto insurance policies to drivers who don't qualify for coverage with better-known insurers, often due to poor driving records or a history of crashes.The Bedford Park-based companies signed a consent order with the Illinois Department of Insurance on July 13 in which they didn't admit fault but agreed to the forfeiture. The consent order was announced in an Aug. 13 letter from the department to the companies.First Chicago was the most complained-about auto insurer in a , with its clients as well as drivers who were hit by First Chicago-insured drivers filing complaints with the state's Department of Insurance.The order resulted from a market conduct examination conducted by Illinois regulators last year, in which examiners looked at the companies' practices from March 2024 through February 2025 and complaints from September 2023 through February 2025.They found delays in the claims handling process, improper cancellations of policies and a failure to return unearned premiums in a timely manner, among other issues.First Chicago was the subject of a previous market conduct exam in 2017 that resulted in a consent order requiring them to pay the state $61,850 in 2018.Patrick Hincks, outside corporate counsel for First Chicago, said Monday that the company is committing "significant financial resources" to customer service to improve the claims handling process."We are really focusing on that and have been for the past couple of years," Hincks said. "We take customer service very seriously."McHenry County resident Stacie Barger waited 17 months to have First Chicago settle her claim, after a First Chicago-insured driver collided with her car, totaling Barger's vehicle and injuring Barger and her passenger.Barger said Monday that she's still waiting for a settlement check that was promised on Aug. 10. The accident happened March 1, 2025.Barger said she was told on Friday that the check was mailed to the wrong party but that a new check would be mailed in seven to 10 days.The 2024 Sun-Times investigation found eight companies, all selling nonstandard insurance policies in Illinois, had amassed exponentially more complaints than more well-known insurance companies.The companies accounted for 5.28% of the state's private passenger liability insurance market and 2.85% of the damage insurance — collision and comprehensive — market in 2023. But they drew 1,340 complaints — about 40% of the 3,370 complaints filed in Illinois in 2023 against auto insurers.READ MORE

Read the Sun-Times’ 2019 “Car insurance roulette” investigation that found drivers in Illinois can be charged more for automobile insurance on the basis of non-driving factors, even just for being a woman, regardless of your driving record.

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Car insurance company with history of consumer complaints to pay Illinois over $200,000