Richmond & Richmond Insurance of Madison Township receives four awards from Pekin Insurance

Jul. 6—Pekin Insurance, a 100-year-old company from Illinois, operates on the principle of going "Beyond the Expected" in serving clients.

One of the company's independent insurance agents in Ohio that has done very well in carrying out that philosophy is Richmond & Richmond Insurance of Madison Township.

In fact, Richmond & Richmond received four awards from Pekin for outstanding performance in 2021. Those honors were distributed at a Pekin event for Ohio agents that was held recently in Columbus.

During the ceremony, Richmond & Richmond Insurance was named the winner of Pekin's 2021 Ohio Agency of the Year Award.

This honor is presented annually to one agency in each of Pekin Insurance's core states: Arizona, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin. To win the statewide award, agencies must meet Pekin's criteria of excellence, commitment and dedication in the sale of insurance and exemplary customer service.

Pekin Insurance is represented by more than 1,500 independent insurance agencies that sell the company's auto, home, business and life insurance policies in 21 states. The company is named after its home base of Pekin, Ill.

With Pekin being a smaller insurance company, it doesn't run national TV commercials during prime-time programs and major sporting events, which is routinely done by large-scale competitors that are household names. That observation was shared by Peter Richmond, co-owner of Richmond & Richmond Insurance.

"Pekin expects us to make sure that we get it out there, that this is a really good company and buy from them," Peter said.

Richmond & Richmond, which is located at 2461 Hubbard Road, is an independent insurance agency that offers coverage for different purposes from a variety of companies.

H.W. "Pete" Richmond, Peter's father, as well as founder and co-owner of Richmond & Richmond, said the agency began representing Pekin Insurance 10 years ago. He said 2022 is the first time they won the Ohio Agency of the Year Award.

Peter said he and his father are proud to be judged as the top insurance agency out of all Ohio representatives working on Pekin's behalf.

"Our size agency is probably small compared to some of their agencies, because it's just me selling insurance," Peter said. "These other agencies may have three or four different employees selling insurance."

Pekin also declared either Richmond & Richmond, or Peter Richmond individually, as the winner of three other elite awards for 2021:

—Gold Key Award — Peter received this award, which is given to the top 2 percent of Pekin agents who work within the company's core states.

—Underwriter of Merit Award — This award is given to agencies that have met high levels of performance in the sale of Pekin's property and casualty insurance. In 2022, Richmond & Richmond has earned Pekin's Underwriter of Merit Award for the 10th time, Peter said.

—Beyond the Expected Award — The award is bestowed upon agencies that qualified by receiving the Underwriter of Merit Award and had at least one member who earned a Gold Key Award.

Pete Richmond founded his insurance company in 1983, the same year he welcomed aboard son Peter as a partner.

However, Pete's entry into the insurance industry dates to 1961, when he became an agent with the Kentucky Central Insurance agency office in Ashtabula. He's represented or owned various insurance agencies continuously for 61 years, and has been a member of the Madison community since 1963.

Today, Richmond & Richmond Insurance offers insurance coverage through companies that include Progressive, Donegal Insurance Group and Mapfre Insurance.

Pete said Richmond & Richmond Insurance strongly believes in personal customer service provided by employees based in its Madison Township office.

"You're not just going to come in here and simply buy a policy," Pete said. "You're going to get our knowledge and help that goes along with it."