Business focus: Insurance family tradition for Young brothers
Even though Mike and John Young are there for their clients during what can be a worst-case circumstance, bringing people together during the bad and the good is all part of a family tradition in the insurance business that the brothers gladly carry on at their new Post Falls agency.
The Youngs, who recently opened Basin Insurance Associates in Post Falls, are fourth-generation agents carrying on a family tradition dating back to the early 1900s. Starting with the agency their great-grandfather John Young III established in Alberta, Canada, all the proceeding men in the family have gone into insurance, helping countless clients weather such disasters as crop loss, auto accidents, house fires and everything in between.
“What’s interesting is that each person in our family has started an insurance agency,” said Mike Young, 31, as he sat in the office he shares with his older brother, John Young VI, on East Seltice Way. Young added that his father, the fifth John Young in the family, opened the first Hispanic insurance agency in the state of Washington in 1989.
With their new business, which is an independent agency and member of the National Federation of Independent Business, the brothers have joined together to offer all lines of insurance, including auto, home, business, life and bonds through such agencies as Travelers, The Hartford, Safeco and Oregon Mutual.
“Each one of us, from Mike, John (V) and myself, we all have different talents,” said John Young VI, 39. “When you have that kind of a structure, it just is a nice balance.”
However, inside Suite A on the Harbor Ridge strip, visitors and customers alike are enticed with cookies and coffee to hang out and chat, covering wide-ranging topics from sports to politics in morning and midday gatherings. That’s exactly what the brothers want in getting to know the people they serve.
“What’s neat about it is this place has become like a 1970s coffee shop; people just come in and want to talk,” the elder Young said.
“It’s definitely a family atmosphere,” Mike Young added. “We want our customers to come in so we can talk to them. They can get to know who they talk to here.”
Besides the personal interaction, the Youngs said they also stand out from other agencies in that they do whatever it takes to provide the best coverage option, even if it means taking a hit to their business.
“I want them to be properly insured at any time in their life. As long as they are insured and insured properly, because nobody wants to pay insurance until they need it,” the younger Young said.
With a list of more than 70 providers to choose from and both agents willing to send clients elsewhere if it’ll save them money, he added “I think we offer everything for everybody who comes in. All I care about is the person getting the best available price, preferably from our office.”
Victoria and Brian Vaillancourt are customers who are more than happy to recount their testimonial of savings. After searching the area’s other agencies and getting expensive quotes, the Vaillancourts, both real estate agents in Post Falls, came upon Mike Young’s previous office before the recent move. Three years later, not only do they have all their policies through Basin, they’ve even recommended the Young brothers to many of their clients.
“We walked into Mike’s office and he came up with a much better policy and saved us a lot of money,” Brian Vaillancourt explained, adding that they have more extensive protection than what the other agencies offered and still save $300 a month. “They’re very friendly and easy to talk to,” he went on, “Mike’s totally service-oriented, he follows through and he seems to find the right policy for people.”