BOB COFFEY CELEBRATES 50 YEARS OF SERVICE AND OWNERSHIP

Coffey Insurance has been protecting local friends, neighbors and businesses in Freedom and the Fox River Valley since 1943.  

As an independent agent, we combine products provided by the most respected insurance providers into a custom package that meets your personal or business needs. 

When you request a quote, we work hard to find discounts that apply to you — multi-car insurance if you insure multiple cars with us, for example, or combined car/home insurance discounts. 

Our goal is always to give you the coverage you need at the lowest possible price.  Storm, fire, injury, accident – relax, Coffey Insurance Services can provide you coverage.

You are encouraged to call for an office appointment to review your current insurance coverage. 

Bring us your current policies and we will examine and make recommendations and, if you ask, we will also provide you a quotation based on our recommendations. 

No charge for this service!    

For example, in 1970, the average auto insurance Bodily Injury Liability Limits were $100,000 Per Person/$300,000 Per Accident. Our current recommendations are $1,300,000 including Umbrella Excess Liability!  Are you aware that a "jury" cannot be told your insurance limits?    Protect your home, retirement, assets and wages! Update your liability insurance. 

Please, call us for a free, no obligation review at

 920-788-3581 or 1-800-808-Coffey 

Working for about $12 a week in a small grocery store just wasn’t  cutting it for one Freedom man.  The late Art Coffey walked into a  nearby Freedom barbershop in 1943 with practically no money and a strong desire to do better for his young family.  He walked out completely broke toting a box of papers. 

The startup business expense was not a popular choice with his wife who was at home with their firstborn Fran, who came into their world with congenital birth defects and a lot of added doctor expenses. 

  The  box contained a beginning insurance sales business that the barber had  been experimenting with when he decided to sell it to Coffey, who  basically started from scratch selling policies door-to-door.  Art’s goal in buying the business was to create a job for himself where nobody could tell him when it was time to go home and stop working. 

  Coffey’s  box of papers became an investment that led him into a higher standard  of living for his family, and it continues today under the ownership of  his two sons Fran and Bob Coffey.  Coffey Insurance Agency from 1943 is  now Coffey Insurance Services, Inc. 

Fran said he feels some pride

that his medical issues might be what drove his dad to start the successful business.     

  Initially located inside the
Geenen  General Store at the corner of Hwy E and Hwy S, where the current  Citizens Park is in Freedom. Coffey’s insurance business began as a  local agency representing mostly the large stock insurance  companies.  Up to that point, area policies were represented mostly by farmers who were agents for Home Mutual, a small mutual insurance  company that later grew to become Secura.

Art’s challenge was to convince potential customers that his large  stock company insurance was better than the smaller companies, therefore making it worth their while to pay the higher prices.  "He would go out to Farmer Jones and say ‘my prices are twice as high, but we’re twice as good’," said Fran.    Eventually, Art specialized in insurance for municipalities and  school systems including Outagamie and Shawano counties, the city of Appleton, and  local  townships including Freedom, Vandenbroek and Oneida.  In 1950, Art  decided to build his own office building that still holds the business  on Hwy E today.

Fran entered the Freedom business in 1962, after graduating from Marquette University, and Art moved to a new Appleton office where he took care of all the municipal business there. As the municipal business became more and  more complex, Art sold out and retired. He died in 1988 at the age of  70.  Coffey Insurance’s current office manager, Cathy Vander  Logt,  started working with Fran in 1969. In 1972, Fran’s brother Bob entered  the business.  Coffey Insurance Services, Inc. was formed and operated  by the two brothers.

Home, auto, farm, life, and health insurance are all handled through Coffey insurance Services today. Fran is also a registered representative for stock and securities, helping people make educated investment choices.  Bob is a professional flight instructor on the side. Insurance is their main business function together.   “Today the agency deals on a very personal basis with our customers, any of which have been insured in this agency for 40 years plus,“ Fran said.  “We like to say we do business with friends rather than customers.”

Staying small was a choice that Fran and Bob made for their business.  The main focus continued on customer service, rather than on more sales work, which is common for most insurance businesses today, Fran said.  “Probably the negative part is that we aren’t becoming the largest company in the world, but we are very solid.  We lose people when they die,” Fran said. Bob said staying small was the greatest asset they could have ever chosen.  “Most insurance agencies have many assistants and few agents,” Bob said, “Here you always are talking to your agent. We love that close contact with our clients, and we are intimately familiar with their insurances.”

Customer loyalty has been the result of a service-focused agency, Bob said. According to Vander Logt, the smallness also makes for a comfortable working atmosphere.  “It’s a family atmosphere. We can joke back and forth about things.”  Vander Logt said.  She started working as a secretary right out of high school in her beginning insurance career.

Over the years, the three have witnessed many changes in insurance sales including home computer endorsements, sewer and water insurances, and flood insurances added as banks started requiring it.  A more recent optional terrorism coverage clause became available.  Many insurance companies started dealing with the customer directly, skipping over the agent.  Business accounts used to be the high pre-remium sellers, but now homes double some small businesses in insurance premiums. Computer technology is the most notable change in the last 10 years, they agreed.   “Today everything is done on computers.  Automation has been an extreme change, and it’s more important for the agents to be there to make the difference,”  Fran said.  “Today you can pick up the phone and get your car insurance, your house insurance but you’re just a number.  We want to be here if you have that car accident to console you.”  People repeatedly tell Fran that the human-to-human service that his agency continues to provide customers is much appreciated. “I still kind of rely on my files a little bit.  I still have the backups, but eventually that will be gone, too.” Vander Logt said.   

Bob said he remembers the day when he would not have known what to do with a computer in his office.  “Today we don’t need a file in our hand; we don’t need a pen in our hand; we do it all on the computer,” Bob said.  “It’s better. With the touch of a button, I can read the adjustor’s notes and tell the customer what’s going on.”   “Another benefit that computers brought is the ability for a small agency to provide any type of insurance available and from multiple sources,” Bob said.