BUCYRUS, OH (CRAWFORD COUNTY NOW)—A longtime insurance agency in town has you “covered.”

Plymale Insurance Group, 125 W. Rensselaer Street, has been serving the insurance needs of Crawford County area residents for 85 years. A firm committed to clients – and the community.

“I like to say we are very hands on,” said owner and agent Lee Plymale. “I love when clients come in and talk to me. We’ll sit here and just chitter chatter. That’s what I love about this community.”

Plymale, 50, is a self-described country boy at heart. He was born in Bucyrus, graduated from Bucyrus High School in 1993, and went on to the former Bluffton College where he earned a bachelor’s degree in 1998.

As planned, he joined his father, Richard Plymale, at Newman & Plymale Insurance Agency that October. The elder Plymale had purchased it from Donald Newman in 1973, but the agency first opened its doors on April 1, 1940.

Lee Plymale prefers to call himself a third-generation owner. “Don and his wife, Margaret, we called her Maggy, were always like grandparents to me,” he recalled. “They were like an extended family to me growing up.”

Now in its fourth location, Plymale Insurance Group has expanded over the years, most recently in 2014 with the acquisition of another longtime business in Galion – the Wilson Insurance Agency at 743 Harding Way East.

With two locations, Plymale Insurance Group not only covers auto, home, commercial, and life insurance, but as an independent agency also strives to find competitive rates with the other carriers they do business with, Plymale said.

In addition to Erie Insurance and Encova (the merger of Motorists and BrickStreet), Plymale Insurance also works with Foremost, Progressive, and Ohio Mutual Insurance Group to get the best coverage for policyholders at the best price, he said.

“One of the advantages of using an independent agent is that he or she works to satisfy your needs,” he said, “and we work on your side when you have a loss and follow through to see that you get fair, prompt payment and service.”

Although technology has changed the industry in recent years, Plymale said he still favors a personal approach for writing home insurance policies. “I personally inspect before I actually quote. I take pictures of everything they have.”

Down the road, Plymale said, the agency will remain committed to building and maintaining long-lasting relationships with clients and offering the same level of service the community has come expect over the last 85 years.

“We also try to do as much local support as possible to support all the area schools and businesses,” he said. “The biggest thing is you have to be in the public’s eye serving the community because ultimately that’s our clientele.”