Those looking for a local and comprehensive insurance provider may want to step into the offices at Griffin Insurance agency located at 414 North Kentucky St. in Kingston. Started in 1980 by Johnny Griffin, Griffin Insurance has become somewhat of a local community staple, sponsoring and being involved in many community events over the years.
“I was born in Alabama, lived there for the first 30 or 31 years of my life before I moved to East Tennessee in 1972,” said Johnny Griffin. “I was in the textile industry, that’s how I got to move to East Tennessee. Of course, I moved up here before the textile industry started to move out of the country. But I lost my job in the textile industry and got into the insurance industry kind of by accident. It’s been really good to me, I opened an agency from scratch in 1980 and it’s become a reputable agency in Roane County.”
Since opening in 1980, Griffin Insurance has grown to represent multiple large Insurance companies throughout the country, and has a staff of around 10 people. Griffin says his agency sells any type of insurance that anybody would have a need for.
“I have a commercial department, and a personal lines department. About a 50/50 split between personal and commercial,” he said. “Most of my people get involved in the community too, I’ve been a past president of the Chamber of Commerce and the Lions Club. We mainly participate, as far as charity giving, to schools and youth activities, we participate in all the local youth sports stuff. That’s part of what I want from my staff is to be involved in the community, because that’s the way you know who you’re dealing with.”
Griffin also wanted to stress the difficulties facing the insurance industry since the start of the COVID pandemic.
“The insurance industry as a whole is undergoing hard times right now, because we’ve had all these catastrophic things,” Griffin said. “The price to rebuild a house, like if you have a total loss on a house, is at least 30%, and in some cases up to 40 or 45%, more expensive than it was just a few years ago.”
Griffin believes 85% of people now are likely underinsured due to these increased rates, and urges people to understand exactly how much coverage they have.
“We sell value, not price. Every insurance policy is not the same, and the time to find out that you don’t have the right coverage is not after you’ve had a claim.”
Griffin Insurance has ambitions for growth resting on new blood coming into the business.
“We hope to double in the next 10 years. We’ve got some young folks coming along. They’re just getting started but they’ve got a lot of enthusiasm and definitely have the knowledge and experience. So if they’ll just grow just like we’ve been growing over the past 43 years, then we’re going to be fine. We’ve been in business for the past 43 years, and we’ve come from zero to a fairly good-sized agency and have had a lot of good success. If the next 43 years are like the last 43 years, then we’re going to all have a good time.”
