Carr appreciates life and work in a small-town community

New Hampton native’s path eventually led him to Guthrie County, and he now runs the State Farm Insurance agency in Guthrie Center.

 

By Rich Wicks | Guthrie Center Times

An old saying states, “We end up where we’re supposed to be.” As a native of New Hampton, Robert Carr has found that to be true. Although he has moved around and lived in more urban areas, he says small-town life is what he prefers. His path eventually led him to Guthrie County, and he now runs the State Farm Insurance agency in Guthrie Center.

Carr’s career path has had many stops along the way. He attended Luther College in Decorah, where he excelled on the wrestling team. While at Luther, he met Peg, and they were married in 1986.

“I worked as a senior vice president of a bank in Cedar Rapids until 2002,” Carr said. “Things went well, but I just wanted to own my own business. And as I looked around the insurance world, State Farm, to me, was clearly head and shoulders above everybody. So, I took over an agency in Ottumwa in 2002 and stayed there until 2008. Things went well there for us. We grew a lot, and then I got the opportunity to work for State Farm corporate. So, I moved into a corporate level position from 2008 to 2016, helping out in the hiring process, training, overseeing a lot of offices.”

Eventually, Carr realized he was ready for a change.

“I made the decision that I wanted to go back to a small town like I grew up in, take over an agency and stay until I retire. That’s what brought me here to Guthrie Center. I took over from Jen Policky, who went to a different role within corporate,” Carr said. “I grew up in a town of 3,000 people, and I just felt like a small town was home.”

Carr shared some basic information about the company he works with.

“State Farm has been around for over 100 years. It’s been known forever for home, auto and farm insurance. We also provide financial service planning,” Carr said.

He pointed out that his approach, and State Farm’s approach, are to deal with customers in the way that each prefers.

“Some like to do things on the computer. Some might prefer on the phone,” Carr said. “I grew up in a small town. I appreciate a handshake and being able to sit with someone and talk through things.”

Carr said he is a strong believer in having conversations with his customers to review coverage and see if the customer wishes to make any changes. In the insurance field, Iowa’s weather has caused many disasters in recent years, with tornadoes, derechos and other events. Because of this, insurance premiums and deductibles have been rising faster than expected, but Carr has advice on how to respond. 

“I tell customers a lot, ‘You have insurance to protect yourself from something that’s financially devastating, not something that’s financially aggravating. So, it’s OK to have bigger deductibles. You can’t insure for every little thing.’ ”

Looking to the future, Carr has no plans for major changes in his business, for now.

“My plans right now are to continue running this agency with the team that we’ve assembled here, to take care of our clients, until retirement, and I really have no idea when that will occur.” 

Carr said he appreciates being in a small town area again.

“My wife and I enjoy the community. We have a great team here. We all get along,” Carr said. “My wife and I have three great children. Our oldest daughter, Katherine, is retired military. She’s in Italy with her husband. Our middle daughter, Mallory, is a doctor and lives in Grimes, and we have two grandchildren, so they’re close. Our son, Benjamin, is 25 and a financial analyst with a company in Waukee.”

Carr is proud of what he and his team offer the community.

“We’ve been fortunate to have significant growth every year that we’ve been here. I think our customers appreciate the interactions and the channels that they can use to communicate with us,” Carr said. “We love the fact that it’s a small community where everybody knows everybody, and we hope we’re doing our share to help take care of the people in the community.”