Decatur State Farm Owner Celebrates 1 Year In Business – Patch

DECATUR GA — State Farm agency owner Travis Gilday celebrated one year in business Feb. 1 in the Decatur-Avondale Estates area.

His office is open 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and located at 89 N. Clarendon Ave Avondale Estates. He offers home, auto, life, business insurance and risk management.

“We want to be your insurance partner that you have a long term relationship with,” Gilday told Patch.

He’s been in insurance for about five years, he said, but has been an agency owner for one year now. Gilday said he decided to open his own agency in the community because there hadn’t been a State Farm agent for years.

“We have a great community that is thriving and growing in every way and I wanted to be a part of that growth,” he said. “I believe that our office can be a positive influence on our community as we grow together.”

Over the past year Gilday has noticed more customers have become interested in their auto and business insurance. State Farm has been the number 1 auto insurance provider since the 1960s, but they’re working on growing a name in the commercial insurance market, he said.

“We want to become a bigger name (there) and because of that, we have great rates on commercial auto insurance,” Gilday said, adding that they’ve been able to save local businesses hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars per year because they are so competitive.

One thing people might not know about the insurance business is that State Farm is locally owned.

“People see the State Farm logo and assume that we are a branch or a corporate office,” he said. “That is totally false. We are owned by members of our community just like the restaurants that we eat at and the shops that we support.”

People also believe the common myth that life insurance isn’t for everyone, he said. His agency offers life insurance and Gilday said that young people should invest in it now.

“As we grow older life insurance can become more expensive and we can have life events that might affect eligibility,” he said. “Life insurance is for anyone that wants to leave behind an asset rather than a liability. Most insurance policies we get and hope that we don’t have to use. Life insurance is the one policy that we are guaranteed to need one day.”

Gilday’s State Farm Agency has been in the community for a little over a year and he said the goal is to become a partner in community involvement.

“We want to connect with people, help them reach their goals, and assist in the growth of our community in a positive manner,” he said.

Know a business that is celebrating an anniversary, expanding or could just be a great feature? Comment below or send an email to Andrea.Watson@Patch.com.