“Each year, thousands of new commuters take the bus to work. You too, can ensure a safe trip, every day.”
“OR YOU COULD DRIVE YOUR CAR!”
Even though I’ve never personally been to Washington, the place has been on my list of future road trip destinations for years. In addition to the gorgeous Pacific Northwest coastline, this state seems to have so much to offer. The legendary Space Needle. The original Starbucks cafe. And of course, no Washington travelogue would be complete without a nod to the Vern Fonk insurance company.
Vern Fonk first caught my attention through their hilarious videos, back in the days before social media, when people had to actually email these sorts of things around to make them go viral. I was meeting all my car and renters insurance needs through Nationwide at the time, and though that company was a perfectly good conglomerate with excellent customer service, after seeing what Vern Fonk and his team were capable of, I seriously considered switching my coverage.
Providing “high risk coverage” is a pretty specialized field within the automotive insurance industry, but even drivers who haven’t been involved in multiple accidents, or had their license suspended, or been arrested for Driving Under the Influence, etc., will be able to enjoy these hilarious commercials. Most of the advertisements were written and produced by the late, great Rob Thielke, the manager of the company’s branch in Everett, WA. Thielke played a starring role in these commercials until he passed away in 2015, and many people actually mistook him for the company’s founder, Vern Fonk.
I recently spent a few minutes doing some Internet sleuthing, and I’m happy to report that yes, the Vern Fonk insurance agency is still in business. But even though the company’s website is looking a lot more conventional these days, with more images of happy families and safe drivers than of cowboys and storm troopers, I’ll always remember Vern Fonk from its early days, when it was one of the very first insurance companies to appear on that “Inner-met.”
So if you ever find yourself in Washington state, and you happen to drive by one of their convenient branch locations… don’t forget to Honk for Fonk!