Mercury broker appointment

[zozo]

For agent contract, is anybody knows the commission % pay by Mercury for both new and renew business? do they have bonus program?

[Rochambeau]

Well, Mercury is only having brokers because they HAVE to after the Krumme suit. So if brokers are finding it slow to get an appointment, that's why. Also, Mercury is a tough company to write for and nearly impossible to write for without training or manuals, which they are prohibited from providing due to the Krumme suit. They like that part of it though and now that AIS (a VERY large Mercury broker, for those of you outside CA) has been bought by Mercury and their contract will be switched to an agency contract, Mercury will be moving to do away with the Krumme injunction so they can do away with all broker contracts.

If you have a Mercury broker appointment, you're gonna have to convince Mercury that you are worth doing business with before they will convert you. Basically you will be up against what any other agency is when they apply for an agency contract. If you can show them sufficient volume and favorable loss experience, you stand a chance I would think.

As far as what do Mercury agents make, it is a sliding commission scale. Each year you gain a point if your 3-year average loss ratio for the preceding three years was under 55%. You lose a point if that average is over 60%. You stay the same if it is between 55 and 60. Maximum commission is 20%, I believe minimum is 5%. I don't know at what rate they start new agents.

Between the contingency commissions and the commisson rates of 20% if you are long-term profitable they REALLY incentivize producing quality business. We, for example, only put the creme d'la creme prospects with their preferred company. 5-years prior, loss free with no kids unless the kid is a good student. It took 10-years for our book with them to 'season' but now our 3 year ratio is in the mid-40's and I am looking forward to seeing our commissions rise. If you are making 20% on renewals and your competitor is making 10%, you will likely be making like 3-4 times the profit that he is, with a similar book. And then to get another 20% in contingency bonus? Not even fair.

[j_ruiz_1972]

Does anyone have the phone number for the Marketing Department of Mercury Insurance. I am looking for the name and number for California appointments.
Thank you

[j_ruiz_1972]

How do you get a hold of Mercury's marketing department for California agent appointments?

[newportins]

They are not appointing any new agents or brokers in California for now. They said they will announce something in the first quarter of 2009. I coudn't get anything other details.

[4morereferrals]

W2e used to have a broker contract with them until the Krumme v. Mercury suit basically forced them to make all their agents brokers. My understanding is that almost all of the brokers have chosen to change to agency contracts as did we.

Opposite. Most Brokers are now "agents." Krumme made Mercury draw a bigger difference between their agents and brokers - not just the ability to charge fees. Merc had to take away binding authority from brokers - or else the court saw them as an agent with a different name and the ability to charge a broker fee. Krumme felt this was against DOI policy - agent of the co. charging a BF... All because this guy Krumme doesn't believe in broker fees

Getting a new AGENT appointment is difficult to say the least, but the DOI and courts MAKE THEM give broker appointments. If you FORCE them to give you a broker appointment - you wont have binding, 5% max commission, and you will likely NEVER EVER no matter how good you are, get areal "agent" appointment.

[Rochambeau]

W2e used to have a broker contract with them until the Krumme v. Mercury suit basically forced them to make all their agents brokers. My understanding is that almost all of the brokers have chosen to change to agency contracts as did we.

Opposite. Most Brokers are now "agents."

Yeah, I goofed that.

Change that to "...forced them to make all of their brokers into agents."

[mark4insurance]

I am an Agent in Tampa Bay area of Florida. Does anyone have experieince with Mercury in Florida and what other companies are generally the most competitive on auto? Also what is the base commission Mercury pays and what on average is the total commission they pay with volume and contingency payments?

[Sean Powell]

Hi Zozo,
I am a web developer and I've been working on a website (clickandbind.com). The site serves the insurance industry and I'm doing some research to learn more about it. It looks like the process for getting an insurance broker appointment (or insurance agent appointment) is difficult and takes a long time to complete. This thread looks like an appropriate place to share some information about this.
ClickAndBind.com provides a platform that enables qualified licensed brokers and agents sell insurance online using your own domain name and brand (they provide the website). Part of their value proposition is that they help you to get through the broker appointment and agent appointment processes quickly. Working with ClickAndBind also makes it easier to get the appointments because between the various brokers and agents they work with, they represent a large volume of business to carriers.
From reading earlier posts on this thread I know you probably want information like approval percentages or whatever but I'm afraid I don't have that information, I'm just working on making the site better for brokers and agents from a technical standpoint. If you are interested in expanding the insurance products you are selling, and want to sell insurance online, then this site may be of value to you. I don't think they charge any fees at all unless you actually close a sale (a revenue sharing model) but I'm not sure about that so please ask them if you are interested. I welcome any feedback you may have on the website, your opinion of if it is interesting to you and your suggestions on how to improve it. thank you very much.

Sean

For agent contract, is anybody knows the commission % pay by Mercury for both new and renew business? do they have bonus program?

[sankykid]

Getting back to the original question...is Mercury appointing any new agents in California? Awhile back I heard someone say that simply having a Mercury appointment increases the sale price of an agency because it is so difficult to get a new appointment. Is this true?

Personally, I don't really care to write Mercury since they inundate their agents with endless underwriting memos. However, their ultra-competitive pricing on PPA makes them a necessary evil for many agencies.

[FurriePrincess]

Actually, Mercury isn't hard to work with. You will get a lot of memos until you learn the ropes. Their underwriting criteria requires the agent to provide some information not always requested by other companies, but it is pretty straight forward if you read the manual and complete the application in full with the client. They are competitive and their service has improved over the last couple of years.