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Are State agents able to sell their books of business to independent agents ?

If this were possible, you would have heard about this by now. State Farm owns the policies, not the agent. Once you look at the ownership of the book, you will realize the answer to your question.

agent14 wrote:If this were possible, you would have heard about this by now. State Farm owns the policies, not the agent. Once you look at the ownership of the book, you will realize the answer to your question.

Thanks for your answer.....

State Farm may own the polices, but NOT the Agent... In Florida and a coming soon to your state... All of the smart State Farm agents know there is a brighter way to do business, have an independent agency on the side that you can own and leverage against your "captive" parent. If your captive parent pushes to hard for life or bank business, tell them you will roll all of your auto business to your Independent Agency On The Side. That will set the ho straight. If you are a "captive" agent with the likes of state farm and do not have an "independently owned/operated" agency "On The Side" you know how to do it, your wife, son, son In law, trusted employee... You have no power over your captor. Take it from the florida agents, you need an independent agency on The Side. This is especially important at retirement, imagine writing all of those xdates that would otherwise be 4521 transfers to the new "Naïve" Agent... Yep, you get the picture, after you collect your "retirement stipend" you start rolling those xdates to your independent agency on The Side.. It's the best of both insurance worlds!

Farm Boy wrote:State Farm may own the polices, but NOT the Agent... In Florida and a coming soon to your state... All of the smart State Farm agents know there is a brighter way to do business, have an independent agency on the side that you can own and leverage against your "captive" parent. If your captive parent pushes to hard for life or bank business, tell them you will roll all of your auto business to your Independent Agency On The Side. That will set the ho straight. If you are a "captive" agent with the likes of state farm and do not have an "independently owned/operated" agency "On The Side" you know how to do it, your wife, son, son In law, trusted employee... You have no power over your captor. Take it from the florida agents, you need an independent agency on The Side. This is especially important at retirement, imagine writing all of those xdates that would otherwise be 4521 transfers to the new "Naïve" Agent... Yep, you get the picture, after you collect your "retirement stipend" you start rolling those xdates to your independent agency on The Side.. It's the best of both insurance worlds!

Yea.. I'm not looking to do that. But thanks anyway.. I've been on the captive and won't get back...

The good news is that Farmers went to this model about a year and a half ago. I believe Horace Mann has this business model for their agents as well. Allstate has done it for many years now and it's a winner. I think this is the future trend and it's a win win for all parties involved. Hopefully Start Farm and other will see the great benefits of having agents build their own equity. Allowing a captive agency to sell their book gives them pride of ownership, it also helps the company because it's a built in recruitment tool. Lastly orphan accounts that don't pay full commission often end up moving to another agency, while agents who purchase accounts have skin in the game and they will be more aggressive on keeping an account.