Getting First Preferred Carrier Appointment

[Jacqueline]

Why are you running mvr's and clues on quotes in the first place it's a quote ( estimate based on the information the customer gives you ). Your not the only one in this situation, I've wondered how to get the preffered appointment myself, because most of them want you to be appointed with atleast one prefered already and see how your doing with that. I've sort of given up on trying to get a prefered carrierer and am working on getting my life lisence. Try working with one of those wholesale.

I don't voluntarily run MVR's and CLUE's in the quote part, but what happens on AIG's webrater and DRS software is this:

When the customer likes the quote (even though you explain that it is not written in stone, and that the actual price could change depending on their MVR and CLUE) and prepares to buy the policy with that quote price in mind, you have to click on the tab for APPLICATION to convert the quote to a policy. It is at the final tab that says "FINAL SALE" that you click on to print and upload the policy/app which automatically brings up a message box that says "Retreiving Reports" and then if there's anything on the customer's MVR or CLUE, a window pops up with the AIG's codes for various violations and drivers license points which you can dispute or not and then click "OK" on order to continue. If they get mad and say, "there'e no way I'm paying that...." and leave, the policy doesn't get uploaded - it just ends up a dead end that the agent gets charged for. If they agree to buy even with the revised quote based on the POS CLUE and MVR reports, there's no problem because then the agent is not charged for the MVR and CLUE for a policy app that didn't go anywhere. But too often that's not what happens, especially considering what you deal with when having no other options for making a living selling insurance except to the non-standard market. Most non-standard customers are also low income so even as little as $10 is enough to break a sale. Non-standard customers also rate shop and hop agencies and carriers alot more frequently than the preferred ones do, which is why building a book is next to impossible witht the non-standard market, unless you're lucky enough to be well established as the biggest - or the only non-standard agency in town.

Customers get pissed off and leave at that Point-Of-Sale - AFTER the MVR's and CLUE's got pulled at the "FINAL SALE" part. It is precisely at that point that the MVR and CLUE has already been pulled and either the customer buys because they like the price or they get pissed off and don't buy and get up and leave because they don't like the new revised price based on the MVR and CLUE reports that were automatically pulled when the agent has to click on the "FINAL SALES" tab to upload the policy. If there's anything adverse on those MVR's and CLUE's which causes the customers' quote to change, they get pissed off, get up and leave - and the poor agent has not only worked for free (because we only get paid if we sell anything, we don't get paid for our time in providing the services leading up to the sale - or lack of sale), but now that agent is also charged $8 by AIG for the MVR & CLUE for quotes that dead-end and don't end up as sold, uploaded policies. So unfortunately, there's NO WAY around getting hit with being penalized by AIG for this when it's not the agents' faults. Victoria and Progressive are the same way, too. I would love to place more business with Viking, but unfortunately their rates can't compete with AIG and with AIG, Progressive and others jumping on the direct write bandwagon, people call the 1-800 numbers on the tv infomercials and mailers and get free quotes and then figure they might as well just buy from there if the independent agent can't match it or beat it.

[Jacqueline]

Have you tried a group like "Combined Group"?

They're totally captive.

[Jacqueline]

First of all, congratulations for making the first step - independance. Now quit whining about the cost of doing business, etc. I was a bit older and a single mother when I started my agency from scratch 8 years ago.

Cathy or whoever and whatever you are: Not to be rude, but you have no right to be a bitch to me with your"stop whining" crap that you directed at me without having the least bit of understanding of my situation just because you're a single mother and single mothers have it so bad. You think you had it rough, but you were NOT DISABLED - I was and am and always will be! Big difference there, especially with health problems that you can't get taken care of if you're extremely poor and have no health insurance and no help with Medicaid! You chose to have kids - I DID NOT choose to have a disability!

As a single mother, did you get Medicaid, job placement programs available to you that gives preference to single moms and food stamps to help you? I didn't because disabled people never were treated as equal citizens in this country, not then and not now! I got NO help whatsoever - from anyone or anyplace! And being disabled, I can't economically fend for myself as well as someone who is healthy and non-disabled who can simply go out and get hired in order to get some sort of income. But very few disabled people get chances for jobs because employers don't want their insurance costs to go up so we go home poor and empty-handed without chances for jobs, unlike the non-disabled and younger population - even those who are single mothers.

As a disabled woman with some very serious health problems, I had NOTHING - even with chronic, permanent health problems and a disability I got NO help because I didn't have any kids, and because I am disabled and couldn't get a chance to earn a living either! I had my utilities shut off and was surviving on food bank rations with my home in foreclosure when I gave this racket a try as a theater of final resort because I DIDN'T have ANY other options for supporting myself and being able to survive.

You got a chance and a leg up 8 years ago - good for you. Things changed alot betwen when you got started versus last year when I started with nothing. 8 years ago it probably was alot easier to get that very first appointment than it is now. Plus you got a chance to build something up before having to compete against all the direct writiers that were already in place by the time I got started, which certainly means you had a different playing field with ALOT less disadvantages from the gate than someone starting last year or now. Did you have the ability to afford to rent office space? I didn't - I had NO money! I couldn't even afford food! I had to have the office in my house - which I came very close to losing and in which I had no heat, hot water or cooking for a year when our gas was shut off. As a result, I sat with NO appointments at all for the first 7 months after going through all the trouble to get my licenses so I would be "qualified". No reps were willing to appoint an agent who had no office, who was using their living room with their second-hand used furniture in their home in the poor side of town because after all, that's not a very professional-looking image, is it? But that's all I have and with no money, no access to any credit or ability to qualify for any business loans, that is all I'll be able to have for a very long while.

Second, if you think being a single mom is hard, try being a disabled older lady with medical needs and no means to get them addressed! Disabled people without kids can't get all the help from the various agencies that healthy young single mothers can get because NOBODY gives a crap about disabled people. We get begrudged a pittance of $500 and change per month SSI and looked down on by everybody else for having to apply for SSI, and often fight and appeal for YEARS just to get that - IF you can even get it at all. But because of being disabled, nobody hires us so we can earn a paycheck to support ourselves either. It took a goddam act of Congress passed in 1991 called the ADA - just to have access to and be able to physically enter facilities that non-handicapped people (who have job opportunities and incomes that the disabled DON'T get) take for granted: libraries, school buildings, offices, etc.

So I don't think you have any right to make snippy, rude remarks about me "whining" when it was NOT YOU who was disabled with no income at all, no money, medical problems and no access to healthcare and no chances to survive other than whatever chances you could eak out totally on your own without even a fair fighting chance to even be able to do that - which again depends on carriers being willing to appoint you and give you a chance as an independent contractor since companies won't hire you as an employee if you're disabled, poor and as a result of that, have bad credit too. How many disabled people do you see working as bank tellers, as customer service reps, as marketing professionals, etc in the local companies in your town? Probably one out of 100 employees - 1% - are handicapped. But how many of those hired in those aforementioned jobs are single mothers? At least non-disabled single mothers can get jobs to get incomes and be able to live. Disabled people don't get chances for that, for the most part, 99% of the time. Are we getting the point yet?

I have every right to "whine", as you put it, about the "cost of doing business" because it is a cost that should rightfully be borne by the carriers who are corporations with the ability to absorb and write off those costs or pass them onto the insureds in policy fees that are already included with the purchase of the policies whether those policies are bought from an agent or from a direct writing carrier. It should NOT be borne by the independent agents since agents can only sell policies, not make the rates, make the underwriting rules or force customers to buy if they can't afford the prices - which agents have NO control over whatsoever.

[kislodi]

There are several intermediaries with carriers. Try Superior Access who has Safeco, Travelers etc.

Or for more cash try NIA (Networked Insurance Agents)

[alardler]

"I have every right to "whine", as you put it, about the "cost of doing business" because it is a cost that should rightfully be borne by the carriers who are corporations with the ability to absorb and write off those costs or pass them onto the insureds in policy fees that are already included with the purchase of the policies whether those policies are bought from an agent or from a direct writing carrier. It should NOT be borne by the independent agents since agents can only sell policies, not make the rates, make the underwriting rules or force customers to buy if they can't afford the prices - which agents have NO control over whatsoever."


This is not a true fact and I can tell from your background that you have not worked for an insurance carrier before. Yes, the cost of doing business for a start up agency is huge, but asking the carriers to "absorb" these fees would only result in higher base premiums for ALL insureds. There would be no "write off" of the fees as you suggested in your last post.

And it is true that traditional non-standard customers shop their coverage at every renewal period. But I have known several agencies who cater to the non-standard market and do very well with it. $10 or even $5 cheaper premiums is a lot for an economically depressed client; but you have to sell your "service" to them and not just a policy. That will keep your customers coming back to you and will help you beat out the competition.

To contact a Deerbrook rep (I used to work for them a few years ago) visit their web site: http://www.deerbrook.com. For Encompass, http://www.encompassinsurance.com.

Maybe Iroqouis is not that advantageous in your area but it does very well in the Mid-Atlantic states. It's worth a conversation with the rep to come and visit with you. Networking with other agents in your area is a great way to find leads to other carriers. Don't let your clients get you down. You made a decision to do something very positive for yourself so take charge and be the best agent possible!

[Farmer]

I also use Superior Access, In the past it took a while to get things done with them but it seems like in the past 6-10 months they have improved quite a bit. I use them to place policies with The Hartford and Safeco on both Personal and Commercial lines. I am also getting a sub code with Safeco for binding pretty soon. For me when I just started out it was a great choice to use this particular wholesaler.

[mhutch69]

Hey Jacqueline,

listen to CathyIE, you will learn something. Writing non-standard business as a retailer and wholesaler has paid my bills for years. I have three children and 3 retail agencies. Quit whining. You can purchase a comparative rater to obtain an estimated quote in lieu of using the company websites.

If the customer wants to buy the policy, explain the truth will change the rate if different. Collect the down payment and add the necessary fees to the down to pay your costs. This will not cost you to give each quote.

If you use the company websites for every quote, you will not make much money. There is a comparative rater in PA. and you need to purchase it. Dairyland, Viking, Progressive, etc. will give you an appt. if they are in your state. If you are disabled, what is your disability? One of the largest writers in AZ. is blind. Completely blind. He has never whined to my knowledge.

You are looking for reasons to whine. Secondly, your advertising is NOT working considering the amount of time your have to write your long boring posts.

Lady, get something else to do....

Hutchman

[Jacqueline]

This is not a true fact and I can tell from your background that you have not worked for an insurance carrier before. Yes, the cost of doing business for a start up agency is huge, but asking the carriers to "absorb" these fees would only result in higher base premiums for ALL insureds. There would be no "write off" of the fees as you suggested in your last post.

Maybe written off was a poor choice of words, but the carriers can certainly add that $8 one-time fee as a policy fee. WHen struggling agents are forced to try to pass it on up front on quote seekers, people get pissed and walk out and go to the direct writers because they think they should not have to pay for the time and services of an agent. I just don't think it's fair that this company is undermining agents who struggle to sel for them and put in LOTS of time in getting those sales. If they want to shove the agents out, why not just go strictly direct like GEICO and get it over with? Why hit up the poor agent who is struggling trying to make a living - but absorb that $8 fee on the direct writing side?

And it is true that traditional non-standard customers shop their coverage at every renewal period. But I have known several agencies who cater to the non-standard market and do very well with it. $10 or even $5 cheaper premiums is a lot for an economically depressed client; but you have to sell your "service" to them and not just a policy. That will keep your customers coming back to you and will help you beat out the competition.

Low income non-standard people think first on cost - they don't care about better service - they care about getting of as cheap as they possibly can. This has been my experience so far.

To contact a Deerbrook rep (I used to work for them a few years ago) visit their web site: http://www.deerbrook.com. For Encompass, http://www.encompassinsurance.com.

Maybe Iroqouis is not that advantageous in your area but it does very well in the Mid-Atlantic states. It's worth a conversation with the rep to come and visit with you. Networking with other agents in your area is a great way to find leads to other carriers. Don't let your clients get you down. You made a decision to do something very positive for yourself so take charge and be the best agent possible!

I tried calling Encompass - got put in this voicemail menu pertaining to claims - THREE times! So I am going to email them now, if that is possible. Thanx for encouragement......I just wish I could see the light at the end of the tunnel here........

[Victoria860]

Just one word of warning. You don't know who is subscribing to the daily headlines from Insurance Journal or reading your posts. It could very well be that those same people in company positions in charge of appointments are reading your tirades and see no reason to work with someone who seems only to be complaining and saying that the company should absorb fees that they may have to be paying to another vendor as well. Just my two cents.

[CATHIEA]

Jacqueline,
The advice I gave you is the same advice I would give any new agent - based on my 30 years in the business. You also got advice from other agents on how you can succeed. Unfortunately, your responses to everyone have been the constant tirade of poor pitiful me! Where ever did you get the idea that owning any business was easy or fair? Or that passing a licensing test automatically got you company appointments of your choosing.

Company reps have to follow guidelines for appointments and prefered companies have the tightest. They rarely make exceptions and never in a hard market. And companies have been competing against us and passing off their costs to us for years. Of course these are things that you probably should have factored into your decision to become an agent/owner.

This business isn't just about what you know but who you know or who knows you - so I suggest you heed victoria860's words. Insurance people - especially those who are on the company side - go from place to place and company to company and most have long memories. Insurance people are like inhabitants of a small town where everyone knows everyone (and their business).

If you just wanted a chance to vent this is not the place - people take time out of their busy day to offer advice and solutions to anyone who asks. If that blind agent in AZ that mhutch refered to had had your attitude - I would never have taken a chance and given him one of his first company apponitments. Attitude is everything in this business and if you're this frustrated over something this trivial then owning an agency may not have been the solution you were looking for. There are many more frustrating things in this business than being charged for mvr and clue reports.

[InsAgentSF]

My 2 cents . My agency is using 3 wholesale brokers, here in CA for our Standard Carriers and we are pretty happy. Our #1 carrier is Star-Alliance Insurance Services, god bless them. Excellent company they have standard and non standard markets. We also write business with Agent Secure and ocasionally Superior Access. We almost never lose a client due to price... Good luck

[Jacqueline]

Jacqueline,
The advice I gave you is the same advice I would give any new agent - based on my 30 years in the business. You also got advice from other agents on how you can succeed. Unfortunately, your responses to everyone have been the constant tirade of poor pitiful me! Where ever did you get the idea that owning any business was easy or fair? Or that passing a licensing test automatically got you company appointments of your choosing.

Company reps have to follow guidelines for appointments and prefered companies have the tightest. They rarely make exceptions and never in a hard market. And companies have been competing against us and passing off their costs to us for years. Of course these are things that you probably should have factored into your decision to become an agent/owner.

This business isn't just about what you know but who you know or who knows you - so I suggest you heed victoria860's words. Insurance people - especially those who are on the company side - go from place to place and company to company and most have long memories. Insurance people are like inhabitants of a small town where everyone knows everyone (and their business).

If you just wanted a chance to vent this is not the place - people take time out of their busy day to offer advice and solutions to anyone who asks. If that blind agent in AZ that mhutch refered to had had your attitude - I would never have taken a chance and given him one of his first company apponitments. Attitude is everything in this business and if you're this frustrated over something this trivial then owning an agency may not have been the solution you were looking for. There are many more frustrating things in this business than being charged for mvr and clue reports.

$8 can be the difference between having a meal or not. I realize this may seem trivial to you. For the sake of example, if you are diabetic, have NO food and no money to buy any food, not having that $8 is not so trivial, is it? As far as mhutch is concerned, he did not come off as professional at all, he didn't even try to be civil - never mind helpful with real advice for someone who happens to be struggling very hard to make it - he came off as very rude, inconsiderate and insulting towards me, and I didn't like it so I spoke my mind and apparently you and he didn't like it. But the others who provided valid, nonjudgmental and non-insulting replies of real solutions - I thanked them for their suggestions - and have commenced action accordingly. But I guess you didn't read those posts. If you had, you would not falsely claim that all I did was whine and accuse me of failing to follow up on other options and suggestions posted by those here who were polite, non-judgmental and very helpful - which speaks volumes of their professionalism, character and integrity compared to you and mhutch.

But you and mhutch did not come off like those here who have been very helpful, especially mhutch who was very chauvinistic, caustic, rude, macho-egotistical and insulting - which is indefensible. If his time is too important to be the least bit considerate and respectful of my feelings, maybe he should not have bothered to take the time to reply at all. Maybe his machismo attitude scores big points on the racquetball court or in the men's locker room, but I guarantee you that it does not impress the rest of the world, including insurance customers. He was trying to be a big hot shot who bullies others from behind a computer screen. The world actually has people in it with IQ's above a houseplant who are unimpressed by sanctimonious pricks and know-it-all gas bags.

Now to answer your question (which was really nothing more than a thinly veiled insult): I was marginalized and not included as part of society - for at least 15 years due to being limited physically and financially as to how much I could participate in society. So how is it that I would know everything about careers in insurance when: (1) I had no one to mentor me as I tried to re-enter the workforce like other women who had made it or the very few disabled people who made it, or; (2) Having no social connection to someone whom I knew in the business that I could go to and ask what it entailed - presuming I would know as an "outsider" what to ask to begin with; and, (3) Had I not been made poor as a result of becoming disabled, I would be doing something else because I would have had the resources to be able to afford to follow my dreams. Having money and being able-bodied means having options, whereas not having any money and not being able-bodied means not having choices and options. So I didn't get to pursue either of my ideal careers : (1). a scientist at NASA or (2). an international lawyer.

Of course, since you are just sooo smart, you should have factored that into your responses before insulting me. I am just trying to find my way the best I can with the ONE option I DO have to make a living - as the option shown to me and advised by a friend of mine, a local state senator her in PA who knows me and my circumstances better than you and hootch. This is the last time I will even bother to dignify any insulting, sanctimonious comments from you and your pal hootch. Have a nice day.

[Jacqueline]

My 2 cents . My agency is using 3 wholesale brokers, here in CA for our Standard Carriers and we are pretty happy. Our #1 carrier is Star-Alliance Insurance Services, god bless them. Excellent company they have standard and non standard markets. We also write business with Agent Secure and ocasionally Superior Access. We almost never lose a client due to price... Good luck

Thanks insAgentSF! I located Agent Secure and a, filling out forms now. I will also call Star-Alliance and see if they deal with PA agents, too. Looks like this racket might actually work out for me after all - then I can pay off my student loans for the Bachelors Degree I got in math/comp sci and maybe turn around and then sell my agency, stash some $$ for going back for my doctorate in Physics so I can at least work off science foundation grant monies as an individual free-lance scientist if NASA won't consider a mid-life career entrant for a job there. NASA is geek heaven, where I always wanted to go! (my husband thinks I should go for my juris doctorate instead but I despise ambulance chasers so the last thing I want is to become one!)

Either way, I'll be able to pursue what I really love - particle physics and studying the solar system. Shouldn't be too hard - I slept in Differential Equations and Electromagnetic Advanced Physics and got an "A" in each of those classes as an undergrad. I am dead serious and have copies of my transcripts to prove it, too. I even have 2 grad-level math courses under my belt (Algebraic Topology and Analysis of the Complex Variable). What do you think? Sound like a plan, no?

[Mainemiss]

It is quite impressive to read the many kind and helpful suggestions that have been made to help Jacqueline.

I'm sure there have been many of us following this exchange who have been concerned about the attitude behind the problem but have continued to help with wisdom that I would have been glad to have received when I started my agency at age 57 more than a few years ago.

I would like to simply suggest that Jacqueline reread her posts and hear the anger and negativity in her words. I am sure that she may have a much more compelling reason than many of us to feel as she does and for that I am truly sorry...the point is though that attitude when talking to companies and to clients is of utmost importance and if the attitude that is transmitted is not positive, friendly and open to hearing the other person without rancor, success is virtually impossible.

If possible take a deep breath and try to put aside tha anger and let the kindness of strangers who have given wonderful guidance inspire some inner warmth and outer grace.

[MitchMA]

Jacqueline,

Do you have E&O insurance? If yes, how could your start-up 1 person agency get e&o insurance. Can I also ask you, how much do you pay for it? Thanks.