SAFECO Launches High-Risk Auto Program in Texas

SAFECO has launched a new high-risk auto product in Texas called insurQuest, offering agents a multi-tiered compensation program including fee commissions.

“With insurQuest, SAFECO’s agents who sell customers several different insurance and financial products will have another product to offer, thereby increasing agencies’ profits and retention,” said Chuck Hansen, insurQuest vice president.

But insurQuest won’t be limited to existing SAFECO agents. The company plans to add insurQuest agents who specialize in writing high risk and already handle high volumes.

LeRoi Brashears, SAFECO spokesman, said the additional insurQuest agents will not have immediate access to all SAFECO products, however. Just how many agents will be appointed has not been determined, though Hansen said it will be based on a mathematical formula created by SAFECO.

“Agencies will receive the same ease of doing businesses and competitive rates and commissions that they have come to expect from other high-risk carriers,” Hansen said. “Plus, they’ll get the added attraction of SAFECO’s customer service for agents and customers through a toll-free number staffed by specialists knowledgeable about the non-standard auto industry.”

InsurQuest will be written by Homestate County Mutual based in Dallas. The product will be priced competitively with other high-risk companies on a region-by-region basis with three programs with different commission rates (between 8 and 15 percent for new business and 6 and 12 percent for renewals) plus commissions on fees generated.

InsurQuest will charge customers some service and applications fees to make up for the higher costs involved with underwriting high-risk clients, and agents will get a share of those fees.

After insurQuest’s initial launch in Texas, it is scheduled to roll out to as many as 13 other states by the end of this year, and the remaining states SAFECO does business in during the next two years.

Topics Texas Auto Agencies New Markets