Agents Win When Sheboygan’s Fall-ing Mutual is Saved

A few years ago, Sheboygan Falls independent agents were working with a company with outdated technology, high expenses and a questionable future. Now they have a company they can believe in and recommend to policyholders with confidence.

“Agents are better off because the company has a better [“A” -Excellent] A.M. Best rating- it is better off financially,” said Fred Dreher of the Philadelphia-based law firm Duane Morris LLP, who is the legal brains behind the Donegal acquisitions of demutualized carriers.

Sheboygan now provides its agents with a direct computer link to a proprietary rating system and other technological tools that weren’t available before the takeover.

That’s not to say there aren’t potential concerns for agents. When a smaller insurer is taken over by a larger one, it can often lead to a reduction in agency force. But Dreher said most Sheboygan Falls agents have little to fear on that score, unless their loss ratio is bad.

Les Trempe, an owner of Trempe Insurance in Sheboygan, thinks agents are enthusiastic about the demutualization of Sheboygan Falls. “No one had anything derogatory to say,” he said, referring to the latest agents’ meeting. Trempe said he has already seen some rate reductions. “In general, the change is very good for the company, for the agents – and ultimately, for the policyholders, as well,” he said.

Scott Umland, owner of Umland Insurance Services, LLC, in New Holstein, has been an appointed agent with Sheboygan Falls for 25 years. “I see where there are some positives that will come of the change through additional products and automation,” he said. Umland is grateful that Donegal seems intent on maintaining the strong agent-carrier relationships. “It is nice to see that they are keeping the Sheboygan Falls employees and the working relations that we’ve developed over the years.”