Progressive Insurance Acquiring Homeowners Group ASI for $875M

December 16, 2014

  • December 16, 2014 at 2:12 pm
    Agent says:
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    I wonder what this means for Independent agents who also represent Progressive. Will that market be available for customers for bundling credit? We had ASI Lloyds several years ago and all they did was write low value, plain vanilla homes with poor forms. It will be interesting to see how this develops.

    • December 16, 2014 at 3:28 pm
      DougJ says:
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      Are you sure that was ASI Lloyds?

      They only want newer nicer homes in the Houston area, and they write an HO 3, so the form is good.

      • December 17, 2014 at 10:17 am
        Agent says:
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        Yes, it was ASI Lloyds, but it was over 10 years ago that we had them. Perhaps they have changed since then when they got bigger. They were more like National Lloyds at that time.

  • December 16, 2014 at 5:04 pm
    Farmer John says:
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    Flomowners insurance!

    • December 17, 2014 at 3:20 pm
      Agent says:
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      Good one Farmer! Flo can get on the tube now and tell the Homeowners buyers to pick their own price.

  • December 17, 2014 at 11:33 am
    Autumn says:
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    I wonder if the independent agents who are appointed with Progressive now that don’t have an appointment with ASI will also have access to the commercial property/casualty coverage through American Capital Assurance Corp. Especially for Residential Condominiums.

    • June 26, 2016 at 9:15 am
      AGENT says:
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      No they won’t give agents that have both ASI and Progressive the advantage of selling both products together. They have contracted with a broker to write the homeowners. To me this is very unfair as they are nonrenewing contracts for independent agents now that don’t write five policies a month with them even if you have been with them for years. When ASI was still selling those GL that they were not successful in doing sold to Bankers and is now Cypress. ASI and Progressive built their business on the back of agents and has now done the agency agent businesses wrong over their own greed. JMHO

  • December 17, 2014 at 3:12 pm
    Sara says:
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    If this is American Strategic, this will be very good for Progressive. We’re trying to book roll from ASI to other carriers and their premium and form is hard to beat. Will be interesting to see how it plays out.

    • December 18, 2014 at 10:07 am
      Agent says:
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      Out of curiosity Sara, why were you trying to book roll from ASI to other carriers if their form and premium was competitive?

    • December 22, 2014 at 2:25 pm
      Bill says:
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      Sara, if you write in NC I would like to talk to you.

  • December 18, 2014 at 1:09 pm
    agent14 says:
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    If Progressive is smart, they will not make any changes to agent compensation, and they will also open up the PHA (Progressive Home Advantage) program to agents that have ASI and Progressive, but not the PHA program. Don’t fix something that is not broke!

    • December 18, 2014 at 1:33 pm
      SWFL Agent says:
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      You’re right – Progressive is smart. No matter what the press releases state, my guess is that over time Progressive will figure out a way to create different pricing and/or discount levels for the ASI product in the Progressive direct channel.

      • December 18, 2014 at 4:05 pm
        Agent says:
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        If Progressive is smart, they will let their Independents do the HO side. HO is far different to quote than Personal Auto, Boats or RV’s. Direct channel online or by phone is a different animal.

        • December 18, 2014 at 4:18 pm
          SWFL Agent says:
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          We’ll see. Direct quoting & writing for HO is not impossible (USAA, AMICA, etc) and I suspect Progressive thinks they can build a better mouse trap than the anyone else or the IA channel. I hope you’re right.

          • December 19, 2014 at 10:57 am
            Agent says:
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            Safeco and Travelers found out trying to sell direct did not work so they came back into the IA fold. I can just see some young geek answering the phone trying to do a HO quote in 15 minutes. I am sure he can get the score, protection class, age of roof, updates etc in a flash. Many times, the customer just doesn’t know or they will fib about it.

  • December 30, 2014 at 4:08 pm
    Mick M says:
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    Last year we took on ASI and we are able to bundle the Progressive auto and ASI home.

    • December 30, 2014 at 5:32 pm
      Agent says:
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      Mick, did you have a competitive quote on this bundling arrangement? We have a substantial amount of Progressive business on the books. I am waiting for their marketing rep to let us know what needs to happen to put these two markets together. We have a lot of stand alone Progressive business that we could bundle HO with if they are good.

      • December 31, 2014 at 10:50 am
        Autumn says:
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        Agent, do you have an appointment with ASI now?

        • December 31, 2014 at 1:54 pm
          Agent says:
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          No. We had them about 10 years ago, couldn’t do much with them at that time and it went away. I suspect I will have to re-contract again under this new arrangement. Maybe they are better now.

          • January 5, 2015 at 8:26 pm
            James says:
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            Agent, just remember this (Prog.) is the most wacko liberal carrier out there.

          • January 6, 2015 at 5:25 pm
            Agent says:
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            I know James. We have just used them for several years because they could handle things the other standards would not touch. They do have a good boat and RV market. Who knows how it will turn out when bundling credits kick in.



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