We make all are money in personal lines. I only do commercial policies to lock up the household. In my area the average personal lines policy is $1100 per year and 15% commission. You only need 600 policies to gross $100K. If I was in your area writing $400 policies at 10% commissions I would not be...

One thing you did not mention is cross selling. If I was taking over a 2mil book I would first contact all your existing customers for reviews and cross selling opportunities. You should be able to produce a large volume of business just from the existing book. This should keep you busy enough to be...

You can't make any money doing business the way you do. I never leave my office. Either they come to my office or I do it over the phone, email and/or fax. Instead of driving all over town meeting with clients consider staying in your office. When a prospect calls me requesting a quote I get their i...

I started as a Farmers agent and am now independent. I have appointments with every company you listed and more. To get appointed you must contact the marketing reps for each company. They will want a business plan, loss runs for the last 3 years, and production reports. If you have a low loss ratio...

You need to check with the companies you do business with to see if they care about an original signature or not. None of the companies I do business with care. When I get appointed with a carrier I explain to them how I do business and make sure they can accommodate me. My agency does mostly person...

One main influence would be the government (Department of Insurance).

Try http://www.insurecat.com. They do Flood, Earthquake, and Landslide insurance.

There is a large motorcyce shop down the street from my office and they refer us business however, the companies that we offer are not competitive on sport bikes (crotch rockets). Is there a company out their that is competitve on these types of bikes in California?

I contacted the Insurance Information Network. They stated it is 12%

How would I find the % of Californians that have earthquake insurance on their homes?

Both.

For me the average personal lines policy is $1086. per year.

It will depend on what companies you have. For me the average is 14% new and 13% renewal.

On another note does anyone know of a company that pays 20% new and renewal on auto and home in California?

Are you trying to find out which is the worst company to work with? If so, I would say Farmers and Allstate are the worst and then State Farm and Liberty Mutual. If you are trying to find the best companies to work with I would aim your sites a little higher. A good company won't have a captive cont...

I'm an Allied agent and have e&o thorugh their group plan. I have not shopped it around in a while, does anyone know if it is competitive?