manny79, in life insurance, most carriers do not contract directly with retail agents. Even if you are large life retail agent, you still have to go through the middlemen. Even life wholesalers have to go through another level of wholesalers.

Small agencies don't write enough to get direct appointments with most carriers.

Read the fine print on contracts with the clusters and aggregators. Most have a clause where you can't directly or indirectly contract with the same carrier for 2 years. You are locked into a particular cluster/aggregators if you want to continue writing with the same carrier.

I agree with "d's". Don't waste your time. I was CAARP certified until I recently submitted cancellation. You end up doing whole bunch of paperwork for very little commission. I think about half gets cancelled for non-payment of premium. I kept doing it thinking it as "community servi...

They are not appointing any new agents or brokers in California for now. They said they will announce something in the first quarter of 2009. I coudn't get anything other details.

I submitted a new Mercury broker application 4 1/2 months ago and still waiting for approval or even a denial. I don't know about other states, but for CA, they also asked for a copy of bank statements for 3 months. I felt unconfortable about sending this to anyone, but since Mercury rates are low i...

Based on what I read on Farmers and Zurich website, initially it will be business as usual, but eventually Zurich appointed agents will have limited access to Farmers owned products. They mentioned they will form a new brand (yet to be named) for the independents. I think they will consolidate all n...

In search of insurance market for massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) publishing company. New to U.S. market. They are interested in all types of insurance, including product liability.