What they don\’t address is how many clients purchase an online policy and then rush back to the agent as soon as they have a problem. Insured\’s do not understand what an agent does for them and that is because of the utter failure of the independent agent system on educating the public on what they do for them. If you watch the ads on TV you would have every reason to believe the only thing an agent does is kick back and collect 15% and adds no value to the process. Hopefully companies will get off their duffs and counter these ads before we lose even more market share, more agencies and more jobs!!!!!
I think you\’ve got it pretty well nailed. I get a great deal of clients whose immediate prior insurance was purchased online, and they found that when they had a problem or a claim that they had no one they could easily and consistently call for help.
– Able to quote multiple companies in house, where an individual would have to take the time to do that themselves. I know there are sites that claim to quote multiple companies and have an agent call you, but I never recieved any calls from those agents. An agent is also much better able to advise clients on which company has the best combination of price/coverage/service.
– An agent can help make a claim be processed much more smoothly than an individual is able to do on his/her own. If an adjustor is slow and not returning the claimant\’s phone calls, the agent can easily go over the adjustors head and have the supervisor speed things up. The agent can also resolve any ambiguities in the claim.
– An agent can (or should be able to) actually read and understand an insurance policy, which I doubt 99% of the personal lines insurance buying public does.
There\’s more, but I\’m on lunch. Other agents are probably busy selling.
Independent companies have done a poor job of selling \”full-service\” policies at competitive rates. If everything were purchased by price alone, Starbucks would not be around. Our companies don\’t want to promote us as they are waiting to go direct again (to cut us out) when the market is ready.
By-the-way, the only reason web sales are up is because Geico (backed by Buffet\’s millions)is selling price only. When the lizard has to spend it\’s own money for ads and claims catch up, people will flock (slither) back to agents in droves if they aren\’t saving money.
They say the number of policies purchased on line increased 58%. To arrive at a % they must know the amount of policies purchased. Interestingly they do not provide that figure. I don\’t think our firm ever lost an account to an on-line purchase. We also advertise on-line and the accounts we attract this way are not the best! Initially I was concerned of this type of competition, but not anymore.
Only a couple of insurance companies will be successful selling policies online. There are thousands of insurance companies. The online sellers are in a bidding war right now trying to get to the top of the search engines. They are competing with other big brokers and online quote companies. Also they are paying millions with comercials to get you to go to their sights. Meanwhile the independent companies kick back and let their agents sell their policies and they focus and being an insurance company.
I realize this is not regarding on-line, however I\’m answering your question as to what value agents provide. I\’m from PA and had my wife call GEICO for a quote. All they asked her regarding coverage were her limits and deductibles than gave her a quote for Limited Tort- no um/uim and limits of 300/300/50 and 500 ded comp & coll and asked for her credit card info so they could issue the policy. After my wife explained that she has 500/500/100, Full Tort, 500/500 UM & UIM, 100,000 FPB, and the same deductibles, GEICO\’s quote went from 10% less to 35 % more. Then my wife told them she also has an umbrella and would like a quote. This party could not help but transferred her to another. After waiting 15 minutes with no answer she hung up. Now let me ask you; in whose hands would you rather place your financial security in? In fact dealing on-line or over the 800 number in MOST cases cost more. CASE CLOSED
C\’mon guys. We buy on line because you can\’t reach a live agent over the phone who has any idea of what they sell. Can\’t get a live voice, good luck on a return call. Seems like every retailer is looking for the big account, not just a small HO or auto policy. Your service stinks and you will continue to lose business to the computer
2000: Allstate tried to go big with the 1-800 and internet result: Failed
2006: Geico can anyone come up with what their retention is? 40-50% retention rate is reality for the lizard. They sell low limits because they do not have to pay attorneys $$$ in long drawn out court litigation costs. What is the employee retention in the call centers? 70% of their \”Agent/Employees\” hang them up within the first year. Hence they are opening up Local Offices to try to help retention. result: Going in the direction of opening local offices.
State Farm still sees the value of the Agent and still a solid carrier other than Katrina claims ordeal.
The reality \”On Line Loser\” I mean user, buy your policy on line because most agents probably wouldn\’t want to service your policy because you obviously shop for price and coverage doesn\’t matter until your sorry pathetic sob story claim comes in and your would be the E&O problem that tries to pin it on the Professional Agent. Do you get your Medical Advice from WebMD? Do you fix your car on Carcare.com? Besides your Attorney representing you in the claim you file would be one of those advertising on TV. Thank You for buying online you saved some agents an E&O claim.
will get a real agent when he grows up. I
have two homes, four rentals, one umbrella, a personal article policy, multiple life policies, a boat policy and
five cars insured. If you think I want to mess with all that online and not save any money doing it you are crazy. Geico
doesnt pay an agent a commission, they pay
a temporary customer service rep the equivalent. They just aren\’t less expense, and when an insured tries to solve a problem with an online company they switch to us. Agency is still the best value for the client, the company and
the agent. Good agents, with good agencies, have nothing to worry about.
Not from insurers hell bent on stupidly changing the model, and certainly not from the Geicos. Do they really want me to enter into a legal contract over the phone or online?
the
This is not about anything else other than auto insurance. You would never be able to buy a package online without some agent involvement. Strictly talking auto insurance, companies have done this to themselves. Endlessly raising insurance rates regardless of how long you have been with the company. People get attacked for purchasing online but they sometimes are switching out of not feeling their insurance company is loyal to them. Since they were previously coached by an insurance agent they already know what coverages to get. They often will leave their home policies stand alone but take their auto and their toys elsewhere. To rip apart consumers for no choosing independent agents is unfair. Insurance companies that want to compete with online carriers need to create a balance between rate, service, and broader coverage. Until this is done they will lose big and so will the independent agents.
The new game will see the 800\”s & on-line writing the accounts that do not take insuring themselves seriously, and agents writing those people that do. Therefore the most valued accounts will gravitate to the agency side.
This isn\’t a question of consumers chooseing direct versus agent distribution. There is no denying that the direct writers are picking up Personal Auto Market Share but that has been happening for a long time and for many of the reasons expressed in some of the other posts. The Internet and Online insurance shopping has only increased the rate of change and provided another channel for the directs to get their message out.
Consumers are online and they are shopping for insurance online in larger and larger numbers. The only option for agents is to learn how to compete for those customers online. Currently, the best chance for agents to compete online is the lead aggregators, i.e. NetQuote, Hometownquotes, Insweb, MostChoice, Insureme, and the agent directories like InsurancePages.com. These third party intermediaries are the best marketing partners personal lines agents have to compete with the directs online.
95% of our clients became clients because an existing client told them to give us a call. The other 5% come from yellow pages and shop by price alone. I wish those people shopped online instead. Third party intermediaries are not necessary; just let your own clients do the advertising for you!
That 5% that shops through your yellow pages are also clients with potential referrals. This attitude towards people who shop for price is unfortunate. There are more of them especially with gas prices toppint $3 in some cases. So what you saying is those people don\’t deserve to be a part of your agency. Just because 95% came because of referrals does not mean they were not shopping because of price. It boils down to how you treat them when they come to your office. It is possible to provide good service, coverage suggestions, and competitive pricing all together.
Jeannie I agree with you but believe LL has a good point. From only my own experience, most people who shop by price or just look you up in the yellow pages are looking for the lowest coverage/lowest premiums. Fine, however, they also tend to be the people that cause the most work (whether it be with requests for AI\’s/payment issues/not returning apps/questionaires/etc). It\’s hard sometimes to justify the work with the payout.
MOst agents are full of crap. I have an umbrella policy I bought from an agent. I wanted another one for my wife though. The agent would not sell me anoterh one though! He said one was enough. So I showed him I dont need an agent.
I knew I was under insured, so I bought the other one from GEICO and they sold it to me no problem. Then when I asked for yet another one for my son, Geico, told me to go online. What a joke!!
Educated Insurance Shopper, I\’m confused. Umbrellas are excess insurance over your primary…let\’s take the Auto for example. Are your vehicles registered the same? Because if your vehicles are all on one policy and you have your wife on the policy, she would be covered under the Umbrella as well…correct? Maybe I\’m misreading this…
Can you give an example where you would need two umbrellas for you and your wife (your son is an exception, I can see where he wouldn\’t be on the same policy). Thanks
C\’Mon do you really need Educated Shopper to give you more examples. From reading his response regarding Umbrellas you know the they themselves do not understand what the Umbrellas are for. Geico I am sure would sell you as many as you would like. It\’s about the money to them. Instead of trying to get more information from Educated Shopper they will see our comments and seek to truly educated themselves.
Trust me after what happened at VT the other day everyone should buy each of their children an umbrella policy, from Geico or where ever – ITs more important than ever – I dont need an agent to tell me that!
I think we are back to missing the point. Agents are a signficant part of the past and current distribution of personal lines insurance products. And, agents with an established book of business (LL)can continue to sustain their agencies through referals. The point is about the future, and, I guess in that sense this is a more relevant topic to new agents that are just starting out and want to grow a book of business from scratch. They will have to compete for customers online. And, the only way to do that is to depend on your carriers (good luck) or to buy leads from the lead aggregators.
The generation that is upon us now (18+ years old) are very computer literate and like buying online and want instant gratification. That is why GEICO and Progressive online are doing what they are doing. This generation will get their rocks off by buying an auto policy online, but as they mature and gather wealth, they will realize they are uneducated about insurance and seek the help of an agent. Educated Insruance Shopper is pointing this out to you all by buying 2 umbrella policies online after his initial purchase of a policy from an agent.
illustrates two things most completely.
The first is that our field is complicated and difficult for the average
person to figure out. The second thing educated insruance (sic) shopper illustrates is that no matter how much you try to explain to some clients the best way, and least expensive way, to organize their insurance, some people so distrust their own representatives that they\’ll quit the guy who steers them straight and go to an order taker from Geico. He probably has these kinds of problems with directions from his doctor, accountant, attorney, dentist, dry cleaner and so on.
First of all, how would an umbrella do anything for the people at VT. An umbrella covers liability. So if the injured/deceased had an umbrella it would pay nothing. Maybe you are confusing an umbrella with life insurance. Obviously you have no idea what you purchased. Most agents do not want an idiot like you for a customer. Secondly, buying a second policy for your wife who is automatically covered by the first is just buying the same thing twice. How stupid can you be? If you wanted more coverage just increase it from 1million to 2 million to 3 million etc. Buying a second one just shows your stupidity and is a waste of money. By the way, I am a fairly new agent in business 4 years now. I have written a ton of former Geico and Progressive direct business and saved those people money every time. I have yet to lose one client to Geico or Progressive Direct. Just this year Geico opened up a local agent office in my town. It seems even the Lizard can see retention is not there in selling direct. I quoted my own auto insurance with Geico and it was $300 more annually than my wife and I our paying now and it was for less coverage. They will not go as high as I have on liab or um/uim. I do not know whom they are saving 15% but it is not any of my clients.
I read where you are 4 years new to the insurance business, but are you also 4 years new to life??? Look up sarcasm to see what the Educated one was up to.
\”Geico doesnt pay an agent a commission, they pay a temporary customer service rep the equivalent.\”
I believe they pay the difference to the Advertising Agency and Big Media. GEICO is one of THE largets MEDIA advertisers Ive seen.
Some guy bought two umbrellas because – someone would sell it to him? LOL …
Good for you \”Edu-micated\” shopper … You may want to actually READ those contracts you signed – because I can assure you GEICO\’s lawyers have :-)
Insurance purchasing and shopping online is nifty. I fear no website / 800 # / or Talking Lizard! 2nd rate wannabee\’s bottom feeding on the UN-Educated, gullible consumer – who think they got a deal just because they got it on the internet.
What they don\’t address is how many clients purchase an online policy and then rush back to the agent as soon as they have a problem. Insured\’s do not understand what an agent does for them and that is because of the utter failure of the independent agent system on educating the public on what they do for them. If you watch the ads on TV you would have every reason to believe the only thing an agent does is kick back and collect 15% and adds no value to the process. Hopefully companies will get off their duffs and counter these ads before we lose even more market share, more agencies and more jobs!!!!!
I think you\’ve got it pretty well nailed. I get a great deal of clients whose immediate prior insurance was purchased online, and they found that when they had a problem or a claim that they had no one they could easily and consistently call for help.
Nobody\’s responded to this post yet because they\’re all out trying to figure out what exactly the benefit of the agent is…
There are plenty of benefits to an agent…
– Able to quote multiple companies in house, where an individual would have to take the time to do that themselves. I know there are sites that claim to quote multiple companies and have an agent call you, but I never recieved any calls from those agents. An agent is also much better able to advise clients on which company has the best combination of price/coverage/service.
– An agent can help make a claim be processed much more smoothly than an individual is able to do on his/her own. If an adjustor is slow and not returning the claimant\’s phone calls, the agent can easily go over the adjustors head and have the supervisor speed things up. The agent can also resolve any ambiguities in the claim.
– An agent can (or should be able to) actually read and understand an insurance policy, which I doubt 99% of the personal lines insurance buying public does.
There\’s more, but I\’m on lunch. Other agents are probably busy selling.
Independent companies have done a poor job of selling \”full-service\” policies at competitive rates. If everything were purchased by price alone, Starbucks would not be around. Our companies don\’t want to promote us as they are waiting to go direct again (to cut us out) when the market is ready.
By-the-way, the only reason web sales are up is because Geico (backed by Buffet\’s millions)is selling price only. When the lizard has to spend it\’s own money for ads and claims catch up, people will flock (slither) back to agents in droves if they aren\’t saving money.
They say the number of policies purchased on line increased 58%. To arrive at a % they must know the amount of policies purchased. Interestingly they do not provide that figure. I don\’t think our firm ever lost an account to an on-line purchase. We also advertise on-line and the accounts we attract this way are not the best! Initially I was concerned of this type of competition, but not anymore.
Only a couple of insurance companies will be successful selling policies online. There are thousands of insurance companies. The online sellers are in a bidding war right now trying to get to the top of the search engines. They are competing with other big brokers and online quote companies. Also they are paying millions with comercials to get you to go to their sights. Meanwhile the independent companies kick back and let their agents sell their policies and they focus and being an insurance company.
Agents have nothing to worry about!
I realize this is not regarding on-line, however I\’m answering your question as to what value agents provide. I\’m from PA and had my wife call GEICO for a quote. All they asked her regarding coverage were her limits and deductibles than gave her a quote for Limited Tort- no um/uim and limits of 300/300/50 and 500 ded comp & coll and asked for her credit card info so they could issue the policy. After my wife explained that she has 500/500/100, Full Tort, 500/500 UM & UIM, 100,000 FPB, and the same deductibles, GEICO\’s quote went from 10% less to 35 % more. Then my wife told them she also has an umbrella and would like a quote. This party could not help but transferred her to another. After waiting 15 minutes with no answer she hung up. Now let me ask you; in whose hands would you rather place your financial security in? In fact dealing on-line or over the 800 number in MOST cases cost more. CASE CLOSED
C\’mon guys. We buy on line because you can\’t reach a live agent over the phone who has any idea of what they sell. Can\’t get a live voice, good luck on a return call. Seems like every retailer is looking for the big account, not just a small HO or auto policy. Your service stinks and you will continue to lose business to the computer
I hope you buy an online auto policy with 10/20 limits and then run over Al Gore. Then you will see how bad an agent\’s service is.
2000: Allstate tried to go big with the 1-800 and internet result: Failed
2006: Geico can anyone come up with what their retention is? 40-50% retention rate is reality for the lizard. They sell low limits because they do not have to pay attorneys $$$ in long drawn out court litigation costs. What is the employee retention in the call centers? 70% of their \”Agent/Employees\” hang them up within the first year. Hence they are opening up Local Offices to try to help retention. result: Going in the direction of opening local offices.
State Farm still sees the value of the Agent and still a solid carrier other than Katrina claims ordeal.
The reality \”On Line Loser\” I mean user, buy your policy on line because most agents probably wouldn\’t want to service your policy because you obviously shop for price and coverage doesn\’t matter until your sorry pathetic sob story claim comes in and your would be the E&O problem that tries to pin it on the Professional Agent. Do you get your Medical Advice from WebMD? Do you fix your car on Carcare.com? Besides your Attorney representing you in the claim you file would be one of those advertising on TV. Thank You for buying online you saved some agents an E&O claim.
will get a real agent when he grows up. I
have two homes, four rentals, one umbrella, a personal article policy, multiple life policies, a boat policy and
five cars insured. If you think I want to mess with all that online and not save any money doing it you are crazy. Geico
doesnt pay an agent a commission, they pay
a temporary customer service rep the equivalent. They just aren\’t less expense, and when an insured tries to solve a problem with an online company they switch to us. Agency is still the best value for the client, the company and
the agent. Good agents, with good agencies, have nothing to worry about.
Not from insurers hell bent on stupidly changing the model, and certainly not from the Geicos. Do they really want me to enter into a legal contract over the phone or online?
the
My agency has a large personal lines book. We target market personal lines to surburban areas and let the urban areas for the GEICO\’s.
This is not about anything else other than auto insurance. You would never be able to buy a package online without some agent involvement. Strictly talking auto insurance, companies have done this to themselves. Endlessly raising insurance rates regardless of how long you have been with the company. People get attacked for purchasing online but they sometimes are switching out of not feeling their insurance company is loyal to them. Since they were previously coached by an insurance agent they already know what coverages to get. They often will leave their home policies stand alone but take their auto and their toys elsewhere. To rip apart consumers for no choosing independent agents is unfair. Insurance companies that want to compete with online carriers need to create a balance between rate, service, and broader coverage. Until this is done they will lose big and so will the independent agents.
The new game will see the 800\”s & on-line writing the accounts that do not take insuring themselves seriously, and agents writing those people that do. Therefore the most valued accounts will gravitate to the agency side.
All that i can say it\’s about time
these states inforced the law.
With all the teenage drivers out there.
Now i wish thay would start on these
radios that are just to loud i dont know
how thay hear anything inc,police etc.
Thank You…
USAA has proven they can run a top notch insurance company without local agents. Much can now be done online as well. They get an A+ from me.
This isn\’t a question of consumers chooseing direct versus agent distribution. There is no denying that the direct writers are picking up Personal Auto Market Share but that has been happening for a long time and for many of the reasons expressed in some of the other posts. The Internet and Online insurance shopping has only increased the rate of change and provided another channel for the directs to get their message out.
Consumers are online and they are shopping for insurance online in larger and larger numbers. The only option for agents is to learn how to compete for those customers online. Currently, the best chance for agents to compete online is the lead aggregators, i.e. NetQuote, Hometownquotes, Insweb, MostChoice, Insureme, and the agent directories like InsurancePages.com. These third party intermediaries are the best marketing partners personal lines agents have to compete with the directs online.
95% of our clients became clients because an existing client told them to give us a call. The other 5% come from yellow pages and shop by price alone. I wish those people shopped online instead. Third party intermediaries are not necessary; just let your own clients do the advertising for you!
That 5% that shops through your yellow pages are also clients with potential referrals. This attitude towards people who shop for price is unfortunate. There are more of them especially with gas prices toppint $3 in some cases. So what you saying is those people don\’t deserve to be a part of your agency. Just because 95% came because of referrals does not mean they were not shopping because of price. It boils down to how you treat them when they come to your office. It is possible to provide good service, coverage suggestions, and competitive pricing all together.
Jeannie I agree with you but believe LL has a good point. From only my own experience, most people who shop by price or just look you up in the yellow pages are looking for the lowest coverage/lowest premiums. Fine, however, they also tend to be the people that cause the most work (whether it be with requests for AI\’s/payment issues/not returning apps/questionaires/etc). It\’s hard sometimes to justify the work with the payout.
MOst agents are full of crap. I have an umbrella policy I bought from an agent. I wanted another one for my wife though. The agent would not sell me anoterh one though! He said one was enough. So I showed him I dont need an agent.
I knew I was under insured, so I bought the other one from GEICO and they sold it to me no problem. Then when I asked for yet another one for my son, Geico, told me to go online. What a joke!!
You people are all underinsured.
Educated Insurance Shopper, I\’m confused. Umbrellas are excess insurance over your primary…let\’s take the Auto for example. Are your vehicles registered the same? Because if your vehicles are all on one policy and you have your wife on the policy, she would be covered under the Umbrella as well…correct? Maybe I\’m misreading this…
Can you give an example where you would need two umbrellas for you and your wife (your son is an exception, I can see where he wouldn\’t be on the same policy). Thanks
C\’Mon do you really need Educated Shopper to give you more examples. From reading his response regarding Umbrellas you know the they themselves do not understand what the Umbrellas are for. Geico I am sure would sell you as many as you would like. It\’s about the money to them. Instead of trying to get more information from Educated Shopper they will see our comments and seek to truly educated themselves.
Very True, very true…money grabbing $%#@!
Trust me after what happened at VT the other day everyone should buy each of their children an umbrella policy, from Geico or where ever – ITs more important than ever – I dont need an agent to tell me that!
I think we are back to missing the point. Agents are a signficant part of the past and current distribution of personal lines insurance products. And, agents with an established book of business (LL)can continue to sustain their agencies through referals. The point is about the future, and, I guess in that sense this is a more relevant topic to new agents that are just starting out and want to grow a book of business from scratch. They will have to compete for customers online. And, the only way to do that is to depend on your carriers (good luck) or to buy leads from the lead aggregators.
The generation that is upon us now (18+ years old) are very computer literate and like buying online and want instant gratification. That is why GEICO and Progressive online are doing what they are doing. This generation will get their rocks off by buying an auto policy online, but as they mature and gather wealth, they will realize they are uneducated about insurance and seek the help of an agent. Educated Insruance Shopper is pointing this out to you all by buying 2 umbrella policies online after his initial purchase of a policy from an agent.
I\’ve rec\’d the full report from comScore -one slide in particular breaks down buying attitudes by age.
When asked \”Would you buy a policy online?\” There is little difference between the
Oops, the full comment I submitted didn\’t get posted. I\’ll try to find time to do it again later.
illustrates two things most completely.
The first is that our field is complicated and difficult for the average
person to figure out. The second thing educated insruance (sic) shopper illustrates is that no matter how much you try to explain to some clients the best way, and least expensive way, to organize their insurance, some people so distrust their own representatives that they\’ll quit the guy who steers them straight and go to an order taker from Geico. He probably has these kinds of problems with directions from his doctor, accountant, attorney, dentist, dry cleaner and so on.
First of all, how would an umbrella do anything for the people at VT. An umbrella covers liability. So if the injured/deceased had an umbrella it would pay nothing. Maybe you are confusing an umbrella with life insurance. Obviously you have no idea what you purchased. Most agents do not want an idiot like you for a customer. Secondly, buying a second policy for your wife who is automatically covered by the first is just buying the same thing twice. How stupid can you be? If you wanted more coverage just increase it from 1million to 2 million to 3 million etc. Buying a second one just shows your stupidity and is a waste of money. By the way, I am a fairly new agent in business 4 years now. I have written a ton of former Geico and Progressive direct business and saved those people money every time. I have yet to lose one client to Geico or Progressive Direct. Just this year Geico opened up a local agent office in my town. It seems even the Lizard can see retention is not there in selling direct. I quoted my own auto insurance with Geico and it was $300 more annually than my wife and I our paying now and it was for less coverage. They will not go as high as I have on liab or um/uim. I do not know whom they are saving 15% but it is not any of my clients.
I read where you are 4 years new to the insurance business, but are you also 4 years new to life??? Look up sarcasm to see what the Educated one was up to.
\”Geico doesnt pay an agent a commission, they pay a temporary customer service rep the equivalent.\”
I believe they pay the difference to the Advertising Agency and Big Media. GEICO is one of THE largets MEDIA advertisers Ive seen.
Some guy bought two umbrellas because – someone would sell it to him? LOL …
Good for you \”Edu-micated\” shopper … You may want to actually READ those contracts you signed – because I can assure you GEICO\’s lawyers have :-)
Insurance purchasing and shopping online is nifty. I fear no website / 800 # / or Talking Lizard! 2nd rate wannabee\’s bottom feeding on the UN-Educated, gullible consumer – who think they got a deal just because they got it on the internet.