Erick Chavarria Farmers Insurance Recruiter

[Hawaii Agent]

I can only speak to State Farm and what I hear from their agents. They are a huge company and I do admire the company as a whole. The opportunity can be attractive since you don't need to put up any money and you can inherit a book (probably enough to cover your overhead). The biggest advantage is their name brand (it's still quite strong). The goals are starting to become more difficult to hit as they are hiring more and more agents (saturating the area) and the State Farm agents have always said that other SF agents are their biggest competitors. You'll also need to sell a lot of SF life insurance to be successful with the company.

I also read that Allstate has reduced their renewal commissions to try to motivate their salesforce to sell more rather than servicing their book.

Rather than trying to solicit the community here for their opinions, you might want to try investigating these companies yourself and figure out what exactly you're looking for in a company/career/agency. Then you can decide on what route will fit you. I believe the majority of the agents in the forums are independents and won't have the info you're seeking

 

[fed up]

I would not go near Allstate until the current leadership is gone. Their Transformative Growth is only transforming the growth in their own wallets. Leadership has gutted a once proud American Corporation and shipped almost every aspect of customer service overseas. American family had a decent start-up program where you go under the wing of an established agent and start to collect contacts for 90 days or 6 months (I forget which). Once they kick you out of the other agents nest you have 200 people that you should be able to write business with. I did not go there because the only local agent at the time had pissed off a dear friend and is a pompous ass. You have to learn the business somewhere though so just watch out for the contract/non disclosure/ non compete that you will be forced to sign and get started in the business

 

[marindependent]

When in doubt read the contract. That is what insurance is... a contract. It is the same with business parternships.

 

[Gulliver]

Move on my friend. Farmers has a horrible contract.

 

[Thadd-4PointIns]

This all depends on what you need as an agent to be successful and the type of client you know you are going to generate. As long as your prospect/client base fits the underwriting appetite for 1 single insurance company (Farmers, Allstate, State Farm, etc.) than one of these could be a solution for you. Understand that you live/die by their overall growth appetite in your market.
When my agency started out I had to be more opportunistic - focused on winning/writing whatever opportunities landed in my lap. Even today, 12 years later, I am still that way to an extent. I found being an independent agent allowed me greater flexibility to adapt and provides solutions to whatever opportunity I get. In addition, if one of my preferred markets decides to drive rates/deductibles up then I have other options to move those current clients to.
Generally speaking I find that an Independent Agency provides greater flexibility and no one telling you what you can/cant go after to write. The Captive markets provide name recognition, training, marketing resources, etc. that "may" be useful. Again, it just depends on whether you value these resources to the extent they are able/willing to provide them.