License Question...Indy Agent

[UIM]

All Comments are helpful..

So say someone is currently working as a producer for Allsnake and is working to open a new Indy agency. If that someone registers his business as a sole proprietor with the Department of Insurance while still working as a producer with Allsnake, will Allsnake find out or will the allstate agent find out? Clearly I understand the agent himself will not find out unless he looks onto the Dep of Ins website. Was just curious if the agent will be notified if one of his employees has registered to be a new agent...
Also the new Indy agent will not write any new business benefitting his new business while working for allsnake.

The new agent is trying to get all of his ducks in a row(Registering his business, appointments, E&O, etc.) before completely quitting his full time producer job with allsnake.

The new Indy agent hopes to go from working as a producer with allsnake to becoming a Indy Agency Owner with as less of hiccups as possible.

Please, if any of you has been or knows a similar case comment on this to help a new agent out..

Thanks in Advance!

 

[indienoise]

There are no absolute answers here, of course. The agency principal could end up being like a jealous wife - double checking behind you three times daily.

Most likely you probably won't run into any trouble, and as long as you're not actually diverting any business from the captive agency you've done nothing wrong. Of course you want to have as little downtime as possible. I still played it on the safe side, though - I did every bit of research necessary, had all my applications ready to go, and they hit inboxes/mailboxes as soon as I made the split official, but not before. I HAD to talk to my sales manager before making anything official on my end, as I was working out of an office I provided, so my location remained the same - I had to be sure Nationwide wouldn't enforce the location part of my non-compete on my previous office (they didn't - it was based on the agency I was working for, even though my business address was registered as a Nationwide location) Things you can go ahead and do ahead of time is find out if your county/city requires any business license aside from your license w/ DOI and apply for those if necessary, apply for your EIN, etc. Check your state's DOI website to make sure the name you want for your agency is available. Get all your E&O quotes now so you can send in that application right away as well. Hopefully you've already talked to some carrier reps and have a good idea whether they'll take you or not. Get a feel for what MGA's you'll want to work with. When I say I had ALL my applications ready to go the same day I left the agency I was working for, I mean all. I had less than two weeks I was not actively selling.

 

[UIM]

indienoise,

Thank you for your response. I'm a little nervous in doing this whole thing, I want to make sure it's done the right way the 1st time and not have to chase my tail the whole time. I've been doing my due diligence for the last 2 years in making this happen and research and was even a little nervous posting this question due to "someone" finding out, but realized how overly paranoid I was.
I've been told getting approved at a decent E&O rate takes some time but still manageable. I've got progressive, foremost, and some smaller appointments lined up. I refuse to pay a monthly fee/commission fee to a cluster for "access" to other carriers when if I do it the right way, and fight until I get yes's I'll save a lot more in the long haul. An agency rating system is the dilemma I'm in now. trying to find the most cost effective one out here.. Unfortunately I don't have rich parents or come from money to allow me to not worry about my 1st year, therefore I'm trying to watch my over head initially as much as possible.
Again, thanks for your comment!

 

[indienoise]

Anybody can get Progressive and the like. What you need to know ahead of time is if you're going to be able to get appointments with your lead carriers - outfits like Travelers, Allied, Auto Owners, or whoever is good in your area. That will let you know how quickly you can start selling, and whether you might need to talk to some clusters or not.

 

[UIM]

Gotcha, makes sense. Thanks! I wonder if any of the bigger companies you mentioned has ever recently appointed a scratch Indy agent?.. Most old timers you talk to swears "an agent without any book" will not get the appointment.. Might have to focus on the non-standard carriers at first to build the book..

 

[indienoise]

depends on how good your business plan is and if you can get documentation on your production for the captive agency.

 

[UIM]

Great Insight.. Thanks!

 

[RicFlairII]

Allstate can and probably will find out.

When I was with them, they found out my wife was licensed, and
questioned me incessantly as to if she was actively working in
insurance, etc.

 

[JohnWalker]

What if them finding out wasn't a bad thing?

It could be that push you need to go after what you want.

Rhetorical question: Are you worried about "allsnake" finding out or are you worried about "you" finding out?

 

[DHK]

Being terminated "for cause" is not a good thing.