P&C Service - Captive Vs Independent

[chickenfarmer]

What is the difference between policy service as an independent agent vs captive? Specifically what activities do independent agents handle in their office vs referring to the carrier?

Thanks!

 

[Guest]

What is the difference between policy service as an independent agent vs captive? Specifically what activities do independent agents handle in their office vs referring to the carrier?

Thanks!

UMMMMMMMMMM none,

But I will say, captives have alot more service work than an IA does, IA companies have far superior computer systems than a captive does, therefore less service work.

I came from Farmers and a 2 year old could create a beter computr system than farmers has.

I have yet to have more than 5 billing issues, I dont have to scan in 100's of documents. I dont have to do the same thing over and over.

IA carriers know if we dont like their computer system, we wont use their company.

 

[chickenfarmer]

Policy changes, filing claims, accepting payments, etc.. these are handled in the IA's office just like a captive?

 

[Guest]

Policy changes, filing claims, accepting payments, etc.. these are handled in the IA's office just like a captive?

Well, YES, Insurance is insurance isnt it?

It is easier on the IA side.

People still trade in cars, make changes etc. Why would you think this is different?

 

[djs]

I'm actually confused by the question. I assume we are talking personal lines P&C here, correct?

Now, I don't know every captive system or every IA system, but I can't imagine there being that much of a difference in what occurs. The only real difference is usually a captive agent you don't have to stop and think which carrier they are with first, to figure out where to go to make the appropriate change.

Other than that, various endorsements / changes / cancellations / etc all happen. Can one take 30 seconds more? Sure. No big deal. Same concept.

Dan

 

[chickenfarmer]

Hmm I don't know.. I wasn't saying I thought IA's just wrote new business and cashed checks, I guess I mistakenly thought more service activities were referred to the carrier.

 

[Guest]

Hmm I don't know.. I wasn't saying I thought IA's just wrote new business and cashed checks, I guess I mistakenly thought more service activities were referred to the carrier.

DAMN Dude, IA's have it much better but not that much, we make more in commission, and do the same amount of work.

Someone lied to you man....

 

[infoe]

This is a good question and probably learned first day and or with a carrier rep, but i wonder how the payment deal works. I know for commercial accounts there is financing for premium. Thats one deal

On the personal and captive side we have a premium fund account whete TC sweeps the funds. Im not sure how it works on the personal side. I was told payments are dealt with carrier directly.

Chicken farmer thanks for posting the rudimentary question for those still in the transition phase

 

[Bertolinoins]

You can get as involved in the service work as you want to. I use service centers and my CSR's usually take the call and then we conference in the carriers claims dept or customer service department to complete the item. That way the client only needs to explain the situation one time and there is less room for human error. We write preferred business and we don't generally take money or deal with sweeps, we generally set them up direct bill via EFT. If they do call in a payment we get them on the phone with their carriers billing dept and have them make the payment directly. The fewer agency bill accounts the better IMO. CSR's can be trained to comfort the clients and make them feel like you provide value without having to do duplicate work that the service centers can handle.

 

[infoe]

^ ideal situation imo... Are the service centers directly related to the carrier? Is this an option of a commission split for this type of service? This is where having had experience in the indy side would have been beneficial for me before jumping right in....good thing though is when you start indy its not like starting cative (i hope) in the sense that i started with a book of business and had to learn 80+ policies on Sf side plus theirpolicies and procedures while already having clientele. I think starting scratch allows for a more gradual learning curve of the options and procedures of how you want to run your agency.

At first my wife and i will be producing and servicing but if were doing things correctly should not deal with much service in the first year. Letting me plan for how i want to service down the road