- 15,041
Please share. If he wants to pursue that market I'm sure the knowledge will come in handy.
Quick Binding Authority for Auto
- Thread starter zee123
- Start date
Please share. If he wants to pursue that market I'm sure the knowledge will come in handy.
- 1,016
as far as weeding out the bad people:
(assuming these policies lapsed for non-payment)
- never re-write people with the same company more than once in the same year. I usually give one get out of jail free card per year. but if I have to re-write it a 2nd time, I'll quote with other carriers (chances are that premium will go up, since they weren't the cheaper carrier when you quoted them originally).... I then explain that "you shot yourself in the foot with the lesser priced company by lapsing on your payment". I also remind them that if they can keep this policy active for six months continuously that their rate will go down.... Usually, they will either get the point and become more responsible, or they will move on, and become another agent's pain-in-the-ass.
- any time someone makes the statement "I need proof of insurance to take to my employer/judge", only write them 30,60 or 90 day policies (which require being paid up front). don't write them 6 or 12 month policies until they've made enough payments on time to where you trust that they're not going anywhere...... this prevents people from making one down payment and then disappearing until the expiration date on their lapsed policy, when they need new paperwork.
and as far as used car dealerships, two things:
- bad news is that leads from any dealership, new or used, tend to have low retention rates.... the good news is that only becomes a problem once (commission chargebacks).... after that they usually go away because they've found a cheaper rate elsewhere.
- with these buy here-pay here dealerships: stay away from those who don't want to be added as a lienholder. or worse yet, some don't require comp and collision at all.... stay away from those!
(assuming these policies lapsed for non-payment)
- never re-write people with the same company more than once in the same year. I usually give one get out of jail free card per year. but if I have to re-write it a 2nd time, I'll quote with other carriers (chances are that premium will go up, since they weren't the cheaper carrier when you quoted them originally).... I then explain that "you shot yourself in the foot with the lesser priced company by lapsing on your payment". I also remind them that if they can keep this policy active for six months continuously that their rate will go down.... Usually, they will either get the point and become more responsible, or they will move on, and become another agent's pain-in-the-ass.
- any time someone makes the statement "I need proof of insurance to take to my employer/judge", only write them 30,60 or 90 day policies (which require being paid up front). don't write them 6 or 12 month policies until they've made enough payments on time to where you trust that they're not going anywhere...... this prevents people from making one down payment and then disappearing until the expiration date on their lapsed policy, when they need new paperwork.
and as far as used car dealerships, two things:
- bad news is that leads from any dealership, new or used, tend to have low retention rates.... the good news is that only becomes a problem once (commission chargebacks).... after that they usually go away because they've found a cheaper rate elsewhere.
- with these buy here-pay here dealerships: stay away from those who don't want to be added as a lienholder. or worse yet, some don't require comp and collision at all.... stay away from those!
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Not solely from there, but a I get a few from time to time. I have a few people I know personally who send me stuff.
Biggest thing... bankruptcy... my company doesn't write any auto for anyone with a bankruptcy in the past 5 years and I have had a couple come through on this issue. Or the bad credit... like a divorce or medical issue. No lapses, just not what UW is looking for in a customer.
- 1,016
yep, unfortunately, there's only going to be more and more of that.... all these tv commercials with bankruptcy lawyers making "debt free" sound appealing....
btw, what state are you in? I've got it nailed down to 47, since you're obviously not in CA,MA or HI, where credit is not a factor.
as far as non-standard, bankruptcy usually isn't a problem. a few non-standard companies don't run credit at all. most do, but only to a much lesser degree than standard or preferred companies do.
- 977
It's a numbers game. I do a lot of non-standard auto, and while these customers can be a pain sometimes, you can build a lot of volume this way and even gain loyalty and referrals. 80/20 rule applies here, just like any other market. Don't let the 20% suck the life out of you. Set up an auto attendant to route them to carriers for payments. EFT doesn't help much because you'll get a lot of NSF. The carriers you need to contact will be largely dependent by state, as there are a surprising number of regional non standard carriers. Everyone sells progressive, so even though you'll need them from time to time, focus on the smaller carriers. Some of these will appoint you simply because you send them appointment application without any push back.
Now, if this is your primary source of lead generation, you need to be VERY careful about putting these customers with a standard carrier once they have continuous coverage. If I were you, I would take into consideration payment history and employment history as seriously as violations and prior coverage when qualifying these people for a standard carrier. You can ruin your loss ratio quick.
Where are you located, we can probably make some recommendations on carriers to contact.
Now, if this is your primary source of lead generation, you need to be VERY careful about putting these customers with a standard carrier once they have continuous coverage. If I were you, I would take into consideration payment history and employment history as seriously as violations and prior coverage when qualifying these people for a standard carrier. You can ruin your loss ratio quick.
Where are you located, we can probably make some recommendations on carriers to contact.
InsuranceJerk
Expert
- 47
Yeah, you need to look at some MGA's or non-standard carriers. You won't do any business with dealers if you need 24 hrs to issue a policy. And standard carriers won't be priced to sell to this crowd.
- 977
I'd start with the carriers listed here...https://www.accuagency.com/alabama.html
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