When it comes to selecting carriers to place personal lines business, independent agents look for speed of policy delivery, speed of underwriting decision, convenience and claim services, and prefer to work through a carrier’s portal rather than through their own agency management systems, according to a new survey by Novarica and the Personal Lines Growth Alliance (PLGA).
(Click here to hear a podcast with Karlyn Carnahan, principal at Novarica and coauthor of the study.)
The results are part of “How Technology and Service Drive Carrier Choice,” a study that looks at 96 PLGA member agencies of all sizes that write personal lines policies, with respondents including agency principals, producers and CSRs.
According to the III, independent agency writers accounted for 29.3 percent of personal lines net premium in 2009, a number that’s growing as agencies recognize the need to supplement soft commercial market revenues with personal lines business. Although strong relationships between agents and carriers—and specifically agencies and underwriters—are critical, technology is increasingly driving successful personal lines premium production, and can sometimes even overcome a less-than-perfect underwriter relationship.
Eighty different carriers were mentioned in the PLGA survey as one of an agency’s top three carriers, and 42 were mentioned as a No. 1 carrier, with Travelers Group, Auto-Owners, Chubb, Erie Insurance Group and Progressive as the top 5.
Key findings include:
- A majority of agents (42 percent) prefer to work through a carrier’s portal than through the agency’s agency management system, although 29 percent have no preference. Interestingly, 38 percent of agency principals preferred working through the agency management system, while only 20 percent of CSRs preferred it. Producers had a slight preference for carrier portals.
