Independent agents write 61% of all property and casualty policies. (Credit: Chokniti/Adobe Stock)
Independent insurance agents say they’re not getting the support they need from carriers, according to J.D. Power’s 2025 Independent Agent Satisfaction Survey.
Just over half of personal lines (56%) and commercial lines agents (57%) said their carriers are meeting their foundational needs. When it comes to preferred partners, only 29% of personal lines insurers and 24% of commercial lines insurers were rated as top tier by agents.
Even though independent agents write 61% of all property and casualty policies, about 1 in 4 (25% of personal lines agents and 22% of commercial lines agents) said they don’t believe insurers value them as partners.
Personal lines agents who feel undervalued by a carrier are four times more likely to write less business with that insurer. Commercial lines agents are seven times more likely to write less business with carriers who don’t value them.
“Independent insurance agents are working on the front lines of an extraordinarily challenging market environment right now, where rates are still at or near historic highs and large numbers of insureds are shopping around for new policies,” said Craig Martin, executive director, global insurance intelligence at J.D. Power, in a statement. “To do their jobs well and continue to effectively match their clients with the right carrier, agents need to understand the carrier’s risk appetite and priorities to align the right customer with the right policy. Far too frequently, independent agents aren’t getting the critical information they need to be efficient and effective, which wastes time and resources of both agents and carriers.”
Both personal lines and commercial lines agents said they’re looking for carriers who make it easy to work with them. Agents said clearly communicating risk appetite, signaling what types of clients will qualify for policies and showing flexibility when writing new policies are some of the basic minimum expectations from carriers.
Erie Insurance, Auto-Owners Insurance and Cincinnati Insurance were ranked highly by agents for both personal and commercial lines.
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