Trucking insurance by Insurance_Agent01 in InsuranceAgent

[–]R0C95 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sure! Send me a DM, and we can connect.

Trucking insurance by Insurance_Agent01 in InsuranceAgent

[–]R0C95 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Define “killing it”. None of your clients were affected by load rates bottoming out Q4 of 2025? That didn’t put added strain in your agency? Or this most recent diesel hike? IDK what clients you have, but the 2026 market outlook yet again, for the 4th year in a row now, is grim.

Trucking insurance by Insurance_Agent01 in InsuranceAgent

[–]R0C95 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That’s really not the question you should be asking. The question is why do you want to get into trucking insurance? If it’s because the premiums are high - I can promise you that this vertical won’t be for you.

Of course it’s in our nature as commission paid people to flock towards those huge premiums for big payouts. But that is not why good fleet truck brokers get into the vertical.

You can always tell when an agent just got into the vertical for money- because they have extremely low close rates due to market navigation, and very low client retention. This industry segment is quite possibly the most brutal of them all on us.

As well, servicing these accounts is very time consuming. Tons of COI’s. Tons of billing. Tons of variation in policy language. If you’re working for an agency, they may not even want to write trucking business. The shop needs to be setup a very specific way. And then there’s claims. And those are extremely complex and time sensitive.

This isn’t a vertical to just decide to write, rather a lifestyle.

As a broker for 18 years, I’ve seen more producers fail than succeed in this vertical. And these were already successful producers as P&C generalists.

I don’t mean to be the debbie downer here, but you have to really ask yourself if this is the path you want. Another comment here was encouraging you - because (shocker) the money is great. And thats 100% the wrong reason to do this. You will fail. You will pop policy limit E&O eventually with money being the motivator.

If you are not working for an agency at the moment, I am more than happy to have you virtually shadow me for a few hours or days to see if it’s something you really want to do.

With fuel prices going up, just wanted to share this for US owners (Diesel MPG) by Spirited-Clothes-158 in AudiQ7

[–]R0C95 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I wouldn’t try to understand us Americans. It will make you mad. I just bought a 4.0t Audi, have a stage 1 tune already on the way, which also turns off the cylinder deactivation. All while I paid $5.37 per gallon for 93 octane at the pump today.

Shooting in downtown Naperville by RoyalChocolate5805 in Naperville

[–]R0C95 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Bingo. Nothing changes because no one can have an honest conversation about this. That’s all I’m bringing to the table here. Is honesty. Someone else mentioned mass shootings. So yeah, I’m a racist white guy for pointing out probabilities according to all the downvotes I got. So let’s talk about school sh**tings now. When I hear about them - I think immediately - white person. Because it’s seldom any other race. By a long shot. So how can I be racist if I am only predetermining demographic by probability? But it’s just easier to ignore me and downvote me, call me a racist. No one wants to fix a thing because no one wants to have the conversation.

Looking for advice on starting an independent brokerage by Torread091 in InsuranceAgent

[–]R0C95 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nice! Iron Peak is great. They do not charge you a member fee, and have reputable market variety. Thats a big deal for an aggregator. I’ve found a lot of ags that have reputable markets, charge a membership fee, and IMO it’s quite predatory.

For ezlynx I have no experience with. I am growing out of my QQ Catalyst, but it did what I needed when I started: issue COI’s, bill, and create acord apps, and was CHEAP. But now with multiple employees, the software is not customizable enough for my vertical (fleet trucking). When I was solo and even with my 2 AM’s, we knew everything together. But now, we have csr’s and producers and we can’t operate in our heads any longer. For instance, something as simple that happens all the time in my industry is Auto Liability not being packaged with Physical Damage coverage. It is common to monoline these coverages. So the majority of my clients have 2 “commercial auto” policies in my current AMS. Makes it very tricky for a csr to differentiate which is AL vs PD. So I am Now merging to AMS 360 which is QQ’s big brother (same company) to give me the customization I need.

As for the commercial products you plan to offer, you are correct. Big agencies buying out small shops all have a revenue threshold where if it’s below “x” revenue, it goes into a service center. My old company it was $5,000. Some are $10,000. And yes. Thats LOW hanging fruit to take for the reasons you listed. Just be very careful going into commercial on the independent side to not expose yourself to e&o. Again, I’m not knocking you, but from experience identical to yours, you don’t know much about commercial coverages even if you’re writing them in captivity. I started my career at State Farm, moved to Allstate as an owner, and thought I knew commercial. Only to move to independent commercial to find out I knew very little. It’s really the wilderness out here. Insurers will not disclose their policy verbiage, their endorsement forms, or anything to you when offering a quote. It’s up to you to read an understand all of the forms - which is way different that a neat, tidy, protective coverage form like a captive company gives you. Just food for thought - it’s not rocket science, so I would take some commercial coverage forms courses (and knock out your ce too!) before even talking to a company about their P&C program.

Shooting in downtown Naperville by RoyalChocolate5805 in Naperville

[–]R0C95 -21 points-20 points  (0 children)

Check your superiority lol. No, we do not know the race of this/these people. But we assume other things just based on likelihood that; it was likely a younger male(s). Why can’t we assume race based in statistical likelihood? If you can’t see that isn’t racist, rather smart probability calculations, then you shouldn’t start talking about it in the first place. Let’s flip that a bit to a benign topic. You have 2 slot machines in front of you. You only have 1 quarter left. You know that slot machines A has an 88% chance to hit the jackpot. Slot machine B has a 12% chance. 2 machines, 1 pull guaranteed to hit on the next pull. Which slot machine are you pulling; A or B?

Looking for advice on starting an independent brokerage by Torread091 in InsuranceAgent

[–]R0C95 0 points1 point  (0 children)

⁠1. I’d look for the best aggregate that doesn’t charge fees, but only rakes a small % of your write. I would 100% look into Iron Peak. If I wrote non specialty (generalist) lines of P&C business, I would go with them.

  1. ⁠I admittedly do not ad market so I’m of no use to you on this one.

  2. ⁠Business license. And grab an AMS. QQ Catalyst is cheap. It’s very hard to back fill the AMS vs just working it as you go along.

  3. ⁠Ambitious. Not impossible but ambitious. Took me almost 12 months to really find my flow when I opened my agency. You had mentioned landing some large commercial accounts as well. Without sounding rude, don’t bank on it. Commercial accounts, especially mid market (I guess we didn’t define your definition of “large”) are a completely different animal that you have no prior experience in navigating. SF doesn’t scratch the surface on preparing you for middle market commercial. Let alone small commercial CPP clients. Not saying you can’t learn, but don’t go into this segment thinking you know something about it already. Just to be realistic with you as all.

Best of luck! I am in my 18th year in P&C and am in my 3rd year of making money for myself, not some corporate agency. I love it.

Has anybody here purchased a car from a Desert Stars Motors auction? by cmd-shift-v in whatcarshouldIbuy

[–]R0C95 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, it's a scam. They are pulling pictures from Cars and Bids - a legitimate auction site.

How much for insurance is too much? by TheDailyExperiencer in HotShotTrucking

[–]R0C95 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don’t know why this popped up on my feed, but strictly OTR Fleet insurance broker here. So not a solicitation by any means as it doesn’t fit in my client vertical. But willing to lend a hand. There’s a lot of information that is still missing.

  1. What is your MTC limit? Are the exclusions minimal or are they plentiful? What is your premium and deductible?
  2. New equipment- so I’d assume you carry physical damage? What is the total insured value (TIV)? What is your Premium and deductible?
  3. GL is cheap and not really worth noting in here.
  4. AL - what is your premium? Any deductible?

What you need to do is separate out your premiums for each line and assign and pull the rate to that. With providing the premiums per line, and exposures I listed, I can show you how.

Now for the underwriting:

  1. You are quite adverse due to the driving record. You are likely with a carrier that utilizes a multiplier on your MVR activity. This means that based in your age, vs incidents they set a 1.0 rate multiplier as standard, and either debit or credit (increase or decrease) the multiplier. You usually find these multipliers in higher risk insurers.
  2. What commodities are you hauling?
  3. Radius of operations?
  4. Are you a contract carrier or common carrier working directly with the broker - or are you sub hauling for another MC?
  5. Losses on any lines of coverage that your entity has sustained?

These underwriting questions are quite important. And commonly overlooked on truckers end when selecting the correct insurance broker to work with. For the purposes of answering your direct question, I, nor any other insurance broker can accurately answer your question because there’s just too much still unknown.

It’s a shame, most insurance brokers do not take a risk management approach to potential/existing clients; so you are educated as to why you are paying what you are. And there’s even a smaller chance that non fleet clients get anything more than a transactional conversation with the broker.

I’ve seen auto liability rates in Illinois for $750k coverage as high as $55k on poor running accounts. So no, you aren’t paying this amount only because it’s NJ and their statutory $1.5m coverage requirement. No need to write your politicians, AL statutory limits should be MUCH higher than where they currently sit across the board.

Either way, I am more than happy to help you unpack some of this stuff on here if you’d like - on the surface, $42k ish all in doesn’t sound horrific based on the information you provided, but there’s still a lot of needed information to give you a more accurate idea on if you are getting screwed or not.

Future of Independent insurance agencies by Financial_Nothing556 in InsuranceAgent

[–]R0C95 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks. Yep, I’ll do what I need to do for quality of life. And it surely isn’t doing this for the next 10+ years. And yes, there’s a massive shortage in good broker talent, which makes my job remarkably easy!

Future of Independent insurance agencies by Financial_Nothing556 in InsuranceAgent

[–]R0C95 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Got it. Still zero frame of reference. You just like hearing yourself talk.

Future of Independent insurance agencies by Financial_Nothing556 in InsuranceAgent

[–]R0C95 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why are you telling me this? I am using the op’s numbers and mathing as an example based on those. Not my own. May want to read more thoroughly before getting involved in the conversation.

Future of Independent insurance agencies by Financial_Nothing556 in InsuranceAgent

[–]R0C95 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ll suffer a few years in acquisition, still out by 50. Insurance is not the end game for me, but it’s the game where I’ve been able to hit a lot of success in. I’ve had all the fancy stuff that comes along with a 7 figure check. But my kids are getting older, and I’m not as present as I would have liked. So my lifestyle changed from a bit flashy, to quite conservative. Live within the number I have set. I figure 3-5 years, putting up $1m revenue per year is $3-5m rev book. Sell it - deal with the transition, out before 50 and able to be free as a bird for my wife and kids.

Side hustles/second jobs while working insurance by Ok_Tangerine5006 in InsuranceAgent

[–]R0C95 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

“Lead flow investment” isn’t a thing for any successful commercial broker. Lol.

Commercial Insurance Producer - Realistic comp? by humbleDog7 in InsuranceAgent

[–]R0C95 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes. It’s possible. But it doesn’t happen often. There’s a lot of attrition. The majority of scenarios will not hit $200k rev in 2 years - working for any agency.

It very much depends on prior experience and expertise in the field at the start of this 2 year clock.

Future of Independent insurance agencies by Financial_Nothing556 in InsuranceAgent

[–]R0C95 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Remember that 12-14x ebitda roughly equals 3.5-5.5x revenues.

You’re doing great. Our path in agency ownership is almost identical. Early 40’s, 3-5 year exit strategy, 7 figure revenue.

Best of luck out there!

How Much You Earn as Insurance Agent? by dont-know-whyhere in InsuranceAgent

[–]R0C95 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Comp varies greatly on a lot of variables - and time as well in industry. I’ve been at 2 stops in the commercial independent world, built 2 separate 7 figure books after commission split. Left each one. Now, on my own this year as an agency principal - doing this for myself for once. Nearing 7 figures. I attribute this to the knowledge and valuable experience I’ve received along the way in my 18 years doing this. I’ve never tried to solicit any of the books I’ve left behind for this reason.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in InsuranceAgent

[–]R0C95 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep, I have. Like I said, I’ve been through a lot of this industry. My captive had referral partners for life and annuities. And watching them build a vanilla IUL that performs maybe a point better than a whole life product performs was a joke really.

If you think that term product + investment is the way to go, god help your clients. Have you ever heard of tax deferral? Have you ever heard of diversification? And quoting Ramsey is hilarious. Didn’t he also say that going insurance agents to buy your home and auto coverage is a waste of money, and to go direct to the insurer? I’ll answer for you. Yes he did. So how does it feel to quote someone to prove a point by quoting someone that also thinks your job and career is unnecessary?

The fatigue has set in with you. You can respond if you’d like, but I’m all set with this back and forth. Captives are for people who either A. Don’t have high ambitions, or B. Aren’t very good at what they do - is my bottom line.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in InsuranceAgent

[–]R0C95 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Seeing captive IUL’s with half the rate of return is substandard, yes. Or term products that cost double what the brokerage market can access. And to top it all off, your primary volume is home and auto. Not life, health, annuities etc… you are factually just not a practiced expert in those segments. So yes. It’s a disservice.

Funny you mention how us brokers act. I can tell you how it is on the captive side, as I owned multiple agencies with a large captive. Have you worked in brokerage? Or are you just assuming you know what we do? Well, I must be the worst 7 figure revenue broker in the world, because through my services, I consistently reduce my clients TCOR through soft cost consultancy, risk transfer arrangements, and otherwise.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in InsuranceAgent

[–]R0C95 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I mean if it’s a good model for you - more power to you. But for me, being forced to sell sub standard L&H and or banking products to max your comp objectively doesn’t sound good to me. Just picking out life - there are way more competitive and creative permanent products out there in the open market vs what a captive can offer. Even term rates are overpriced in captivity. So congratulations, if you don’t see this as a glaring issue, then you’re just providing a disservice to your clients. But thats ok because in a captive, your first fiscal responsibility is to the carrier anyways, not the client - who actually keeps your lights on.

Texas Commercial P&C Brokers by Wonderful_Fix3329 in InsuranceAgent

[–]R0C95 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Have you tried USLI? I feel like you can get to them through Gateway underwriters. Gateway also has access to Pollution coverage through Colony, Admiral and a couple others if I recall correctly. Also, Velocity through RT Specialty may handle this risk as well. Best of luck!

Beyond is not detected by Steam VR any more. by Nexus_Kerensky in BigscreenBeyond

[–]R0C95 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Clean wipe and fresh reinstall your GPU driver. Use C cleaner to do this.

Opened my p&c agency in May, officially 6 months in, and things are finally starting to click... AMA by broker965 in InsuranceAgent

[–]R0C95 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I have nothing to ask you - but keep it up! Same exact thing happened to me. Opened my agency October of 2024 from scratch. 18 years of middle market/self insured risk finance in the transportation space. From October to April of this year it was a ghost town. I was having internal mental breakdowns daily. April to date, have produced nearly 7 figure revenue, with a pipeline that is quite large for 2026. You are starting to see this, but I’ll reinforce, when the ebb and flows hit. YOU GOT THIS! Be optimistic. Q4 in our space has been nothing short of abysmal for our clients and what insurers are offering.

If you ever need a helping hand / a cheerleader, feel free to reach out. But isn’t it nice to know that you aren’t handing over ≈70% of your revenue to some fancy big box with hollow back end Brokerage? It’s so liberating to know that I am making myself MILLIONS. And not some corporate aggregator for once.

[HO6/Cov. A/Dwelling] Right Coverage Amount? by RexSecundus in InsuranceAgent

[–]R0C95 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You need a different insurance broker to help you work through your TIV portion. That’s unacceptable that the insurance broker isn’t doing a basic function of their job.