Insurance agents that sell insurance policies are either a captive agent or an independent agent. A captive insurance writes business for only one company, maintains their own office and usually gets a commission from every policy that they sell. Any licensed insurance agent can easily become a captive insurance agent.
A captive insurance agent is a person that is licensed to sell insurance in a particular state but works exclusively for one insurance company. The most common types of companies that employ captive insurance agents are State Farm, AllState and Nationwide. There are other as well but these are the most well know companies that sell insurance in all fifty states. There are benefits to working for only one insurance company which include only needing to promote and market one company’s insurance products. Another benefit would include taking advantage of the company’s advertising which can send business to a local agent’s office.
A captive insurance agent that sells insurance exclusively for one company usually owns and maintains there own office. This includes hiring additional staff as well as other licensed agents to help market and sell the insurer’s products. Depending on the location an insurance agent’s office can be relatively small with a couple of employees to being rather large having many employees for each type of product that is being sold. A captive agent is going to sell whatever products that the company has to offer. This can be auto insurance, home insurance as well as life insurance. A captive insurance agent will only need to be licensed in the state they are selling insurance.
A captive insurance agent just like their independent counterparts usually get a percentage from every policy that they sell. The percentage for each policy can depend on many things such as the type of policy sold as well as the amount of the premium. The more policies a captive insurance sells can result in a bonus from the insurer at the end of the year. Typically an agent can expect a two to five percent commission from each policy sold and perhaps more depending on the what an insurer offers their agent. The most profitable aspect of a commission is when an existing policy renews because there is no work done by the agent.
Anyone who is licensed to sell insurance is any state can easily become a captive insurance agent. All that is required is becoming familiar with a company’s policies and procedures. Typically there is some sort of training involved before an agent is certified to sell an insurers products.