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My Agent Left me. What do I do?

If you have been with an insurance agent for a period of time, you might experience a situation where your agent leaves the company or agency. I am writing this article from he perspective of your personal insurance agent who handles you auto and/or homeowners insurance coverage.

An insurance agent will leave his or her agency, or company, for any number of reasons. Those reasons would include; retirement, firing, downsizing, career change, promotion, and others.

If your agent is leaving the company this does not affect your insurance coverage. The agent works for a company, or on behalf of an insurance company and does not have any direct impact on your insurance contract. Your agent is one of two types, an independent agent or a captive agent. An independent agent works through an agency and places business with many different companies such as Hartford or Travelers. The other is a captive agent who writes business with one company such as Allstate™ or State Farm™.

Independent Agency: If your agent works through an agency, his or her leaving will cause your account to become a house account for that agency. Most agencies, of any size, will have a service department or service rep that you deal with most of the time. When your agent leaves, the house will take over the account. Many times they will assign a new rep to handle your account. If you like the new agent, there is no problem staying right where you are. We would recommend that you ask your new rep to review your account and come up with any recommendations for you. There are always recommendations to be made and this process will help you to feel our your new agent.

Captive Agent :A captive agent writes through one main company. The best example is your local Allstate™ agent. Let's assume your Allstate™ agent decides to retire. Your account will become an orphan account and will be assigned to a new agent. You will receive notice of this. Sometimes a company will simply hand the account to a new agent at that same location. Sometimes another agent in the area will purchase the business from the former agent.

In any event, get to know your new agent. Ask for a review of your account and recommendations. If you are not comfortable with your new representative, perhaps you should shop around. If you are comfortable, give the rep a chance to prove him or herself.

As always, feel free to post a question or comment in our insurance forum.