Note · Independent agencies
The renewal season math for an independent agency
More auto customers shopped their policy in 2024 than in any year J.D. Power has measured, and the work of keeping them lands on a staff of about ten.
57% of auto customers shopped in 2024
J.D. Power found the share of customers shopping their insurance year over year rose to 57% from 49%, the highest in the study’s 19 years, as reported by Insurance Journal. Auto premium increases fell from 13% at the start of 2024 to under 2% by the end of it, and shopping rose anyway. That is personal auto. Commercial renewals have no comparable published rate.
Auto customers who shopped their policy in the past year
Prior year
49%2024, a 19-year high
57%
Source: J.D. Power 2025 U.S. Insurance Shopping Study, via Insurance Journal
At 83% retention, a book of 1,000 clients replaces 170 a year
Vertafore, an agency software vendor, put average client retention across 3,700 agencies at 83%, and estimated that a steady 3% improvement in retention could mean about 15% more agency revenue within five years. That data is from 2020. The 170 is our arithmetic on it.
The work sits with about ten people
The 2026 Big “I” Agency Universe Study puts the average independent agency at 9.9 staff, across every role. Independent agents also place 87% of US commercial lines premium, so a good share of that work is business accounts.
What we would measure first
How many renewals 60 days out have had a real touch, how long a certificate request waits, and how long a new quote request sits before someone works it. Those three are where we would start.
If you run an agency and want to see what those three numbers look like for your book, it is a 20-minute call.
Talk to usSources