Allstate Agent Inside Car Dealership Good or Bad?

[MicroModDude]

I'm fairly new to the insurance industry just barely getting my license in California. I've been offered a position as a Allstate agent in a car dealership in Los Angeles that's never had an agent before in its store. The owner of the Allstate agency say it will get lots of traffic and I could easily get up to 50 sales a month. They offer base pay of $2400 a month and $40 per item I sell as commission. Full benefits also.

What do you guys think? I haven't seen any post of this type before.

 

[thomasm]

I'm fairly new to the insurance industry just barely getting my license in California. I've been offered a position as a Allstate agent in a car dealership in Los Angeles that's never had an agent before in its store. The owner of the Allstate agency say it will get lots of traffic and I could easily get up to 50 sales a month. They offer base pay of $2400 a month and $40 per item I sell as commission. Full benefits also.

What do you guys think? I haven't seen any post of this type before.

Can you live on $2400-$4400 a month in L.A?

If I was young and single and didn't have so many bills, I would accept the position just to my feet wet in the business.

If it doesn't work out, you've at least learned something.

 

[MicroModDude]

Can you live on $2400-$4400 a month in L.A?

If I was young and single and didn't have so many bills, I would accept the position just to my feet wet in the business.

If it doesn't work out, you've at least learned something.

Thanks for the reply. LA is crazy expensive to live. If I can bring in 4k+ then I'd be ok. Just wondering if a dealership can bring in enough leads to make sales like that.

 

[indienoise]

This is how I got started. Manage operations at an independent car lot and hooked up with a nationwide agent to sell. Have gone indy now but you have to understand, the easy sales are not the profitable ones. Half of the sales you make who don't have prior will cancel before the end of the first term. Which doesn't really matter to you, if you're not getting paid on renewals. I'm willing to bet the all state agent won't stick around if all you write is the no priot, get plates kind of customer. This kind of business is a lot tougher than the kind of referrals you get from mortgage brokers, etc. Make relationships with the car lot staff and their customers, and go after the folks who are established and have insurance. The more profitable you are to the all state guy, the longer your gig will last.

 

[rianna77]

This is where I started in the industry last October, with Allstate , at a car dealership in Pennsylvania . Allstate premiums were so excruciatingly high we could barely close anything . In 7 months we only closed about 50 sales. We went Indy in June and surpassed that number 1st week in August. It was horrid , out of thousands of leads. I would compare Allstate rates with other companies before you jump in there or you won't get any commission , besides the salary. I didn't start making any money till July on 1st Indy commission check. I'm still fighting my way out .

 

[thomasm]

Don't rely just on inbound leads coming from the dealership. Learn to pick up the phone and make cold calls during downtimes.

Canvassing door to door has always done well for me too.

It might be harder to canvass in L.A. though. Stick to newer cookie cutter subdivisions like Country Hills in Torrence.

 

[RicFlairII]

A problem with that program is that most of the customer base in a car dealership have no prior insurance (otherwise they will just go with their
current carrier).

That puts the remainder in the pool for Allstate Indemnity, which has rates
that are not competitive (to get regular Allstate you must have prior ins).

So if your pay depends on the policy staying on the books for any length of
time, you may want to consider something else- as Allstate Indemnity is
pretty much just for someone looking for a policy so they can drive the car
off the lot.

Once they do and get settled in a day or two they start shopping for better
rates and cancel the policy. (I was Allstate agent for 25 years).

 

[Andle]

I hear the dealerships agencies in my area are writing over 200 cars a month. I can only imagine how high their loss ratio is and how low their retention is but those probably wont matter to you. Are they cutting you in on the yearly bonus? Will you have a life/financial quota?

Take the job and learn insurance. Worst case you hate it and you move on.

 

[MicroModDude]

Thanks for all the replies. Very helpful information for me. I haven't taken the job just yet as I have another interview tomorrow with another Allstate Agency looking for just a CSR, but also pays some commission on top of that, at a regular office. Hopefully if I'm offered a decent hourly pay, I'd rather do this instead than deal with any dealership drama.

I finally got a hold of my brother who worked at a car dealership a while back and he said all the sales guys were snakes, and hated each other. If you didn't meet your numbers, the managers would fire them left and right. The Allstate owners family owns the car dealership.

 

[shawnmwalker]

Micro Mod Dude,

Give me a Call I am very Familiar with both sides of the equation. both Allstate and Indy. (Dealer owned agencies)

Flow? Yes.

Heavy Auto? Yes.

Retail Hours? Yes

Member of Dealers inner Circle? Prob Not.

Possible to succeed? Yes.

Possible Burn out REAL Fast? Yes.

Why has Dealer not gone Indy Yet? He will soon if not trying to play both sides of the fence incorrectly.

Salary is not enough in that area.

Call me for a good chat- about this topic.