MAILBOX.(Brief Article)(Product Announcement)

Insurance facts

I am writing to share my concerns with your July "Let's Talk" column on "How to slow insurance rate increases."

First of all, the broad statement claiming "your insurance agent receives between 15-20% of your total premium" is incorrect. Most insurance agencies receive an average of 10-12.5% of the total premiums including general liability, property, business auto (10-15%), workers compensation (5%) and umbrella (10%). The individual agent makes less than half of that after agency administrative costs.

This misstatement was then used out of context to infer that, based upon 20% commission, you could take 10% off the top by putting …