Goosehead vs. Renegade Insurance: Which is Better for Agents?

TLTR: In this article, we have reviewed Goosehead Insurance franchise and Renegade Insurance in terms of insurance franchise fees, models, benefits, and more.

Independent insurance agency models are continuously changing as a result of large competition and diverse businesses vying for the same pool of clients. In this age, you can’t succeed just by doing things the old way. You also need a robust support system to help you genuinely grow yourself and your book of business.

Multiple agency models exist, but agents don’t always know what will help them best. Here we’ll be taking a look at two such agency ownership opportunities, namely Goosehead and Renegade Insurance.

Goosehead Insurance franchise and Renegade Insurance’s (formerly Covered by SAGE) plug-and-play model both allow captive agents to transform into independent agents in the insurance market.

Who is Goosehead?

Goosehead is a personal lines property and casualty insurance agency that also operates a franchise model. It works on a “you sell, we service” model and allows agents to commit fully to sales.

How do Goosehead agents make money?

Goosehead agents work on a commission split basis. They get a percentage of the commission earned for each policy that they write.

Agents make 80% commission on new policies, and 50% commission on renewals.

According to Goosehead’s data, corporate agents who have been working for more than three years typically earn more than $130,000 per year.

How does Goosehead Insurance make money?

Goosehead insurance agency makes money from its two channels: corporate channel and the franchise channel.

As Goosehead corporate agents receive an 80% commission split on new business, Goosehead receives the remaining 20%. Likewise, for renewals, Goosehead gets 50% in commissions.

From its franchise channel, Goosehead receives 20% royalty on new business, and 50% royalty on renewals. The broker charges an upfront insurance franchise fee that can range from $27,500 to $66,000, depending upon the state of the outlet.

A total starting investment of $60,000 to $128,000 is required, and a schedule of additional out-of-pocket fees charged to agents are detailed in the contract.

How wide is Goosehead’s market?

Goosehead has access to over 140 carriers nationally. As such, it has a vast range of choices to present to potential clients. However, they only focus on personal lines like home, auto, and renters.

While they continuously recruit agents for their corporate channel, they have rolled out their franchise channel nationwide.

Additional benefits offered by Goosehead are:

• Use of industry-leading Salesforce technology
• Training
• Marketing support
• Customer service support
• Nationwide Property Database for accurate quoting
• Proprietary Mortgage Database that provides U.S. mortgage activity data

Who is Renegade Insurance?

Renegade Insurance is a newcomer to the insurance industry. They’re backed by investors who have built category-defining companies, and believe that disruption through market-leading technology will ultimately allow insurance agents to “be their best selves”.

Renegade does not operate a franchise model. They’re an independent insurance brokerage platform. They offer a “you sell, we service” model to their agents, but that is just the start of what they’re trying to do.

How do Renegade Insurance agents make money?

Renegade Insurance agents also make money from commissions. Agents receive 80% to 95% commission (depending upon premium value) on new business and 50% commission on renewals for personal lines.

Renegade Insurance also has a 60-40 split on new business and 40-60 on renewals for commercial lines. Additionally, Renegade Insurance also has options for agents who would like to sell life or health policies, allowing them to cross-sell all insurance lines of business.

How does Renegade Insurance make money?

Since Renegade Insurance does not operate on a franchise model, there’s no Renegade franchise cost. However, as it’s an independent insurance broker, it earns from upfront fees as well as monthly fees from agents for access to carriers, proprietary technology, and client servicing support.

Besides the above-mentioned fees, another primary source of income for Renegade is commission split between the company and its agents. Coupled with a no retail outlet requirement, agents can virtually start their own agency with no retail investment.

How wide is Renegade Insurance’s market?

Renegade can provide appointments to its agents with 90+ carriers. While they are licensed in 48 states, as per their website, they officially operate in 7 states, namely, Georgia, Florida, Texas, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

Additional benefits offered by Renegade include:

• Proprietary technology (Lead Management Software & Rater)
• Internal marketing team to source leads
• Local SEO for agents
• Customer service assistance
• Product and Sales training
• Book roll assistance from carrier to carrier

How do they compare?

Started in 2003, Goosehead is a growing independent insurance broker with great economics. Its insurance franchise started as an extension of a traditional agency. As such, they have an internal corporate agency that competes directly with its franchisees. However, they do their best to support both corporate agents and franchise owners.

With access to over 140 carriers and franchises all over the U.S., Goosehead has a powerful hold on the personal lines market.

Renegade Insurance has been building its brand and gaining recognition since its start in 2018. It is already licensed in 48 states. With access to 90+ carriers in such a short time, and active operation in 7 states, the broker is growing rapidly.

Goosehead agents cater to personal lines insurance with an 80/20 commission split on new business, and 50/50 on renewals.

Alternatively, Renegade agents cater to commercial lines in addition to personal lines. For personal lines, the broker offers 80/20 commission split on new business and 50/50 on renewals and for commercial lines it offers a 60/40 split on new business, and 40/60 on renewals.

Adoption of the Salesforce technology helps Goosehead take care of all internal systems and processes. Likewise, Renegade has developed proprietary technology that consists of lead management software and rater.

Both companies have similarities, such as remote servicing teams, quoting from multiple carriers, and a lucrative commission split. But these businesses started with radically different goals, and as such, their approach to operating an insurance agency is starkly different.

In a nutshell

For agents looking to grow and test their mettle, or even agents looking to take advantage and get ahead in the market, we hope this article has helped you learn about these two players.

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