
Too Important To Be Rhetorical
A
rhetorical question is a figure of speech in the
form of a question posed for its persuasive
effect without the expectation of a reply.
I'm going to forgo my standard format this issue
of the "Voice" to pose the following questions
to FGI, submitted directly and unedited by the
agency force.
1.) Why was it necessary for the Exchanges to
purchase an internet based direct auto insurance
company (21st Century) that competes directly
against the agency force? Every auto policy that
21st Century issues is one less policy the
Farmers agent can write.
2.) What about Independent Agents having full
access to the product line through Foremost?
3.) Why did Robert Woudstra send a letter to the
Independent Agents detailing the
Farmers purchase of AIG and how it will effect
the the IA's. Included in the letter is the
statement that "This acquisition demonstrates
our commitment to meet the needs of independent
agents with a broad product suite, ease of doing
business and financial stability."
4.) Why do Farmers agents not have access to the
products of their own company but Independent
Agents do?
5.) Do we honestly believe that the Independent
Agents will just write the auto insurance, but
not write the homeowners, boat, life or umbrella
insurance? Isn't this direct competition against
the agency force?
6.) Why does Farmers not allow its Captive
agents to write all the business lines owned by
Zurich or the Exchanges, but it is demanding
that agents place all their business through the
commercial brokerage house they have made an
agreement with, but is not owned by them? Isn't
this a direct violation of the Agents
Appointment Agreement which states that agents
are free to place business outside of Farmers
when it is not acceptable to the Exchanges?
7.) What legal or contractual right does FGI
think gives it the legal authority to demand
that the Captive agents who have a contract with
the Exchanges place business through its
commercial brokerage house that it does not own
and the insurance paper is not Farmers?
8.) Is the new Agents Appointment Agreement
illegal since it basically allows FGI the right
to change the contract at will without
additional financial consideration?
9.) What is Distinct Choice and how does it have
an effect on me as a Farmers agent? I have
visited the website
distinctchoice.com, but don't understand its
impact now or in the future on me as an agent.
10.) Is it true, and this is according to the
Insurance Journal, that Zurich/Farmers
Management Service’s management fees and other
related revenues were up 6 percent to $2.3
billion? Doesn't that mean that Zurich is
getting about $7,123,287.67 per day from the
exchanges? Doesn't that sound excessive for a
management fee considering all expenses, claims,
agent commissions, etc. are paid for by the
Exchanges?
11.) According to my DM the reason for the large
agent recruiting centers is that the DMMs will
be gone by the end of 2009 and the DMs will be
gone by the end of 2010. Any truth to that
rumor?
Again, the purpose of this article was to allow
agents to publically air their questions
directly to FGI. It is highly unlikely that any
response will be forthcoming from FGI on these
questions and they can therefore be viewed as
rhetorical questions. However, there is
legitimacy in many of these questions and they
should be considered too important to be
rhetorical.
Tom Schrader President
United Farmers Agents Association