Business models / Insurance Agency / Own a franchise

An insurance agency franchise, or your own?

Five franchise brands run an insurance agency. Here they are beside the independent version of the same business, with each brand’s fees as it publishes them and worked out in dollars. A brand can bring customers an independent has to earn one by one. The question is whether it brings in more than it costs.

Typical for an insurance agency: $250k to $5M in sales, and the owner keeps 20% to 35% after paying for its own marketing. Change either to your own numbers.

How the two sides are counted

  • Sales. A brand’s name brings customers an independent wins one at a time, so each brand is worked out at the sales it reports where we have them, and at yours where we don’t.
  • Marketing. On your own you pay for all of it, about 3% of sales here (the SBA’s usual range for ongoing marketing). The ad fund does part of that job, so it is counted once, not twice.
  • Survival. New franchised businesses were about 5 to 6 points more likely to make it through their first two years in Census data, and about half of all new businesses close within five years. It is not in the dollars; each brand’s details give the sources.
The independent version

Your own insurance agency

Built and run under your own name

Cost to open
$41k to $251k
Annual sales
$1.1Mtypical
Franchise fee
None
Royalty + ad fund
Noneall marketing is yours
$313,600
The owner keeps in a year, after about $34k of marketing
Taking new owners

Estrella Insurance

Personal lines insurance agency

Total investment
$12k to $84k
Avg. annual sales
Ask the brand
Franchise fee
$10k
Royalty + ad fund
12% + 7% of sales
$134k
The owner keeps in a year at $1.1M in sales (your sales), after $213k to the brand
$179k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Freeway Insurance

Auto and personal lines insurance agency

Total investment
$35k to $84k
Avg. annual sales
Ask the brand
Franchise fee
$10k
Royalty + ad fund
14% + 7% of sales
$112k
The owner keeps in a year at $1.1M in sales (your sales), after $235k to the brand
$202k less a year than on your own
Taking new owners

Brightway Insurance

Insurance agency

Total investment
$50k to $200k
Avg. annual sales
Ask the brand
Franchise fee
Not listed
Royalty + ad fund
In the details
The fee is not a simple share of sales, so it is not worked out in dollars. The details show it as the brand words it.
Taking new owners

Goosehead Insurance

Insurance agency

Total investment
$66k to $112k
Avg. annual sales
Ask the brand
Franchise fee
$50k
Royalty + ad fund
In the details
The fee is not a simple share of sales, so it is not worked out in dollars. The details show it as the brand words it.
Taking new owners

Fiesta Auto Insurance

Auto insurance and tax prep

Total investment
$88k to $172k
Avg. annual sales
Ask the brand
Franchise fee
$25k
Royalty + ad fund
In the details
The fee is not a simple share of sales, so it is not worked out in dollars. The details show it as the brand words it.
Free account

See all 5 insurance agency brands side by side

  • Every brand’s investment and fees, and what the owner keeps against running your own
  • The yearly sales the first 3 report, and a plus to add brands to your comparison and benchmark them in your account
  • Members see the sales every franchisor reports, for every brand

Free, no card. A new account accepts the Terms and the Privacy Policy. smbnest is a self-assessment tool and never takes a cut of your deal or a fee from a franchisor.

Before you sign: what to read in the disclosure document

Every franchisor must give you its Franchise Disclosure Document at least 14 days before you sign or pay. These are the parts that answer the questions above.

  • Items 5 to 7, the fees and the investment. The franchise fee, every other fee (technology, training, transfer, renewal), and the full opening budget, including working capital.
  • Item 19, what owners earn. Whether the brand states owner sales or earnings at all, and for which units. Put its figures in the boxes above in place of the typical ones.
  • Item 20, units opened, closed and sold. How many owners left in each of the last three years, and a list of current and former owners you can call.
  • Item 12, the territory. Whether you get a protected area, and what the brand can open or sell inside it.
  • Item 21, the franchisor’s own finances. Whether the company behind the brand is in good health.

smbnest is a self-assessment tool, not individualized advice. Fees are as each brand publishes them on its franchising page and in its disclosure document, reviewed in the month shown, and change; the figures in dollars are worked out at the sales you enter and are not a forecast. We never take a cut of your deal or a fee from a franchisor. Before you sign, speak with a franchise attorney and a qualified financial adviser, and call owners from the disclosure document.