Who stands behind this site, and how you would check

What we are

Insurance Plan Center is an independent comparison and referral service. We are based at 1180 Peachtree Street NE, Atlanta, GA 30309, we are open Mon-Fri, 8:00am-6:00pm Eastern, and our job is to help you understand what cover you need and to put you in touch with a producer who is authorised to write it.

We are not an insurance company, we do not underwrite risk, and we do not hold authority to issue or amend a policy. The insurance company named on your paperwork is the party responsible for the cover, the price, and the claims.

What we will not print here

You will not find a long table of licence numbers on this page, and that is deliberate. A number nobody can check is worse than no number at all, so we would rather tell you who the licensed party is on a given request than print a wall of unverified claims.

We also do not describe ourselves as a managing general agent, we do not claim authority in every state, and we make no mention of a financial strength rating, an accreditation, or an industry badge. Those belong to the carrier that carries the risk, not to a desk that only introduces you.

If a request results in a quote, the document or screen you are shown will name the company and, where one is required, the individual producer. That is the record to check, and the method below is how to check it.

How to check any licence record yourself

This is the same routine an investigator would follow, and it takes a few minutes. You need the name of the party and, ideally, a licence number.

1. 1

   Find the regulator for the right state

   A producer is licensed by a state, and the state where the risk sits is the one that matters: the state where the car is garaged, where the building stands, or where the business is registered. Every state insurance department has an official website, and they are linked from the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.

2. 2

   Use the regulator's own licensee search

   Each department runs a public lookup on its site. Search for the individual producer if you have a name, or for the agency or company entity. Type the name exactly as it appears on the paperwork; small differences create false alarms.

3. 3

   Read three things, not just the name

   Is the status active? Which class of authority is recorded, for example property and casualty, or personal lines? And which insurer is the producer appointed to write for? An active licence with no appointment for the company that quoted you is a reason to ask more questions.

4. 4

   Do the same for the insurer

   Look up the insurance company on the regulator's site as well. You can see whether it is authorised to write that class of business in that state, and most departments publish a complaint ratio you can compare against the rest of the market.

5. 5

   Save what you found

   Print or screenshot the record with the date on it. If a conversation later goes sideways, a dated record beats a memory, and it is exactly what a regulator would ask you for.

What to ask before you give anyone your details

If someone is reluctant to answer these, that is the answer. Nobody who is genuinely licensed has a reason to be vague about it.

• check_circle What is your full name, and which company do you write for?
• check_circle Which state issued your licence, and what is the licence number?
• check_circle Is that licence active today, and which class of business does it cover?
• check_circle Who is the named insurer on the quote, and is that insurer licensed in my state?
• check_circle Where do I file a complaint if something goes wrong?

If something does not add up

Stop before you give payment details or sign anything. Note the name, the company, the date, and anything written down, and take it to the insurance department for the state where you live. Regulators handle consumer complaints, and they will tell you plainly whether a producer is authorised to do what they have offered to do.

If you would like us to look into something first, send the details and we will check what we can before you spend an afternoon on hold. Related reading sits on our carrier and records page.

How to reach us about licensing

If a question about licensing is not answered here, put it in writing and we will reply. Licensing questions get answered properly rather than quickly.