A commercial insurance agency that wanted AI to do its quotes and ACORD forms

What you asked for, in your words: “Do my quotes and invoices.” AI that fills out your ACORD forms, and a way to enter client information once and have it go out to your carriers and come back with a quote or an answer.

Every number and product claim in this report has a source listed at the end, with the date I checked it. Where I could not confirm something, I say so and give you the exact question that settles it. I promised you a list of questions to ask before you talk to any of these companies. Those questions are built into each step below, next to the decision they belong to.

0. WHAT THIS COSTS YOU

You should not have to read to the end to find the number, so here it is.

Nothing, to find out. The whole first pass costs zero dollars. One phone call to your software vendor, ten minutes on a quick website fix, and one free tool you can try without handing anyone a card.

There is no quote from me in this report, because I am not recommending a build. Section 1 explains why. If that changes once you have answers from your vendor, we can talk then.

Three places money could come up later, and what is known about each:

• Your agency software's own quoting add-on. You may already own it. The vendor does not publish pricing, so asking is the only way to know. This is the first question worth asking, because a yes means most of your problem is already paid for.
• A submission network's paid tier. Their free tier may cover you. If it does not, the piece you need sits behind a paid tier whose price they do not publish.
• An intake tool, roughly $3,000 a year. The only firm number in this report, and it comes from a 2023 announcement, so confirm it before you count on it. This is only worth spending if you decide to fix intake with software instead of by adding fields to the form you already have, which costs nothing.

What I would not spend anything on right now: a custom build, and the three quoting platforms in section 6. The reasons are in both places.

1. THE SHORT VERSION

Do not build anything custom. And before you buy anything, make one phone call, because you may already own most of what you asked for.

Your agency management system already has a form engine that builds prefilled ACORD applications. The company behind it also sells its own multi-carrier quoting tool that pulls straight from that system, and they now offer an AI assistant that reads incoming email and files it for you. Some of this may be sitting in your license already. Finding out costs one call to your rep, and I have written out exactly what to ask.

The reason I am steering you away from a custom build has not changed. A custom quoting tool that gets a number wrong lands on your agency. On top of that, your vendor does not let outside software touch its system casually. Access runs through a gated developer program with permissions and approvals, and there is no documented way to make it produce a finished ACORD form. Anyone who says they will just wire something into it is describing a longer road than they think.

2. WHAT CHANGED THE ANSWER

Three things in your reply moved this.

Every carrier you listed has its own portal. So the problem was never that you cannot quote. It is that quoting means a separate login and typing the same client over again for each one. Different problem, different fix.

You write E&S as well as admitted. Most quoting tools in this space are built for the standard market only, so that side needs its own answer. That is section 5.

Most of your book is new business. Re-typing costs you more than it costs a renewal-heavy agency.

Two things I could not settle on my own:

• A carrier I mentioned in my first email did not come back on your list. If you do write it, tell me, because it appears on one of the platforms in section 6.
• A few of the markets you named I could not identify from the names. If they are program or specialty markets rather than ordinary carriers, no comparative rater reaches them no matter whose list you read, and you would be judging every tool here against a carrier list it was never going to satisfy.