During his 13 years selling insurance policies for a direct provider, Reno's Justin Engel saw the problems people had buying a policy. Faced with complex comparisons, they made a decision based on price or relationship rather than coverage.
He aims to simplify that decision by providing business owners, particularly owners of smaller businesses, with a newly developed online software package that compares commercial insurance proposals.
The benefit of a software-based consultant, says Engel, president of Compared Insurance, is mass distribution at a reasonable price.
The company's product, CompariSys, is a patent-pending process that lets business owners sift property and casualty insurance proposals and make an informed decision, says Engel.
The Web site comparedinsurance.com initially will serve myriad segments of the automotive market. Other industry-specific segments will be added over the coming year.
Insurance consultants independents who aren't paid by insurance providers typically serve a business market that pays $60,000 to $70,000 in annual premiums. But CompariSys serves the $10,000- to $15,000-a-year market, says Engel.
The end user pays a flat fee depending on type of business. Cost starts at less than $1,000 for a small business such as the owner of a single restaurant and is capped at the $2,500 to $3,000 range.
"A consultant would charge five to 10 times that amount," he says.
The company plans to market the software in trade journals, with search engine optimization, and through association and franchise relationships.
Engel and Joe Coulter of Coulter Consulting in Kansas are founding partners of the corporation. Additional partners are Bob Ashton of Coulter Consulting in Overland Park, Kan., and Bob Maeyama, an underwriter based in Dallas, Texas.
Prior to forming Compared Insurance last fall, Engel was a managing member at High Octane Services LLC, a commercial insurance consulting firm in Reno. Compared Insurance maintains an office at 8600 Technology Way.
