Percent of business in Illinois by line:
Personal: 100%

Are you currently appointing new agents? Yes. We are interested in appointing enthusiastic, aggressive independent agents throughout Illinois.

What type of agency is your company looking for? Independent professional agencies that want a top-quality specialty personal lines company to compliment the products offered by their standard carriers. We pride ourselves on offering independent agents a market for business their standard carriers will not take.

What are your premium volume requirements? No volume requirement, but for profit sharing-$50,000.

Are you currently doing any niche-marketing program? Yes. Just about everything we do could be considered a niche product. Best known is our flagship mobile home insurance program. We started as a niche marketer doing mobile homes in 1952! From that we developed our specialty travel trailer programs and our motor home program. We also offer dwelling fire programs, an ACV homeowners and a non-standard homeowners for customers who have credit and/or loss problems. Our newest products are also niche products -- and they're generating a lot of excitement. They include motorcycle, snowmobile, and off-road vehicle and marine products. Now we offer family boaters for boats less than 26 feet in length, and personal watercraft insurance. Agents look to us for the products they can't place with their standard carriers and for stand-alone policies with superior coverage. All of our policies can be written monoline.

What is your company's most aggressive line of business? We're aggressively promoting all lines of business especially our new products like motorcycle, off-road vehicle and the new marine products. But we're also looking for growth in our mobile home, dwelling fire, travel trailer and motor home programs.

Do you use credit scoring? Yes, for specialty dwelling and motorcycle, both new and renewal.

Do you currently download/upload with your agencies? Yes, with select agency management systems.

What methods do you use to distribute your insurance products? Most of our business comes to us through Independent Agents. We also write through dealer-agents at the point of sale, through affiliations with affinity groups and through captive or exclusive agents.

What do you think makes your company different, or stand out from all the rest in Illinois? Why would an agent want to contract with your company? Our target market is constant. We want to write customers who want a specialty carrier who offers superior coverage or customers that can't or won't be placed with a standard carrier. We allow agents to place business that other standard carriers will not accept. We're also the largest specialty insurer of manufactured homes with over 50 years of writing manufactured home insurance. But it's not just product that differentiates us. Foremost prides itself on making it easy for agents to do business with us and on our highly trained staff claim representatives located throughout the country.

If we had agents agree to sell homeowners policies with actual cash value endorsements, would you write more business in southern Illinois? We currently offer an HO-3 policy with an ACV loss settlement. No endorsement is necessary.

What are the major ways in which you are interfacing electronically with your agents today? Through our Internet site ForemostSTAR.com. This site allows agents to issue and quote mobile home and specialty dwelling policies online. We will continue to expand the functions of ForemostSTAR.com and expect to provide all documents electronically for any product in the near future.

Additional Comments: Scott Weber and Michelle Egy are the main contacts for interested Illinois agents. Scott can be reached at (800) 670-4666, ext. 27010. To reach Michelle call 1-800-237-6136, ext. 68388. We want to be the premier specialty lines insurer in the U.S. and we want to be your choice for your customers who need specialty insurance products. Foremost has a program for almost any manufactured home, recreational insurance products for your customers who ride motorcycles, off-road vehicles or snowmobiles or who own a travel trailer, motor home, family boat or personal watercraft. We also have options for your customers who need a dwelling fire program for a site-built home or a homeowners program designed for customers who have struggled with credit or had multiple losses.