How Home and Auto Live Transfers Work, and What to Check
How home and auto live transfer calls work, how they differ from shared leads, and what a P&C agency should check in the billing rules before it buys.
What are home and auto live transfer leads?
Home and auto live transfer leads are real-time phone calls with people who want a home or auto insurance quote. That can be car owners, homeowners, or renters with cars, looking for auto, home, or both. The key difference is timing: the prospect is connected to your agency while they are still on the line.
For an agency, that beats another list of names. A live transfer gives your producer the chance to ask questions, quote, and move the conversation forward before the prospect cools off.
If you already know you want them, see our home and auto live transfer leads page for how we deliver and bill them. This guide explains how the calls work and what to check before you buy.
The problem with buying another lead
A lead by itself does not create a conversation. Shared internet leads often run $3 to $10 each, and the same person is sold to more than one agency. Your team races to call first, and you pay whether anyone answers or not.
Lists have the same problem at a lower price. Someone still has to dial, and every hour a producer spends dialing is an hour they are not quoting. You end up paying for attempts instead of conversations.
How pay per transfer works
With InsureScales, our callers do the dialing. When someone wants a home or auto quote, they are transferred live to your producer. You prepay for transfers, and your balance only goes down when a transfer counts. You set your states, calling hours, daily cap, and how many calls you take at once. Our callers never quote, bind, or give advice.
Calling data is included, and your lists can be added
You do not need to bring a list. InsureScales calling data is included. If your agency wants its own lists called too, they can be added.
Either way, what you pay for stays the same: a live transfer that counts.
What counts as a billable transfer?
Clear rules protect both sides. At InsureScales, answered transfers are timed from the first ring at your agency. Under 75 seconds is not billable. From 75 seconds to under 5 minutes is billable, unless our quality team approves a valid return. At 5 minutes or longer it is billable.
If nobody at your agency answers, including calls that go to your voicemail, the transfer counts once the prospect has waited 20 seconds from the first ring and then hangs up. You get their details so you can call back. Under 20 seconds is not billable.
What if the prospect is not a fit?
Answered transfers between 75 seconds and 5 minutes can be sent back for these reasons. Our quality team reviews every return, and billing is settled by the end of the week. If the home qualifies, a home and auto transfer is billed in full, even if the auto side does not.
- No vehicle, or no valid driver's license
- No auto insurance now, or a coverage lapse in the past 6 months
- Already insured with a carrier your campaign agreement excludes
- Lives outside your agreed licensed states
- Has or needs an SR-22
- Does not own or co-own the home
- The home is outside your agreed licensed area
- The home is insured with a carrier your campaign agreement excludes
Any extra home criteria have to be agreed in writing. There are no default property-type or ZIP code limits.
We deliver interested, qualified prospects. Quotes and sales are not guaranteed, and not quoting the prospect is not, by itself, a return reason.
The licensing boundary matters
Callers should never quote, bind, or give advice. Their job is to find out who wants a quote and transfer that person to your licensed producers.
Ask any live transfer provider how they handle DNC scrubbing, calling-window rules, and approved scripts with the required disclosures. Those controls make for a cleaner campaign, but they are not a promise of legal immunity.
When this model is a good fit
Someone can answer during your calling hours
If nobody answers and the prospect waits 20 seconds, the transfer still counts. Keep a producer on the phones during the hours you set.
You are licensed where the calls come from
You pick the states. Prospects outside your agreed licensed states can be sent back.
You call back missed transfers fast
When a transfer is missed, you get the prospect details. Those only turn into policies if someone calls back quickly.