For agents who have been jumping through hoops trying to get their companies to write auto, followed by other interesting tricks designed to convince the company to service that business, the new company has been a breath of fresh air. Of course, when the company first started doing business, that was not how everyone viewed it. There was some natural skepticism, accompanied by the usual East Coast cynicism, that ranged from seeing the company as some strange aberration that would learn all too quickly that its behavior was fundamentally unsound to seeing it as yet another sheep to be fleeced. Well, pretty much everyone was wrong. Palisades is a reciprocal exchange that markets through independent agents, an unusual arrangement.
Most reciprocals operate on a direct basis.
Palisades came to New Jersey when Jim Florio was elected governor. The company had negotiated with Commercial Union to come in as a replacement carrier for that company. Last year, the company paid dividends to policyholders who had been claims free for five years. The people at Palisades value the service we agents provide. They have a good rapport with our agency.