Fire & general
Sell Your Fire & General Book in New Zealand
A general insurance book is renewal income that resets every year. That makes it a different sale from a life book — and makes the commercial and personal lines split the number a buyer asks about first.
- 50+ active buyers
- Confidential process
- No seller fee
- No obligation
Who buys
Who buys fire and general books in New Zealand?
Buyers are usually established brokerages looking to add scale in a region or a class of business, and occasionally larger groups consolidating smaller broking operations.
Because general insurance is annually renewable, a buyer is underwriting the likelihood that your clients re-buy. Demonstrable renewal retention does more for a price than the size of the book.
Insurer agency agreements and how they novate are a practical constraint on who can buy at all, and it is worth understanding your position on those before you start a process.
Buyers differ on
- Commercial and personal split
- Region
- Insurer agency mix
- Average account size
- Renewal retention
- Claims servicing load
- Whether you stay on
What you can sell
You do not have to sell everything.
Brokers often want to sell the personal lines that have become uneconomic to service while keeping the commercial accounts they enjoy. That split is a routine transaction.
- 01
The whole book
A complete exit, usually with a renewal cycle of handover so accounts are introduced rather than simply reassigned.
- 02
Personal lines only
Selling the personal lines that no longer justify the servicing cost, while keeping the commercial accounts.
- 03
A region or an office
A geographic segment sold to a broker with a presence there and the servicing capacity to hold it.
- 04
A staged sale
Selling a portion now and the balance later, ahead of a full exit.
Preparation
What a buyer will want to see.
None of this is needed to request an appraisal. It becomes relevant once you decide to explore a sale properly.
- Annual recurring renewal commission, split commercial and personal.
- Renewal retention over recent years, separated from premium rate movement.
- The insurer agency agreements in place and whether they transfer.
- Average account size and revenue concentration in the largest clients.
- Claims history and the servicing load it implies.
- Whether policies renew evenly through the year or cluster.
- CRM accuracy: contact details, renewal dates, policy records.
Several years of premium rate increases can mask client attrition. Buyers will want revenue growth separated from rate movement.
Value
What is a fire and general book worth?
Indicatively, around 2.0×–3.0× annual recurring revenue. Multiples sit below life and KiwiSaver because general insurance is annually renewable and price-sensitive — and a commercial-weighted book generally prices above a personal lines one.
Indicative information only. Actual market value can fall above or below this range depending on renewal retention, commercial and personal mix, client characteristics, revenue quality, transaction structure and buyer demand.
The process
How a sale actually runs.
You are not listing your business on a marketplace, and nothing is advertised at any point.
-
01
Request a confidential appraisal
A short form about the shape of the book. Nothing that identifies a client, and nothing that commits you to anything.
-
02
We appraise the book privately
We look at the revenue mix, size and characteristics, and give you an indicative view of value and of likely buyer interest.
-
03
You decide whether to go further
Many advisers stop here and simply use the appraisal to understand where they stand. That is a perfectly good outcome.
-
04
We introduce suitable buyers
If you want to proceed, we approach the buyers most likely to want your book. Your identity is not released without your approval.
Questions
Selling a fire & general book: common questions.
Can I sell only my personal lines and keep the commercial accounts?
Yes, and it is one of the more common partial sales in general insurance.
Personal lines that have become uneconomic to service can be sold to a broker set up to handle volume, while you keep the commercial accounts where the broking work is.
Are commercial books worth more than personal lines?
Often, yes.
Commercial accounts typically carry higher revenue per client, involve genuine broking work, and are harder to replace with a direct or online alternative. Most books are a mix, and the split is one of the first things a buyer asks about.
Do my insurer agency agreements transfer?
Not automatically, and this is worth checking early. How agencies novate is a practical constraint on which buyers can complete a transaction and on how the handover is structured.
Does premium rate movement affect my valuation?
It can.
Because commission follows premium, several years of rate increases can mask client attrition. A buyer will generally want to see revenue growth separated from rate movement.
Why are fire and general multiples lower than life or KiwiSaver?
General insurance is annually renewable and more price-sensitive. Clients re-buy every policy each year, often against directly comparable alternatives, which makes the future revenue less certain than a long-standing life policy or a KiwiSaver servicing relationship.
What does it cost me to sell through The Client Base?
No brokerage, listing or success fee is charged to sellers. You may still incur your own legal and accounting costs on a transaction, as you would with any sale.
Find out what your fire & general book could be worth
A confidential appraisal, with no obligation to sell and no fee to you.
Submitting a request does not put your business on the market.
- 50+ active buyers
- Confidential process
- No seller fee
- No obligation