Steph Santi, founder and CEO of Auto Mate, has experienced rapid growth and impressive recognition since launching his Portland, Oregon-based independent agency.
You might say insurance is in Steph’s DNA. “It seems to run in the family,” he jokes, explaining that his father and grandfather also worked in insurance.
When he was just 20 years old, he applied for a job at a State Farm agency, expecting something entry level. Instead, he was hired as an agent, and he was hooked. At age 25, he opened his own Farmers Insurance agency. Then, at age 29, he opened an Allstate agency, operating inside a car dealership in Oregon. “We started from scratch and quickly became the largest producing Allstate agency in Oregon in just 11 months,” he recalls.
While all these experiences were amazing, Steph was ready to try something new – this time as an independent agency. In 2015, he opened Auto Mate.
The Decision to Go Independent
Steph was successful within the captive insurance model. In fact, his Allstate agency was the number two producing Allstate agency in the entire Northwest region. At the same time, he knew he could do even more with an independent model.
“I always had loved the insurance world, and was good at it, but was never able to help people in the way I wanted to at a captive company,” Steph explains. He needed access to more markets and products, and he could only achieve those goals by switching to the independent model.
However, he soon discovered that there was a catch. Although independent agencies can offer more coverage options in theory, actually gaining access to those coverage options is easier said than done. Carriers often require significant premium before offering agencies a contract, and that represents a major hurdle for a new independent agency without an established book of business.
Steph explains the challenge perfectly saying, “It reminds me of when college kids get out of school and they need a job, but all the jobs require experience. As a new independent agent, contracting with carriers is a lot like that.”
Life in the Fast Lane
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ortunately, there’s more than one road to success, so after doing some research, Steph adjusted his strategy and jumped into the fast lane with Smart Choice.
“I considered a couple of different aggregators,” he says, explaining that he didn’t like what he saw. “I just didn’t feel like we had a lot of freedom, and the money just didn’t work.”
Smart Choice was different. Smart Choice takes 30% of commissions, which is admittedly higher than some other networks, but there are no fees. Even more importantly, the commissions are capped, so once you reach a certain level, you get to keep 100%.
“In the end, that percentage ended up being extremely reasonable, because there’s a cap,” Steph says. “That’s an advantage that many others did not offer.”
Steph knew that he could quickly exceed the cap, and when he did, he would be earning more than he could with other networks. Furthermore, Smart Choice would help him meet his sales goals by giving him the coverage options he needed to grow his book of business.
“We ultimately chose Smart Choice because of the vast selection of carriers,” Steph says. “They have a lot of the top-tier companies, like Safeco, Travelers, and Nationwide.”
While access to markets was nice, Steph also discovered the many advantages of Smart Choice collaboration. Whenever he has a question or needs a second set of eyes to help him place a challenging risk, he can count on his Smart Choice team for assistance. “They are invested in their agents’ success,” he explains.
With Steph’s hard work, and Smart Choice’s support, Auto Mate grew quickly. The agency currently writes $100,000 to $150,000 in premium each month, and Steph aims to reach even higher in 2025 and beyond.
Key Differentiators
Every successful agency needs a winning strategy, and for Auto Mate, that strategy revolves around outstanding customer service. Auto Mate has been recognized as a top auto insurance agency in the Portland-metro area, and as a top homeowners insurance agency in Oregon. In 2024, Best of Rose City magazine named Auto Mate the best insurance company in Portland.
However, to really boost revenue, Steph has found commercial lines to be critical. “Almost all of our new business is commercial these days, and we’re placing a lot of business with the excess and surplus markets,” Steph says, explaining that he’s planning to hire a new commercial lines agent to help with renewals.
Steph had to step out of his comfort zone to cross over to commercial lines. When he first opened Auto Mate, he had no experience with commercial lines, and his first $1,000 commercial policy took him two weeks to write. Now he routinely sees $50,000 to $100,000 accounts come across his desk.
Fortunately, Smart Choice has made the transition quite easy. “I just want to say thank you to Smart Choice,” Steph says. “If you’re serious about growth, it’s crucial to have a network like Smart Choice on your side. They have great people, support, software and advice – and even other agents who share their expertise.”