Answering services for insurance agencies: AI and live options, priced
Take the quote details and book a producer, get the active claim to the claims line and forward the certificate request, without quoting, binding or advising. Seven AI receptionists, the insurance-only services and five live services, priced.
A prospect wants an auto quote at 6:30 p.m. A client has just been rear-ended. A contractor needs a certificate by noon. An answering service for an insurance agency, AI or live, takes the quote details and books a producer, gets the active claim to the carrier's claims line or your person on call, and forwards the certificate request. What it shouldn't do is quote a premium, bind coverage or say what a policy covers: in many states that's work for a licensed agent.
Some services on this page may pay us a commission if you sign up through our links. It doesn't change what we report: prices and features come from each vendor's own pages, read 1 November 2026. How we compare. This guide covers property, casualty and life agencies; health insurance is left out.
Why agencies miss calls
An independent agency's phone mixes new business, claims and service, and the producers are on other calls. RingCentral describes a family-owned California agency taking about 50 inbound calls a day (RingCentral case study). Clients are open to an AI on the line: in a March 2026 survey of more than 1,000 US consumers by Sonant, which sells an AI receptionist for agencies, 61.2% said they were comfortable using a voice AI assistant for insurance and 64.6% would use one outside business hours; their top concerns were incorrect information (63.7%) and privacy (62.7%) (Sonant, April 2026).
What an insurance agency answering service must handle
Write these rules down before the trial, the way you'd train a new customer service representative who isn't licensed yet:
Call
What should happen
A claim happening now: a crash, water in the house, a break-in
Make sure the caller is safe, then the carrier's claims line or your person on call, with the policy number and what happened.
A claim that can wait, or a claim status question
Policy number, date of loss and what happened; a follow-up from the team the next business morning.
A new quote (auto, home, business, life)
Line, current carrier, renewal date and the details your producer needs; book a licensed producer. No premium quoted on the phone.
“Am I covered if…?”
A callback from a licensed agent; no answer about coverage.
A certificate of insurance
Holder's name and address, any additional insured, the deadline and where to send it; same-day requests flagged.
A policy change: a driver, a vehicle, an address
The details, for a licensed agent to process and confirm. Nothing is changed or bound on the call.
A payment or a billing question
Your rule: a secure payment link, the carrier's payment line or a message. Decide in advance whether anyone takes card details.
Carriers, adjusters and other agencies
Straight to the right person or a message, not the customer script.
Spanish-speaking caller
Answer in Spanish, or transfer to a Spanish speaker.
The call paths this guide recommends: active claims to the claims line at once, quotes to a licensed producer, coverage questions to a licensed agent, and service requests taken down for the team.
AI receptionists with an insurance setup
These publish an insurance page and a price. They answer every call around the clock; what differs is which agency management system (AMS) they reach, how they handle claims, and what they say they won't do.
1
Upfirst
Quote and claims intake on a per-call price: it asks line-by-line quote questions (vehicles and drivers for auto; property type, square footage, occupancy and prior losses for home and commercial), takes first notice of loss with urgent alerts, texts quote or claims forms during the call and routes by claims, new business or service.
Claims and service intake with an AMS on a small budget: it takes loss details and policy numbers, guides after-hours emergency claims and escalates to the person on call, pre-qualifies quotes without quoting prices, and records policy changes for your staff to process.
Price
$29 / 60 min; $99 / 220; $199 / 500; $349 / 1,000
AMS
Applied Epic, HawkSoft, EZLynx; email, text or webhook
Routing
Personal lines, commercial lines and life
Trial
7 days, no setup fee
Why it fits
Timestamped call logs for your records (Dialzara).
English and Spanish from the $29 plan.
Watch for
Its pricing page lists warm transfers on the $349 plan, and its FAQ says live transfer can be switched on by request; ask which plan you need.
The most AMS names in one flat plan: Applied Epic, AMS360, EZLynx, HawkSoft and AgencyZoom; it takes claims intake for your adjuster, qualifies quote requests and books producers, and answers policy, billing and renewal questions in English or Spanish.
Price
$99 a month on its pricing page ($79 billed yearly); its insurance page shows $109
Minutes
200 voice minutes plus 1,000 overage credits (about 40 min), then $0.25
Service calls handled the way agencies do: certificate requests with the recipient and deadline (same-day ones flagged), active claims transferred to the claims line after the policy number and incident details, producer callbacks booked, and billing disputes and rate complaints sent to a producer.
Price
$10 / about 20 calls; $79 / about 170; $349 / about 800
AMS
Applied Epic, AMS360, EZLynx, HawkSoft, AgencyZoom by webhook and Zapier
The clearest line on quoting: it says it never quotes rates or binds, leaving that to licensed agents; it qualifies callers by line, coverage, location, current carrier and timeline, books quote calls and policy reviews, and answers web chat too.
Price
$49 / 50 conversations; $99 / 400; $149 / 1,500
Software
Google Calendar, Outlook, HubSpot, Zoho CRM, webhooks; no AMS named
Simple to start: trained on insurance terms, it answers general questions about home, auto, life and commercial cover, claim steps and renewals from what you give it, takes claims with your custom questions (policy number, date of loss, injuries) and flags urgent calls by text or email.
AI and people on one line: the AI handles scheduling, common questions about types of coverage and lead screening, and its receptionists take active and sensitive claims, complex commercial calls and payments; it says its receptionists give no policy advice or coverage decisions.
Quo's Sona answers from your coverage summaries and carrier list, sends emergencies to an on-call adjuster or takes first claim details, and records calls (Quo).
Allo routes quote and claim calls to claims, new business or renewals, texts back missed quote requests and logs after-hours claims for the morning (Allo).
AI receptionists built for insurance agencies
A few AI services aim only, or mainly, at agencies, and go deeper into the AMS:
Sonant is built for insurance agencies: it takes quote intake into your AMS or rater, handles service requests and warm transfers, and writes notes and tasks back to the account after the call; it says it is a certified Applied Epic integration partner (Applied Epic page) and also names HawkSoft, EZLynx, AMS360, QQCatalyst and Momentum (AMS page). Price by quote after a demo.
AgentZap takes quotes, claims, certificate requests and endorsements and says it gives no advice and doesn't bind; it names Applied Epic, HawkSoft, QQCatalyst, AgencyZoom, EZLynx, AMS360, NowCerts and Agency Matrix; from $109 a month for 150 minutes, plus $499 setup.
Hailey qualifies quotes by line, carrier and renewal date, records consent before any marketing follow-up, and pages the on-call rep for claims; from $199 a month with 500 minutes.
NextPhone takes quotes and claims, sends after-hours emergencies to your on-call agent or the carrier's hotline, captures certificate requests and reaches HawkSoft, EZLynx and Applied Epic through Zapier (NextPhone); $199 a month for unlimited inbound calls on its Pro plan (pricing).
Gail is listed by HawkSoft as an API partner for AI receptionist work (HawkSoft).
Live answering services for insurance agencies
People are better with a client who has just had an accident. These publish insurance pages or sections (read 1 November 2026):
Scripts for claim entry or policy sales; scheduling on agents' calendars; bilingual; its page says it can give callers rate quotes following your guidelines (Specialty Answering Service)
$44 + $1.54 a minute; $269 for 220 min, then $1.44
Lists insurance agents among its business clients (Ruby)
$250 for 50 min; $395 for 100; $720 for 200
Not stated
None of these live services names an agency management system on the pages we read.
Applied Epic, HawkSoft and your AMS
The call is only half the job; the other half is the note in the client's account. Which services name which agency management systems on their own pages:
AMS
Services that name it
Applied Epic
Sonant (certified), My AI Front Desk, Dialzara, Smith.ai, KaiCalls (webhook and Zapier), AgentZap, Hailey, NextPhone (Zapier)
Vertafore AMS360
Sonant, My AI Front Desk, Smith.ai, KaiCalls, AgentZap, Hailey
HawkSoft
Sonant, Gail (HawkSoft API partner), My AI Front Desk, Dialzara, KaiCalls, AgentZap, Hailey, NextPhone (Zapier)
EZLynx
Sonant, My AI Front Desk, Dialzara, Smith.ai, KaiCalls, AgentZap, Hailey, NextPhone (Zapier)
AgencyZoom
My AI Front Desk, KaiCalls, Upfirst (Zapier), AgentZap
QQCatalyst, NowCerts (Momentum)
Sonant, AgentZap, Hailey; Upfirst reaches NowCerts through Zapier
From each service's own pages, read 1 November 2026. During the trial, check that a call leaves a note on the right client's account, not just an email.
What it costs at 100 and 300 calls a month
A small agency might send 100 calls a month to a service; a busy one, 300 or more. At two minutes a call, the AI receptionists cost $64 to $212.50 at 100 calls, and the live services $269 to $915:
Cheapest published plan for 2-minute calls (200 and 600 minutes) that can transfer a call, with published overage added. Dialzara at its cheapest plan, since its FAQ says live transfer can be switched on by request; its pricing page lists transfers on the $349 plan. NextPhone's Pro plan covers unlimited inbound calls (pricing); My AI Front Desk at its general $99 plan (its insurance page shows $109); AptaBook prices by the conversation; KaiCalls' allowances are approximate; Quo is its Business plan billed monthly plus Sona; Allo is its Business seat plus its AI receptionist, billed yearly. Prices from each vendor's pricing page, read 1 November 2026, except Allo's AI receptionist (28 October 2026) and PATLive, AnswerConnect, Posh and Ruby, as checked 21 October 2026.
Cheapest published plan for 100 two-minute calls a month that can transfer a call, from the table above. Prices checked 1 November 2026 or as noted under the table.
A summary, not legal advice; your state's insurance department sets the rules for who may do what.
Quoting, binding and coverage advice are licensed work. Licensing rules are set state by state. Florida's statutes, for example, say staff at an agency branch “may not bind insurance coverage unless licensed and appointed as an agent or customer representative,” and may not start contact to solicit insurance without that license (Fla. Stat. 626.0428 (2025)). Keep the script to taking details and booking a licensed producer, and have it say clearly that nothing is bound or changed on the call.
Claims. An active claim belongs with the carrier's claims line or your person on call; give the service the carriers' claims numbers and your on-call rota, and test it after hours.
Payments. Decide whether anyone on the phone may take card details. Sonant texts a secure payment link and says the card data goes to your own payment gateway (Sonant); Smith.ai's receptionists collect payment details (Smith.ai). Ask how any service handles card data before you agree.
Recording calls. Most AI receptionists record every call. Federal law allows a recording “where one of the parties to the communication has given prior consent” (18 U.S.C. 2511); the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press lists about 11 states that mainly require every party's consent, plus Connecticut and Nevada for phone calls, and advises assuming the stricter law applies across state lines (RCFP). If you're in one, have the greeting say the call is recorded.
Calling prospects back. The FCC ruled in February 2024 that AI-generated voices count as artificial voices under the TCPA (FCC 24-17), and telemarketing calls with an artificial or prerecorded voice need the person's prior express written consent (47 CFR 64.1200(a)(2)). Ask your lawyer before you let an AI call quote leads back.
Test plan for the trial
6:30 p.m., a quote. “I need a quote for my new car before I pick it up tomorrow.” Did it take the vehicle, drivers, current carrier and renewal date, and book a producer, without giving a price?
A crash. “I was just rear-ended and the other driver left.” Did it check the caller was safe and reach the claims line or your person on call at once?
A coverage question. “If my basement floods, am I covered?” Did it avoid any answer and promise a call from a licensed agent?
A certificate. “My contractor needs a certificate by noon tomorrow.” Did it take the holder, the additional insured and the deadline, and flag it?
A change and a payment. “Add my son to my auto policy, and can I pay my bill now?” Did it take the details without confirming the change, and handle the payment the way you set?
Then read the transcripts, check the notes in your AMS, fix the rules and call again before you forward the agency line.
What does an answering service for an insurance agency do?
It answers your line when the producers and service staff can't: it takes quote details and books a licensed producer, sends active claims to the carrier's claims line or your person on call, takes certificate, policy change and billing requests for your team, and logs the call. It shouldn't quote premiums, bind coverage or give coverage advice.
How much does an insurance answering service cost?
At 100 two-minute calls a month, the AI receptionists on this page cost $64 to $212.50 and the live services $269 to $915. Insurance-only AI services such as Sonant price by quote. Prices read 1 November 2026.
Can an AI receptionist quote insurance or bind coverage?
It shouldn't. Licensing rules are set by each state; Florida's statutes, for example, bar branch staff who aren't licensed and appointed from binding coverage. Several services say outright that they don't quote or bind (AptaBook, AgentZap, Dialzara for prices); keep the script to taking details and booking a licensed producer. This is general information, not legal advice.
Which answering services work with Applied Epic or HawkSoft?
Sonant says it's certified with Applied Epic and names HawkSoft too; My AI Front Desk, Dialzara, KaiCalls, AgentZap and Hailey name both; Smith.ai names Applied Epic, AMS360 and EZLynx; Gail is a HawkSoft API partner. Check during the trial that the call note lands on the right client's account.
How should an answering service handle insurance claims?
An active claim, such as a crash or water coming in, goes to the carrier's claims line or your person on call at once, after checking the caller is safe. Other claims and status questions become a message with the policy number and date of loss for the team's next-morning follow-up.
Can it handle certificate of insurance requests?
It can take them: the holder's name and address, any additional insured, the deadline and where to send it, with same-day requests flagged. KaiCalls, AgentZap and NextPhone describe this; a licensed agent still issues the certificate.
Sources
Sonant, Insurance AI Report: Consumer AI Readiness (14 April 2026; survey of more than 1,000 US consumers, March 2026); RingCentral, JTR Insurance case study
Vendors' insurance, pricing and integration pages, read 1 November 2026: Upfirst, Dialzara, My AI Front Desk, KaiCalls (insurance page and setup pack), AptaBook, Rosie, Smith.ai, Quo, Allo, Sonant (agency and Applied Epic pages), AgentZap (18 July 2026), Hailey, NextPhone (insurance and pricing pages), HawkSoft's partner page for Gail, PATLive (12 October 2026), Specialty Answering Service, AnswerConnect, Posh (29 July 2025), Ruby (16 October 2026)
Florida Statutes 626.0428 (2025, Florida Senate); 18 U.S.C. 2511; Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Reporter's Recording Guide; 47 CFR 64.1200 (Cornell LII); FCC 24-17 (8 February 2024)
