The hidden cost of manual requoting in personal lines

Requoting is one of the most important workflows in a brokerage. It’s the process that helps retain clients when things change (think: premium increase, changes in coverage or carrier), demonstrates that you’re actively working in their best interest, and ensures your coverage recommendations are competitive. In short, it’s an essential part of client service and a critical factor in retention.

But while the value of requoting is clear, the way many brokerages handle it hasn’t changed. Manual processes — logging into carrier portals, re-entering data, running quotes one at a time — are still the norm. These steps feel familiar, but they’re quietly eating away at your team’s time, your profit margins, and your ability to compete in a market where speed and responsiveness are everything.

What makes this even more challenging is that requoting is reactive by nature. A client reaches out after receiving their renewal, or a broker notices a rate increase. If the process to generate a competitive quote is slow, the client’s perception of your value can take a hit before you’ve even had the chance to make your case.

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The visible cost: Hours lost to repetitive data entry

The most obvious cost of manual requoting is time. Every requote requires brokers to toggle between their broker management system (BMS) and multiple carrier portals, copying and pasting, or worse, retyping policy details. They have to double-check for accuracy, adjust for differences between carriers, and sometimes re-run quotes if a mistake is caught too late.

Even at a conservative 15–20 minutes per policy, the hours add up quickly. For a brokerage handling hundreds or thousands of requotes each year, this becomes a significant productivity drain. That’s time that could be spent connecting with clients, following up on leads, or addressing more complex insurance needs. Instead, it’s spent on repetitive keystrokes.

In addition, the workload impact isn’t evenly distributed. During peak renewal seasons, manual requoting can monopolize entire days — leaving other critical activities sidelined until renewals are taken care of.

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The hidden cost: Opportunities lost

What’s harder to measure but often more damaging are the opportunities that manual requoting prevents your team from pursuing. Every hour spent re-entering policy data is an hour not spent on:

• Proactively reaching out to clients whose policies are due for renewal.
• Cross-selling and upselling additional coverages that would improve protection.
• Building stronger relationships through strategic, value-driven conversations.

Delayed requotes can also cause clients to look elsewhere. In a competitive market, speed matters. If a client has to wait, they may already have one from another broker who responded faster. That’s not just a lost sale, it’s a potential blow to your retention rate and the relationship.

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The hidden cost: E&O and accuracy risk

Manual requoting isn’t just slow, it’s risky. Every time a broker manually enters policy data into a new system, there’s a chance of introducing errors. A typo in a birth date or effective date, a missing coverage, or an incorrect limit can all lead to inaccurate quotes or a lapse in coverage.

Inconsistent workflows make this worse. If one broker is meticulous about double-checking every field and another is less thorough, the client experience — and the accuracy of the quotes — can vary widely. This inconsistency creates exposure for the brokerage, both from a compliance perspective and from the risk of an E&O claim. And when a mistake slips through to the client, it can damage trust in ways that are difficult to repair.

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The hidden cost: Client experience erosion

Speed isn’t just a nice-to-have for clients now, it’s an expectation. When clients come to you for a requote, they’re often looking for reassurance that they’re getting the best possible coverage at the best possible rate. If you can’t deliver that reassurance quickly, they may start to question how hard you’re working for them.

In today’s digital-first world, consumers are used to instant answers and seamless service. They expect their insurance experience to match that level of responsiveness. Manual requoting makes it difficult to consistently meet that standard. Even if the quote you eventually present is competitive, the delay can leave clients wondering whether they’re your top priority.

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The tipping point: When manual doesn’t measure up

For smaller brokerages, manual requoting might seem manageable. But as your book of business grows, so does the number of requotes you need to process. What once took a few hours a week can quickly balloon into a daily workload that strains your team’s capacity.

Seasonal surges make this even harder. During peak renewal periods, the load of requotes can become unmanageable, leading to rushed work, missed opportunities, and even delayed responses to clients. It’s a compounding problem — more growth means more requotes, which in turn magnifies every inefficiency in your process.

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The AI advantage

This is where AI automation changes the equation entirely. AI-powered requoting eliminates the need for manual data re-entry by pulling information directly from your BMS, running quotes across multiple carriers in real time, and returning results instantly.

With Quandri's Requoting capability, brokerages can:

• Automatically generate market quotes from all available carriers based on pre-set criteria.
• See the top three competitive quotes directly in Applied Epic without leaving the platform.
• Flag key data points for broker review so important details never get missed.
  

By cutting requoting time from 15–20 minutes per policy, automation frees brokers to focus on what matters most: client relationships, upsells, and strategic retention efforts.

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Why now matters

The competitive pressure on brokerages has never been higher. Clients have more options than ever before, and they expect fast, accurate, and proactive service. At the same time, many brokerages are feeling the squeeze of staffing challenges, with limited resources stretched across growing books of business.

AI-powered requoting addresses both challenges at once. It speeds up one of the most time-consuming processes in the brokerage while ensuring accuracy and consistency. It also creates the capacity for brokers to engage in more meaningful client conversations — something no automation can replace.

Manual requoting costs brokerages far more than most realize. The time loss is substantial, but the bigger costs are the opportunities you miss, the risks you take on, and the client relationships you weaken.

By shifting to AI-powered requoting, you’re not just upgrading a process; you’re making a strategic investment in your brokerage’s ability to compete, grow, and deliver exceptional service at scale.

If you’re ready to see how AI requoting can transform your brokerage’s workflow and client experience, book a demo today and take the first step toward faster, smarter renewals.

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