Independent insurance agency · Westerville, Ohio
One agency.
Twelve carriers.
Your side of the table.
A direct carrier can only ever sell you itself. We shop your auto, home, and life coverage across 12 companies, explain the trade-offs in plain English, and stay on your side when it's time to claim. We shop it. You choose.
No premium guessing games here — real quotes need real details, and we say so.
12
carriers we shop
4,900+
households protected
93%
clients who stay with us
4
quotes per household, on average
Illustrative figures — Porchlight is a fictional agency on a sample site.
How an independent agency works
Tell us once. We do the shopping — now and every renewal.
01
You talk to a human
Ten minutes with a licensed advisor — your cars, your house, your worries. One conversation replaces filling out the same form on six different websites.
02
We shop 12 carriers
Every carrier's underwriting likes a different kind of household. We quote the ones that like yours and bring back the options worth seeing — side by side, trade-offs explained.
03
You choose. We keep watch.
Pick the fit, we handle the paperwork and the old policy. Then any renewal that jumps more than 10% gets re-shopped across the market — automatically, before it reaches your inbox.
Personal lines
Five kinds of coverage, zero jargon
Every page below says what's covered, what isn't, and what honestly moves the price — including the levers that aren't yours to pull.
Auto insurance
Ohio requires 25/50/25 liability minimums.
Explained plainlyHome insurance
A homeowners policy is really four promises in one: rebuild the house, replace what's in it, house you meanwhile, and defend you if someone's hurt on your property.
Explained plainlyRenters insurance
Renters insurance is the least expensive policy we write and the one people are most surprised they needed.
Explained plainlyUmbrella insurance
An umbrella policy adds $1 million or more of liability on top of your auto and home limits, plus legal defense.
Explained plainlyLife insurance
If someone would struggle financially without your income — or your childcare, which is income — you have a life insurance need.
Explained plainlyNot sure which of these you're missing?
The coverage checkup maps your life to these five lines and names the gaps — in sentences, not scores.
Find my gapsThe fair question
"Why not just buy from the lizard on TV?"
Honestly? Sometimes you should — and when that's true, we'll say it (there's a three-star review on our reviews page from the day we did). Here's the difference, without the spin.
| Comparison point | Porchlight (independent) | Buying direct from one carrier |
|---|---|---|
| Choice | Quotes from up to 12 carriers in one conversation | That carrier's products, at that carrier's price |
| Who the agent works for | You — licensed advisors paid to fit coverage to your life | The carrier — service reps paid to sell its products |
| At renewal | We re-shop increases over 10% across the market automatically | Your options are pay it or start shopping from scratch |
| At claim time | A named advocate who files with you and challenges light estimates | The carrier's claims queue — competent, but it works for the payer |
| Cost to you | No fees — carriers pay us a commission built into the same premium | No fees — the carrier spends its distribution budget on advertising instead |
| When it wins | Complex lives, changing rates, anyone who values an advocate | Simple needs + spotless record + love of managing it in an app? Direct can genuinely win — and we'll say so |
Why "your side of the table" isn't a slogan
Advice before price. A human when it goes wrong.
- One conversation, twelve carriers Tell us your situation once. We shop it across every carrier we represent and bring back the quotes worth seeing — side by side, trade-offs explained.
- Advice before price The cheapest policy that fails you at claim time is the most expensive thing you'll ever buy. We size coverage first, then hunt the best price for that coverage.
- We re-shop your renewals Any renewal that jumps more than 10% gets re-quoted across the market before it reaches your inbox — automatically, without you asking.
- A human when it goes wrong Claims are why insurance exists. You get a named claims advocate, not a queue — read the claims-help promise for exactly what that means.
Our carriers
12 companies compete for your household
- Granite Peak Mutual
- Bluebird National
- Old Bridge Mutual
- Fairwind Home & Auto
- Copper Sky Casualty
- Lakeshore Fidelity
- Cardinal Standard Group
- Prairie Rose Mutual
- Juniper Life & Annuity
- Beacon Hollow Specialty
- + specialty markets
All carrier names are fictional — this is a sample site. A real agency lists its real lineup here.
What clients say
4.8 from 214 reviews — including the grumpy ones
★★★★★
They shopped, we saved, done in a week
Our old carrier raised us two renewals in a row with zero claims. Lena re-quoted us across four companies, walked us through why the cheapest one wasn't the best one, and moved everything over — including cancelling the old policies for us. The explanation of what we were actually buying was worth as much as the savings.
★★★★★
First-time buyer, zero condescension
Bought my first house this spring. Marcus explained rebuild cost vs market value in about ninety seconds, flagged that the seller's roof was older than the listing said, and got me a carrier that didn't punish me for it. My lender said it was the smoothest insurance binder they'd seen all month.
★★★★★
The claims help is real
A storm put half an oak tree through our garage roof last fall. One call to Tom. He three-way-called the carrier with us, told us what photos to take before cleanup, and when the first estimate came in low he pushed back with the adjuster directly. Check arrived twelve days later.
Next step
Five minutes now beats five figures later.
Start with the coverage checkup — it finds the gaps and explains each one in plain English. When you're ready for numbers, we shop your real details across our carriers. No fees, no pressure, no fake premiums.