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How to choose an insurance lead company: 12 questions to ask first

Updated October 4, 2026

Most lead vendors sound alike on a sales call. Their written answers to these twelve questions won't. Send the questions by email, keep the replies, and compare vendors on what they'll put in writing.

How to choose an insurance lead company

Start with three things: who else gets the lead, where the lead came from, and what proof of consent comes with it. Those decide how often you reach the shopper and how well you can defend the call.

Then judge the source on what it costs you per policy. You only learn that from a test batch your own team works. Our guide to cost per bound policy shows the math.

You won't find a ranked list of vendors here. We sell leads, so our ranking wouldn't be neutral. The questions work on any vendor, including us.

Who else gets the lead

1. How many agents get each lead, and will you put that in writing? "Exclusive" isn't a legal term. Ask for the most buyers any one lead can go to, and whether that count includes partner networks and affiliates. Our guide to exclusive vs. shared leads covers what that number does to your contact rate.
2. Will a lead sold to me in realtime be sold again later? Some vendors sell a lead to one agent in realtime, then sell it again weeks later as an aged lead. If that matters to you, ask for a no-resale promise in the contract.

Where the leads come from

3. What kind of page did the shopper fill out? You want an insurance quote form. Survey, sweepstakes, job-offer, and free-sample pages produce "leads" from people who came for a prize. In FTC v. Fluent (2023), a lead generator that collected consent on reward and job-offer sites got a $2.5M civil penalty and a robocall ban.
4. Do you run the forms yourself, or buy leads from other sites? Can I see the form? Every hop between the form and you is a place the consent can break. In Ward v. Liberty Mutual (D. Mass., 2026), the leads went from a website to a lead vendor to the carrier, and the website never listed the carrier. Ask for the form URL and look at it yourself.

Proof of consent

5. Does the consent cover my agency? The form should name you, or link to a partner list that includes you when the shopper presses submit. In Mantha v. QuoteWizard ($19M settlement), the consent pages didn't name the company that sent the texts. More on that in our guide to TCPA risk in purchased leads.
6. Can I see the exact consent text on each lead? Word for word, with the date, time, IP address, and page URL. A timestamp in a spreadsheet isn't proof. Check what the text covers: calls, texts, autodialed or prerecorded calls if you use them, and numbers on Do Not Call lists.
7. Does every lead come with a TrustedForm certificate or Jornaya LeadiD, and can I keep it? Both are third-party records of the form session. A TrustedForm certificate expires unless someone retains it, so ask whether you can retain it in your own account.

Checks, returns, and who stands behind the lead

8. What do you check before you send a lead? At minimum: a valid phone number and line type, duplicates, and a flag for numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry. Ask whether known TCPA litigators are scrubbed out, and what happens to leads that fail a check.
9. What can I return, how long do I have, and is there a cap? Ask which reasons qualify (a disconnected number, the wrong person, a duplicate), how returns are credited, and whether there's a monthly limit. Get the policy in writing before the first lead.
10. Will you stand behind the consent if a call is challenged? Under the TCPA, a call or text without valid consent can cost $500, and up to $1,500 if willful or knowing (47 U.S.C. § 227(b)(3)). Ask whether the contract covers claims tied to the vendor's consent, and how fast you'll get the full consent record when you need it. A promise to cover you is only worth what the company behind it can pay.

Delivery and terms

11. How fast does a realtime lead reach my CRM, and what happens when a post fails? Ask how leads arrive (API, webhook, or email), whether failed posts retry, and whether you can see a delivery log. Ask which fields come with each lead, like current carrier, renewal date, and vehicle or property details.
12. What am I committing to? Contract length, minimum spend, how billing works, what happens to an unused balance, and whether you can start with a small test batch. Ask about filters too: states, ZIP codes, delivery hours, and daily caps.

Red flags

• The vendor won't say how many agents get each lead.
• You can't see the form or the consent text.
• "Consent is on file," with nothing you can check yourself.
• Leads come from survey, sweepstakes, or free-sample pages.
• A long contract or a large deposit before you've seen a single lead.

Then test it

Good answers earn a vendor a small test, not a long contract. Work the test leads the way you work every lead, track contact, quote, and bind rates in your CRM, and compare cost per bound policy across sources.

Captive agents have one more step: check your carrier's current vendor rules first. See buying leads as a captive agent.

This guide is general information, not legal advice.