A free tool built for independent insurance agents who need to find carriers for hard-to-place risks.
WhereToPlace.com is a searchable database of real insurance agent discussions about risk placement. When independent agents ask their peers "who writes this type of risk?" and other agents share which carriers they've successfully used, we capture and index that knowledge.
The result is a practical, peer-sourced tool that tells you which carriers are actually writing specific risks in specific states — based on real placement experiences, not marketing materials or carrier appetites that may be outdated.
Every data point on WhereToPlace comes from a real independent insurance agent discussing their placement experience. We don't accept paid placements from carriers, and carrier rankings are based solely on how frequently agents mention them in successful placement discussions.
Our database is updated daily with new discussions, ensuring that carrier recommendations stay current as markets shift.
WhereToPlace is built specifically for independent insurance agents and brokers who deal with hard-to-place risks. If you've ever spent hours calling wholesalers trying to find out who writes a specific class of business in a specific state, this tool gives you a starting point based on what other agents have found.
Common use cases include finding carriers for specialty commercial risks (trucking, cannabis, roofing), hard-to-place personal lines (mobile homes, vacant properties, short-term rentals), and niche operations (food trucks, bounce houses, pawn shops).
We monitor discussions from large independent insurance agent communities where thousands of agents share placement questions and carrier recommendations daily. When an agent posts asking where to place a specific risk, and other agents reply with carrier names, state-specific notes, and underwriting tips, we extract and categorize that data.
Each post is analyzed for insurance niche keywords, carrier names (we track 100+ carriers), and state mentions. This allows us to build niche-specific and state-specific pages that aggregate all relevant discussions in one place.
The site is completely free. There are no subscriptions, paywalls, or sign-up requirements.
Transparency matters. Here is exactly how we collect, process, and present the data on WhereToPlace:
Discussions are captured daily from active independent insurance agent communities with 60,000+ members. We rotate through 150+ search terms across three categories — industry types (e.g., "trucking," "restaurant"), insurance product types (e.g., "workers comp," "surplus lines"), and carrier names (e.g., "Kinsale," "Progressive") — using a 3-week rotation cycle to maximize coverage. Each run captures 8-14 search term results.
Every captured discussion is automatically analyzed for:
Carriers are ranked by mention frequency — how often agents name them in placement discussions for each niche. This is a popularity-based signal, not an endorsement. A carrier mentioned 15 times is ranked higher than one mentioned 3 times because more agents have reported placing risks there. We do not accept payment from carriers to influence rankings.
This data reflects agent discussions, not official carrier appetites. Carrier availability changes frequently, and a recommendation from another agent does not guarantee that carrier will quote your specific risk. Always verify directly with the carrier or your wholesaler. Some niches have limited data — we note discussion counts on every page so you can judge the sample size yourself.
WhereToPlace.com is maintained by the WhereToPlace editorial team — insurance industry professionals with direct experience in commercial lines placement, surplus lines markets, and independent agency operations.
Our editorial standards:
Questions, corrections, or suggestions? The WhereToPlace editorial team can be reached at contact@wheretoplace.com. We welcome feedback from insurance agents about carrier information accuracy or suggestions for new niches to cover.