Totten buys online brokerage

Managing general agency Totten Insurance Group has acquired Windsor, Ont.-based EasyInsure, which offers quotes for both commercial and personal insurance online.

Toronto-based Totten intends to use EasyInsure’s “digital capabilities to better support [Totten’s] current and future clients,” said Hub International Limited, Totten’s Chicago-based corporate parent, in a press release Wednesday.

EasyInsure, legally known as Belyer Insurance Limited, was founded by Grant Belanger and Leen Meyer.

Hub is not disclosing the terms of the acquisition.

EasyInsure places personal and commercial auto, homeowners, landlords, commercial general liability, professional liability, surety and legal cost protection, among other products.

EasyInsure has a branch office near the Ontario Science Centre in Toronto.

Belanger and Meyer will join Totten and “continue to manage the EasyInsure operations,” reporting to Totten president Susan Murphy.

Totten plans to use EasyInsure’s “online processes” to increase its “operational efficiencies in distribution,” Murphy stated in a press release, adding Totten intends to use EasyInsure’s online processes to give Totten customers “customized solutions … when and how they want them.”

Totten was founded in 2002 by H. Ross Totten, who was CEO until 2012.

Among other products, Totten places pollution liability, special event coverage (including event cancellation and contingent employers liability) and liquor liability. Its target industries include service stations, bars, hotels and construction, among others.

Hub International was formed in 1998 through the merger of 11 Canadian brokerages. In 2007, Hub acquired commercial brokerage Hunter Keilty Muntz & Beatty, now known as HKMB Hub. More recent Hub acquisitions include:

• Delisle Agencies Ltd, based in the community of Deslisle, about 30 kilometres southwest of Saskatoon;
• Integro (Canada) Ltd., which places insurance in the construction, transportation, manufacturing, real estate, entertainment, mining and financial services sectors;
• Montreal-based National Brokerage Services S.C.N. Inc;
• Sudbury-based MGA Canadian Resources Insurance Solutions Inc.;
• Edmonton-based MGA New Dimensions Underwriters Ltd.; and
• Gamble & Associates Insurance Limited, a brokerage serving nine Ontario locations including Sarnia and London.