More than 30,000 Progressive agents are currently registered for FAO, which was visited nearly 3.5 million times in 2001, the company noted. Site access is restricted to registered Progressive-authorized agents by an agent-selected password, and all transactions on the site are protected by encryption technology.

In 2001, more than 611,000 policy endorsements were processed through the site, said Progressive.

On the new home page, menu options?such as the site's agency management and policy access functions?are now more accessible due to a system of "cascading windows" that replace the click through tabs of the old FAO, Progressive explained.

Features such as online commission statements are now accessible directly from the home page?"agents no longer have to click through two or three pages to get to the information they need."

Chris Garson, agent technology leader for Progressive, said, "The redesign is the result of a lot of hard work by our agency business and Internet teams, and reflects a lot of feedback from agents themselves."

He noted that, "When you do the math, you see that each registered agent visits the site about two-and-a-half times a day. So to keep FAO updated with the features and functionality that they say they want, such as online quoting, we needed to totally re-think the way we present information on the site."

FAO is an online "one-stop shop" where independent agents can go to handle most of their interactions with Progressive, the company noted. With a direct Internet connection, agents can complete customer transactions and access a wide variety of information in just seconds?without any phone calls, electronic uploads, or waiting for mail."

Progressive, in business since 1937, says it is the nation's fourth largest auto insurance company and the largest writer of auto insurance through independent agents.