Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company’s distribution force will start selling some National General Holdings Corp. nonstandard auto policies, National General announced Thursday.

National General and Nationwide agreed to a renewal rights transaction for Nationwide’s inforce personal and commercial nonstandard policies to make this happen.

Specifically, National General said it will partner with Nationwide’s exclusive and independent agent force to sell its policies.

National General expects the agreement will expand its nonstandard auto business, Chief Executive Officer Barry Karfunkel said.

“Our transaction with Nationwide will give National General the opportunity to expand our nonstandard auto business, an area of the market where we have a great amount of expertise, through Nationwide’s exemplary exclusive and independent agents,” Karfunkel said in prepared remarks. “This transaction adds additional scale to one of our core products and we expect it to have a positive impact on our results.”

In another move to expand, National General agreed in June to pay $165 million for Elara Holdings, the parent of Direct General Corp., which does business in the Southeast United States. Direct General is a Tennessee-based property/casualty insurer focused on nonstandard auto business. The deal closed in November.

Source: National General Holdings Corp.