Insurance Brokers Articles | Insurance

By: Matthew Hick

Whether you are a homeowner looking for the best deals in insurance, or a small business who needs specialized care, don’t settle for working with a single agent at a single company, when you can work with an insurance broker and get the best deals available in the industry.   While you may be able to get the insurance you want and need, even at discount prices by working with a single carrier or agency, brokers have the ability to shop around for individual policies that best suit you needs and budget.   They are especially beneficial to small business owners who may need a variety of insurance coverage that the regular consumer does not.

What is an insurance broker?  They are independent insurance dealers able to represent a variety of different carriers in order to give their clients the best – and cheapest – coverage options.  Since they aren’t pegged into one specific company, they are free to deal with one carrier for your health insurance, and another for your automobile insurance. And, since they work with these companies on a daily basis, they are often able to negotiate a much better deal than an individual customer cannot.

Like insurance agents, they don’t charge for their services, but receive payment through commissions from the carriers themselves. This, however, can be a downside to using a broker, since many will push the carrier that gives them the highest commission regardless of the service they provide.

The key to finding a good broker is figuring out whether they work for only a handful of carriers, or whether they offer policies from a larger carrier base, which can mean a better deal for you.

Watch out for brokers who constantly switch your insurance to new carriers.  This can be dangerous for you since the company sees no customer loyalty when reviewing claims.  So, unless you’re policy has been dropped, or your broker finds a deal that you can’t pass up, insist that he leave your policies alone once you’ve established a relationship with a certain insurance carrier.