Why Should You Use An Independent Insurance Agent?

22 September 2014
 Categories: Insurance, Blog


An independent insurance agent, as the name implies, is an independent businessman. He is not employed by any one particular insurance company but instead, acts as an independent agent for several such companies. He is paid on commission as an independent contractor.

The Advantages of Working With an Independent Insurance Agent

An independent agent has access to several different insurance companies and can sell you a policy from any one of them. A salaried employee of an insurance company can only sell you that company's policies, but an independent agent can sell you a wide variety of policies. This means that he can pick out the policy that is exactly right for you from among dozens of choices. You obviously have a much better chance of getting the exact right policy if you have a widespread choice.

Furthermore, an independent agent will be very conversant with the state of the insurance market and current rules and regulations. Because he sells so many different policies from such a wide range of companies, he has to be very up-to-date in his industry knowledge. This is a major reason why most commercial policies are written by independent agents--for businesses, especially large ones, insurance is a high-stakes matter.

Different Insurance Companies for Different Needs

You might be thinking that all insurance is basically the same or that it won't make a difference where you take your business. In reality, is that insurance companies are, in fact, very different from one another.

Each one has a particular focus: one may be life and casualty, another may be property and real estate insurance, another auto insurance, and so forth. They may all write other types of insurance policies, but most do specialize in one type of business.

Your independent insurance agent, because he works with all of these companies, will know which one offers the best policies for you and your particular situation.

Working With an Independent Businessman

Your independent insurance agent is an entrepreneur. He is his own boss, which means that he doesn't have anyone leaning over his shoulders looking to see if he's met this month's sales quota. Yes, he wants to sell you an insurance policy, but he's not pressured to do so.

He also isn't obligated to sell you the insurance offered by any particular company. He will have access to multiple policy quotes at his fingertips so that he can price competing policies for you and explain the differences among them. This can greatly help your insurance buying decision. Need more help? Want to learn more? Contact a company like Barrett Harding Insurance for more information.


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