Home Point of using an insurance broker?

This should probably be in letting off steam...

Not sure what the point of using an insurance broker is anymore

I use a broker and have my house and car insurance through them (although both policies have different insurance companies)

Got a renewal for my house insurance which had increased on last year.

I phoned the broker and asked if he could investigate a cheaper option and he immediately came back with a cheaper quote from the same insurance company with no change in the policy. I could have done that myself

On top of the premium there is a €25 broker fee per policy

Shouldn't they be ensuring that they offer you the cheapest renewal quote possible as well as alternative options before you ring them up?

If I wanted the hassle of shopping around I wouldn't use a broker, I would do it myself!

+1
I have one here:
" We can confirm that we have carried out a market exercise and your current insurer remains the most competitive based on your current cover requirements".

I think you may find that the issue is new vs recurring business so he may have just churned you. Easy to do until we get post codes: just change the address slightly.

My current experience is that new policies now have pretty onerous "penalties" if you cancel it after the cooling off period, where as a renewal does not.

Ps My broker charges 40

" We can confirm that we have carried out a market exercise and your current insurer remains the most competitive based on your current cover requirements".

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That is code for "we are chancing our arm hoping you will pay."

I find that brokers do not look for cheaper options until you threaten to take your business elsewhere, or you show them a much cheaper quote.

The only real benefit of using a broker is saving your time.

Instead of spending your time ringing numerous companies for the best deal, your broker will do this on your behalf.

You will of course be charged for this convenience.

You'll find your broker may be a little more useful than yourself if you get into trouble on a claim. Full disclosure - I'm a broker.

Must agree with peteb. I also accept that broker should shop around for customer at renewal to not only get the cheapest, but the most suitable quote and insurer. As I have pointed out many times in the past, cheapest is not always the best. Broker can be very helpful if you have a problem.

sahd said:

Brokers will probably only deal with companies that pay them commission. Going direct can sometimes get you a better deal.

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If people are willing to pay a fee for the work, they might go further afield. I am quiet happy for my general insurance broker to get commission so I don't have to pay him.

Going direct can get you a better deal but a lot of the time it's by them reducing their own commission rates for the deal. Afterall, their overheads are a lot lower than an independent broker.


Steven
www.bluewaterfp.ie

sahd said:

Brokers will probably only deal with companies that pay them commission. Going direct can sometimes get you a better deal.

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Sometimes the reverse as the ins co does not want to do the admin and they may also quote higher to drive business back to the broker network.

My experience for house insurance, with same insurance company:
400 through broker, 850 if direct.
So "you pays your money and takes your chance"

Guns N Roses said:

The only real benefit of using a broker is saving your time.

Instead of spending your time ringing numerous companies for the best deal, your broker will do this on your behalf.

You will of course be charged for this convenience.

Click to expand...

Absolutely no problem with this, but surely they should be doing this as part of the renewal offer?

At present the renewal letters are as follows

Dear Sir/Madam

Your insurance premium is due for renewal (usually about 6-8 weeks in advance). Your renewal premium is x plus government levy plus broker fee.

It should read as follows

Dear Sir/Madam

Your insurance premium is due for renewal. Your renewal premium was x plus government levy plus broker fee, but we have managed to get you a discount of x% on your as a continued and valued customer.

OR

Unfortunately we were unable to provide a lower quote with your current insurer. We have shopped around for similar policies and have found the below quotes x, y and z

I really dont mind paying the broker fee at all but unless you have a claim or problem on your policy they dont seem to do very much.

As a loss assessor I handle claims through both brokers and directly with the insurer.
I would strongly recommend that you stay with a broker.
In a number of cases the cover is more restrictive and higher excesses are applied on the direct product.
If something goes wrong and you are direct with an insurer they don't give a dam about you.
If you are with a broker and something goes wrong you at least have some protection.
There are plenty of brokers who would be more than happy to give you a quote.
Whatever you do don't go direct.

What a load of cobblers saying that a person's better off going with a broker, especially if they have a claim or a problem. Just go online, get quotes, study that they're all pretty similar and go with the one that suits. Believe it or not, but the cheapest is usually the best. If there's a claim you can do your own claim, or use a claim assessor, the broker has little or nothing to do with it. They're only middle men with no function in this day and age.

Noproblem - sorry but I don't agree entirely.

Sure, you can do your own research, then compare your findings and pick the cheapest option. But, that assumes you are knowledgeable enough in the sector to make an accurate comparison. Quite a lot of people are not and could make mistakes, which prove to be costly in the event of a claim.

Sometimes online offerings are cheaper. Putting aside the comparison of policy & price issues, there is also a further consideration and that is the reputation of the insurer when it comes to paying out on claims. Some insurers will go to great lengths to avoid paying out, while others (possibly not those offering the cheapest premiums) are a little more willing to payout, in the event of a legitimate claim. Ultimately, you can make a complaint to the relevant Regulator / Ombudsman, but that can take months before you get a resolution and there's no guarantees you'll win.

Finally, not everyone has either the time or desire to research the marketplace for a policy, be it a new policy or renewal each time they need one. Time is money and sometimes people will feel that they will get a better return on their time, doing something else.

I'm not an intermediary and have no vested interest here by the way, but having said that, I do like to think I know a bit about what I'm taking about (well, eh most of the time )

Total nonsense Mr Earl. Firstly, no insurance company is too willing to pay out quickly, they're all very similar like that for some reason or other!!!!!!!!. Secondly, if you spend a 1/2hour or less you could get quotes, etc from at least 10 companies and it's very easy to compare. By saying that people don't want to, or haven't the time to save themselves money is utter rubbish. Those people that have money to throw away are few and far between, but it's good that you seem to know many of them. Good for you. As I said, the insurance brokers are more or less useless in today's instant business communications market. The modern Irish man or woman is very knowledgeable in many different spheres, believe it or not and getting your insurance needs priced isn't rocket science, being able to compare like for like doesn't take a university degree, or any other degree either. As for your last comment, ahem?

But you see your last two sentences show that you are missing the point.