The Benefit of an Insurance Broker

Why should you purchase insurance through an insurance broker? That’s a question you should be asking yourself as you consider your insurance. What is the benefit to me? As a consumer in this day and age, you have access to a myriad of options to service your insurance needs, and each one offers you something different. The main four paths you can take are:

1. Purchase directly from an Insurance Company
2. Purchase from an Insurance Agent (only represents a single company)
3. Purchase online (usually the same as buying directly from an Insurance Company, but you can buy online insurance from McDougall Insurance too!)
4. Purchase from a broker

This variety of options is great for you! It forces all companies involved to work that much harder to give you value, which McDougall Insurance loves. Because we are all about you.
And that’s the root of the value of having a broker. We look after your own interests. With every other method of purchasing insurance, you are putting your care in the hands of an insurance company that benefits if they never pay you a cent in a claim. The broker, on the other hand, looks out for your interests only. Their job is to make insurance as easy for you as possible, and at McDougall Insurance we take this job very seriously.
Think of a law case, where the prosecution is an insurance company and you are a defendant. Don’t you want a crack team of legal experts on your side? That’s McDougall Insurance, we’ve studied the laws and regulations of insurance as long as these insurance companies have – we’ve been doing business for nearly 70 years – and we know every trick in the book, and have seen everything there is to see. We use this and our position as a broker to offer you 5 main advantages:

• Competition
• Advice
• Maintenance
• Claims Service
• A Real Relationship

It’s for these reasons you should go with a broker.

Competition

The biggest problem with your original negotiation with any insurance company is one of competition. When you buy directly from an insurance company, they aren’t about to compare their prices with competitors, other than some sales pitch about how much money people have saved when they switched (would they have switched if they were paying extra?).
Going from company to company to compare quotes can be very time consuming and frustrating, especially because no two insurance companies format their quotes the same. A broker solves that problem.
Brokers get the insurance companies to come to you, with a variety of markets that they pitch against each other to see which will give you the greatest benefit. McDougall Insurance has over 40 markets which we use to place insurance – that’s a lot of competitive pressure being put on insurance companies to offer you the fairest price.

Advice

The second problem with searching for insurance, and the biggest advantage of brokers, is how you as a consumer have limited knowledge about insurance. It’s an extremely complex legal field, where fine print is literally everywhere. It takes a lifetime to fully understand insurance – and you just don’t have that time. Brokers bridge the knowledge gap, they acquire a wealth of experience in insurance, and apply it to your own problems to design an insurance policy that fits you best.
That’s the problem with getting your own quote, you get coverage and a price, but do you know what that means? Is it a good price? Is it good coverage? A broker solves this problem by knowing exactly what the coverages do, and uses his/her experience in the field to tell you what they think you need. You don’t overpay for coverage you won’t use, and you don’t miss coverage that will be critical if you are in a claim! It’s a win-win.

Maintenance

The final big benefit of dealing with an insurance broker is your policy maintenance. Insurance companies periodically will contact you about changes, and you will periodically want to make changes yourself to your insurance (that’s life). With a broker, you don’t have to do the legwork or go through the hassle of doing these changes. You just tell your broker, and they do it for you.
McDougall Insurance also regularly reviews all our client’s policies, to make sure that changes haven’t gone unnoticed and to start the competitive process over again – maybe a company has changed their prices, and you can get a great deal! We also make sure you are receiving all discounts you are eligible for (as years go by more become available, but aren’t added automatically), and make sure you have the appropriate coverages. Again, we work hard at your insurance, so you can spend your time elsewhere. It is all about you!

Claims Service

A claim can be the worst experience in your life, and you invest in insurance so that the damage inflicted by these life-altering events is as small as possible. That’s why brokers work so hard to get to know you, and make themselves always available to talk. When there is an accident, and nothing seems right, having that friend to help you can make all the difference.

Now imagine the reverse situation. Getting into a claim where all you have is a 1-800 number and a series of cold computerized voice menus. Imagine attempting to navigate through them to get help – right after you exit your car following an accident, or as your home smoulders. McDougall Insurance thinks that’s a scenario that should never happen. So your brokers is always available, and ready to help.

A Real Relationship

And it’s this relationship, above anything else, that makes using an insurance broker worthwhile. When you do business with a broker, you aren’t just getting expert insurance advice, but a sympathetic friend who knows your name, and who you can speak to in trust anywhere – anytime.

Your insurance broker is a person just like you, with a family, goals and hobbies, whose job is to make you happy. They live in your city, buy from the same stores you do, and know the challenges you face. It’s this real bond that makes buying insurance from a broker so attractive. Your buying from a friend who will look out for you, who will be honest with you and who you can count on through thick and thin. It’s a rare thing to find in today’s world, and McDougall Insurance is proud to be able to offer it.

Conclusion

The truth is, it just makes sense to go with a broker (we wouldn’t be in business if it didn’t). The services we provide give you incredible value, enough to justify paying a higher price for your insurance. But the great thing is, you don’t have to pay more. Broker rates routinely beat the prices of direct writers and companies. So when you’re getting insurance, go with a broker (hopefully McDougall Insurance?). You will be glad you did.