Insurance Brokers vs. Agents; What’s The Difference?
Let’s be honest; the insurance industry can be difficult to navigate. It can be frustrating when you’re trying to find the best combination of service, rate, and coverage. It can even be trying for brokers and agents at times.
To begin to simplify insurance, let’s review a frequently discussed insurance topic. The “what’s the difference between an insurance broker and an insurance agent?” question comes up a lot. Below you’ll find some facts that compare, contrast, and recap differences.
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Quick Facts about Brokers:
Brokers partner with multiple insurance companies and sell products for them.
Brokers are able to shop multiple insurance companies to find the best fit.
This includes different product types, coverages, deductibles, discounts, and prices for your situation.
Brokers provide help through the claims process. dbi Brokers Ltd even has a dedicated in-house claims rep that works for you!
Brokers must pass licencing exams, register with an official provincial body, and earn annual education credits to ensure they maintain their knowledge and expertise.
Quick Facts about Agents:
Agents represent one insurance company.
Agents know their products very well, but don’t have as many options.
Limited to product types, coverages, deductibles, discounts, and prices offered by their insurance company.
Agents generally don’t assist in the claims process, and the claims adjuster works for the insurance company, not the client.
Agents get licensed from a provincial body, but aren’t required to complete the same in depth education as brokers.
As you probably noted from the above, insurance agents offer products from one company, and they work for that same company. In contrast, brokers are able to offer products from a number of different companies that they have partnered with, and they work for their clients.
Something specific to dbi Brokers is our in-house claims department that will assist you with the claims process from start to finish. We pride ourselves on our customer service and work with your best interest in mind.
Obviously insurance isn’t something you really want to think about or deal with, but this should give you a little bit of insight into some key insurance industry differences. Hopefully these facts assists you with your future insurance decisions.
