What’s the difference between Direct insurance VS Broker?
Well I am going to run through a few differences for you. People have their preferences but it is nice to have a choice.
Firstly, the most obvious difference is that with a direct insurance company you handle everything yourself.
Whereas with a broker, they will handle everything on your behalf. In other words if you have a policy with a direct insurance company you’ll have to do things like get quotes and submit claims yourself. If you were with a broker you would phone them when needing to claim and they would then handle everything for you.
When shopping for insurance it’s often easier to use a broker as the broker does all the shopping for you. You would only make one call. While with the direct insurers you could make up to 30 calls and take nearly 2 days to phone all the insurance companies out there. This often ends up getting confusing not to mention expensive. Each and every company you phone will give you a different quote. Some will add things like Car hire and portable possessions cover while other won’t. Some will raise your excess to get you a lower premium. There are many things involved in working out the premiums on insurance. Brokers are trained to look out for these things.
Some believe its better have a broker because he cuts out all the confusion and all the hassle. But this obviously comes with a price. Direct insurance companies are generally cheaper than brokers because they don’t charge a commission for every sale they make while brokers do because they need to make a living.
At the end of the day the choice is yours. If you think you can handle dealing with getting all your own quotes. If you think you can handle dealing with submitting claims on your own then the direct insurers are the way to go. If you feel a bit nervous when it comes to dealing with insurance companies then your best bet would be to go with a broker. Yes they charge more but you must remember your paying for a service.