Insurance Agent or Auto Broker for Car Insurance?

Is There a Difference?

The answer is YES!!! You hear the words insurance agent or auto broker for car insurance all the time, but many people don't realize the difference between them.

There are presently 3 ways to purchase car insurance:

1) From a Insurance Broker

2) From a Insurance Agent

3) Directly From a Insurance Company

The first two categories are very similar, they are the insurance agent and auto broker for car insurance. We will go over those two categories first.

1) Insurance Broker

Until recently the best way to purchase insurance was through independent insurance brokers. These companies, are independent in that they don’t work for any single insurance company, they work at finding you the lowest insurance rate regardless of the company. They are also there to help in your dealings with the actual insurance companies when making claims.

2) Insurance Agent

Buying from an insurance agent has increased in popularity over the years. These are people who work for an individual insurance company, such as State Farm. They work at getting you the best insurance price they can, but just from their company, they will not tell you what the other companies are offering, they work solely for their insurance company.

3) Directly From insurance Company

This last category is different then the previous two in that it bypasses the insurance agent or auto broker for car insurance altogether.

You can purchase insurance directly from an insurance company, through call centers, or online. This bypasses the need for an agent or auto broker for car insurance. You call a number to a central call-center and a call taker will sell you insurance over the phone. Dealing with the companies directly seems to get you the best rate, as there is no middle man to pay, and these companies have central call centers that service the whole country. This lowers their operating costs, and enables them to have the lowest insurance rates, when compared to an agent or auto broker for car insurance.

What is Best?

When deciding between an agent and auto broker for car insurance, it was not a hard decision for me to make. Before the Internet, the best way to get the best deal on car insurance was through an insurance broker. They would work with you, shopping around between companies to find the best price possible.

With the emergence of the

internet, however, the benefits of buying insurance through a broker have steadily decreased. All the tools that allowed the brokers to find the best rates are now at our disposal on the Internet. I recently got a new car, and called my broker to get a quote. They gave me a quote that seemed very high to me, so I decided to look at other options, and I used the Internet to get online insurance quotes to compare different companies. I found a much better price, one that the broker was unable to match. In fact, the lowest the broker could go, was $500 over the quote I found online!

The reason for this is simple. The auto insurance broker must be paid for their work. They need compensation for what they do, and this compensation is what raises the price that you pay them for insurance.

The benefits of working with an insurance broker, is that they don’t work for the insurance companies they work for you. They should be straight up and honest with you about the companies and when making claims, they can be helpful in helping you get what you deserve.

To me the brokers offer no benefit. They will raise the cost of your premium, and everything they do, you can do yourself. If you want the lowest premium possible then don't use an insurance broker.

That leaves the insurance agents and the individual insurance companies. This comes down to personal preference. Most large insurance companies, will have offices with insurance agents in your area, so there is no difference. However some companies don't have offices in every city, so you must purchase the insurance directly from them whether online or over the phone. This may be due to the fact that they just haven't expanded to your area yet, or they have central call centers to lower costs, so you must purchase online or over the phone.

In my opinion the best way to get a good quote, is to use the Internet to get online quotes, that get prices from all the major companies. auto insurance agent Once you have the best quote, you can either apply online, if the company allows it, apply over the phone, or look for an insurance agent for that company in your area.

Some people prefer dealing face to face rather then online or over the phone. If the insurance company doesn't have an insurance agents in your area, or you don't feel comfortable

, applying online or over the phone, find the company that has the best quote and also has agents in your area.

In this day and age, any reputable company will provide safe, and effective online service. For me, I went with the best quote possible and bypassed the agent and auto broker for car insurance. I had to apply over the phone, and it was both quick and painless.

Hopefully that helped you to get a better understanding of insurance agent and auto broker for car insurance, and will enable you to get the very best price for your auto insurance.

If you need infomation on other forms of insurance other then auto insurance, check out insurance info links, they have hand-picked insurance links and resources with information on choosing insurance companies and choosing a suitable insurance policy.

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