An Independent Insurance Agent is someone who represents multiple Insurance companies. This means that they can shop the market to find you the coverage you need at the best price. Year after year after year. Because unlike some insurance agents that represent one insurance company, independent agent represent many.
In the insurance industry there are different kinds of insurance companies, and each company chooses how to distribute their product. Some use captive agents, some sell direct, others use Independent agents, and some choose multiple methods. Many use multiple ways to distribute their insurance products. Let’s see what each of these mean.
Captive agents – These are the ones you are most familiar with. State Farm, Allstate, Farmers, and American Families all use the captive agent model to distribute their insurance products. These agents can be excellent insurance agents, but contractually are only able to sell you one company. So if rates go up, you have to find yourself a new insurance agent.
Direct writers – With the internet there are an increasing number of direct writers. These include companies like Progressive, GEICO, and Esurance. You go online and can purchase your insurance, but again, if rates go up you have to do the shopping.
Independent Insurance agents – These are agents that get contracts with multiple insurance companies and can shop the market to find you the best rate. These agents tend not to have well-known names, but the companies behind them can be very well known. Safeco, Travelers, Metlife, and others like to distribute their products through independent agents.
Then there are those that choose to distribute through multiple channels. Allstate for example, has their captive agents, but also sells direct as they purchased Esurance, and they use the independent channel through a company called Encompass. Farmers sells direct through its agents, but also purchased 21st Century to compete with Esurance and Progressive. Farmers also purchased Foremost and Bristol West to sell through independent agents. Progressive is well known for its direct sells, but also boast that more independent insurance agents sell through Progressive than any other company. Seems to be a lot of ways to get the same companies, and it is. But if that is the case, then why wouldn’t you let someone do all the shopping of insurance. An Independent agent.
That’s why Gila Insurance Group LLC chooses to be an independent agent. Because in the end, we can provide the best value for our customers. Year after year after year.
Learn more about who we choose to partner with, and about Gila Insurance Group, LLC today. Check out the independent insurance agent difference. Get a quote online from multiple companies that we represent
The most common insurance question on the planet is “How is it that I haven’t had a loss in years and my insurance rates keep going up?” Even as an insurance broker with years of experience I have asked that question of my own insurance companies, and I can certainly empathize my customers. Trust me, I as much as anyone would like your rates to stay where they are, because it’s the domino effect. Rates go up, you get mad, you call me, we shop you with other companies we represent, and we hope we keep you, but sometimes we lose you. It’s a big hassle that no fun for either of us.
So, what’s the answer? I will try to keep it short, but you have to understand what insurance is. Its risk transfer. Now before you run off, thinking this is already dull, let’s look at this closer. You have an asset, maybe an investment property, a mobile home, an RV, a car, whatever. It’s expensive and, a loss to it would be catastrophic to you and your family. So you pay a little money (in comparison to the value of the asset) to transfer the possibility of a loss to someone else, the insurance company. Now if the insurance company only insured you, that would be a terrible risk, now before you get offended, you’re not a terrible risk, but if you paid me $1000 to insure your 250,000 house and it burned to the ground I am out $249,000. But If I am able to get 249 other people to give me a $1000 and your house burns to the ground, then I can pay you, and assuming no one else’s house burns to the ground then we got it just right. That’s insurance, and it’s the world that insurance companies live in. A constant game of Goldilocks and the three bears. Insurance companies have to get it just right. Not too expensive, just expensive enough to cover the cost of the losses, and make a small profit. Now before you yell at me about the adjective, we are talking percentage wise, not dollar amount wise. Maybe we should table how insurance companies make money for another day.
So if you never have a loss, how do the rates keep going up? Well the short answer is your neighbor, and the thousands of other people, or however many are in your particular group, are terrible risks. They have terrible tenants that burn their houses down with Candles and let their Rottweilers maul people. They forget to keep the heat on their vacant homes, which causes them to flood. They have snot nose teenagers that text while they drive, and honk their horns to summon their friends, they back their RVs into gas pumps, and so on and so forth. So, please before you call your broker and yell at him, remember two things. First, if he is an independent agent, like Gila Insurance Group is, we might be able to find you a better price with better neighbors, and a better group, and we can save you the time of shopping all over the place. Second, the next time you get a letter in the mail from your insurance company that has your rates going up, and you haven’t had a loss, remember it’s your neighbors fault, and by the way, he still hasn’t returned the rake he borrowed 2 years ago!
One of the best things you can do to keep your insurance rates down is to shop. As an independent agent that is what we do. Every year we will review your rates to ensure they are still competitive. So keep your insurance rates down and start your quote now.
Why do we purchase insurance? It’s for the coverage. There are certain risks in life that we have to take, but we don’t necessarily have to take unnecessary financial risk, especially related to damage to our assets or damage that we cause to others. That’s why we purchase insurance. If a bunch of people pool a little money together, then we are able to pay for the catastrophic loss that the few of us will have, and that, at it’s core, is what insurance does. No one likes to pay for insurance, but in the event of the big loss it can save us financially.
So what coverage do we need? No sense in paying for something we don’t need, but we certainly should make sure we have the coverage we need. That really varies. It depends on you. Insurance can be complicated to understand, but here we endeavor to make the difficult understandable. However, we are talking in general terms. Coverage varies by state and by company. For more information about what your policy covers, please refer to your insurance policy and contract. If you have questions, refer to your insurance agent, that’s why they are there. If you are not sure what you have or would like to see what options we offer, start a quote online today!