In that thread the OP has just been in a life-threatening car crash. And is asking about all manner of insurance related stuff. Many people have advised “consult your agent”. Which utterly mystifies me.
I have been buying insurance for over 50 years. Car insurance, house insurance, boat insurance, airplane insurance, professional liability insurance, renters insurance, medical insurance, business insurance, high value personal property insurance. Etc. You name it, I’ve (probably) bought it.
And I have never in my life dealt with an insurance agent. 100% of these polices came from an 800 number or a website.
I think of “insurance agents” the same way I do of farriers. An obsolete craft from an obsolete era.
Am I screwing up these last 50 years or are there a lot of people paying high commissions to obsolete charlatans to do nothing useful except be 1950s-style value-destroying middlemen?
I’m in a smaller town and have an agent. But I pay what I would pay direct from my insurer (it is State Farm). At least that is what I saw when I got online estimates when I was trying to add motorcycle insurance. I went to his office and asked for his quote and it was the same outlandish price. He told me that they didn’t like motorcycles. I don’t go to State Farm for my moto insurance.
Maybe that isn’t true, but my experience is I am not paying a premium going to that office.
I live in a small town and visit my State Farm insurance agent whenever I have an issue that needs more than a phone call or email.
I’ve had to deal with him a lot the last several years due to some flooding at my house/changes in car insurance/etc.
I visited him a couple times last year to sort out some end of life planning.
I appreciate the one on one contact with someone.
The office is close to my home and easily accessible.
They also give out great calendars.
Note: When I was growing up the insurance agent used to come to our house regularly. My mom would pay her premiums and the guy would sit and chat for a while over coffee and cookies.
I had my homeowners insurance cancelled two years ago due to wildfire risk. I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to find someone to cover me, so instead of trying multiple companies, I contacted an agency in the nearest town. The agent found me a policy without any problem and the rate is similar to my previous policy.
I would rather deal with my agent than deal directly with an insurance company. I could buy insurance directly, but if I have a problem or a question, I have to call an 800 number and hope someone answers within the next 20 minutes. If I call my agent, someone picks up immediately and either has the answer or can get it quickly. The insurance cost is the same whether I buy it through my agent or directly, so why not leverage a local person with a vested interest in helping me, rather than a giant company with thousands of customers that doesn’t care about me at all, as far as I can tell?
No, agents aren’t obsolete, and don’t necessarily increase the cost (although I’d have to do comparison shopping to know for sure). But there are two kinds of agents: those who are brokers for a variety of insurance companies, and those, like State Farm agents, who only represent State Farm and are simply the customer-facing part of the company.
I’ve had State Farm auto insurance ever since my first car (which was so long ago that I believe it was powered either by a steam engine or a horse ) and have always dealt with an agent. (In Canada, State Farm has since been taken over by a Canadian insurer, but the business model remains the same.) I don’t get into accidents but I did have a couple of claims under comprehensive, and also a major roof repair after a bad storm, and both State Farm and their successor have been very good at settling claims.
Personally, I wouldn’t trust some random 800 number for my auto or home insurance. I’m sure some of them would be cheaper – in fact I’m certain I could get car insurance for quite a bit less than I’m paying now, but it wouldn’t necessarily be a better value overall. Even some major insurance companies have a sordid reputation for a high percentage of claims denials.
My motorcycle was insured by State Farm, but I believe their rule at the time was that they’d only insure motorcycles if you also had car insurance with them.
When I first moved here (45 years ago) I got a referral from a new co-worker for an insurance agent for car insurance. I signed up, and continued to talk to them when I wanted to change coverage, or when I bought a different car. Eventually, they retired, and I was assigned a new agent (and since then, another new agent) by the insurance company I use. I have never needed to talk to them. I can now do everything online that I need to do. I’m not paying extra, the agent is paid by the company to help me out if I need it.
I’m glad to hear others with State Farm saying that their price is their price. I’ve used my agent several times and he has been value added.
I had auto and home insurance through them. Their quote for moto insurance was outlandish: More than my car. And way out of proportion to other online quotes like Progressive. Maybe it’s changed in the last many years as I haven’t checked for quite a while. I should drop by my agent’s office
I’ve done business with the same independent insurance agency since I moved to Illinois in 1989. They’re a small, family-owned business, and as independent agents, they’ve been able to shop for my coverage with different insurance companies. In the (thankfully) few times when I’ve had to file claims, they’ve been the ones to work with the insurance carriers, and they have always taken very good care of me.
I got a letter from them a couple of weeks ago, indicating that they were merging with a somewhat larger independent insurance company; I suspect that the owner of the agency with which I’ve worked is retiring, and selling off his book of business. I’m hoping that the level of service doesn’t decline, but I fully expect that it will.
My insurance agent works with multiple companies and has found me cheaper prices by switching companies more than once. They’ve also straightened out for me billing problems caused by the company’s screwups. They’ve also helped filing claims, including but not limited to quickly confirming on the spot that the car had the damage I was reporting.
One of my potential problems with switching companies is that their rates wouldn’t reflect my 50-year accident-free record, but most likely just a cursory check of any recent traffic violations. And the accident forgiveness and no-cancellation guarantee likely wouldn’t carry over, either. There are some advantages to staying with a company with which you have a long history, though it’s not clear if it’s financially worth it. But it’s certainly the easiest thing to do.
Yep. Until you know whether they pay out, you have zero idea whether your premiums are a high-priced ripoff, a low-priced bargain, or simply theft and waste when they don’t pay.
Judging an insurer by their premiums is like judging a restaurant meal by the poop it produces. You’re missing the point!
I don’t know if it’s even possible to buy insurance online in my province without going to an agent first; namely, an agent who owes a fiduciary duty under our law to the purchaser of the insurance, not the insurance company.
I checked a couple of websites and they gave lots of info about the insurance policies, with suggested quotes, and then they all ended with : “here’s where you can find our agents in your city”.
It’s certainly possible to renew existing auto insurance policies online, but it looks like the initial purchase has to be by personal consultation with an agent.
We have an insurance agent and have changed insurance agents in the last couple of years. We realized that we were paying a lot more for insurance with our carrier of 15 years because while our agent assured us that they were shopping for the best rate every renewal, they always found that our current carrier offered the best rate.
When we switched the new carrier was 20% less for the same coverage. And the carrier was one that our old agent represented too. In fact most of the carriers our old agent represented, the new one does as well.
I don’t know if the old agent was just lazy or if there is some financial incentive to keep recommending a renewal even when another carrier would be cheaper.
You can buy insurance in our state directly from some companies. But the price seems to be identical to what you pay with an agent. And the agent can be invaluable when making claims, not just advising you on what you need. We actually get advice on coverage we need from our estate planning and real estate attorney (same firm, different attorneys). We have umbrella coverage in amounts much larger than our home and auto limits.
I would need to ask my wife how we handled this in other states we have lived in. I know when we moved here we were shocked that most of the big name companies that advertise nationally did not write policies here.
I appreciate the personal contact with agents who represent you to the insurer, but how could your agent possibly know whether they’ll pay out in any given case? A lot of adjudication decisions are somewhat subjective and the agent has absolutely no control over it.
There’s a long story I could tell, but this isn’t the place for it. As I said earlier, I’ve never had a problem with my insurer covering claims. But there was an interesting event some years ago when they declined a claim for the simple reason that it wasn’t covered under the policy. I agreed, but raised the argument that although they were technically right, under the circumstances it would be morally right for it to be covered.
After several escalations and speaking with someone in HQ, he explained to me, as if to a child, that insurance companies operate within a set of rules regarding coverages, and the whole insurance business depends on those rules being strictly adhered to.
I continued to escalate anyway. And behold, I got them to agree to cover damage that they technically were not obliged to cover.
So when I say that some insurers are good at covering claims and others not so good, I have to include my own insurer for covering a claim that they weren’t even legally obliged to cover. I admit that this was a very unusual situation, though.
But back on topic, I agree that having a personal contact with an agent, especially an agent who knows you, is a valuable aspect of insurance.
In my particular situation, I’ve had the same one decades now. Agent and office staff are almost like friends. They are very helpful too when I need them. Following up after to make sure everything went exactly how I hoped it would, etc.
They don’t, of course. But they know whether the company has a history of paying reasonable claims promptly and without argument.
(i expect they also note whether any of their clients has a history of attempting to make unreasonable claims. I don’t know what they do about that; over the course of thirty plus years I’ve had a couple of claims, but they weren’t unreasonable.)
That’s the case for me in Europe (specifically Luxembourg). There are online services where you can compare plans and prices, but if you want the policy, you make an appointment and go into an office and establish a relationship with a human representative, who thereafter acts as the “face” of the insurance company. All of our claims, policy changes, etc. start with that individual person (or an administrative delegate who physically works in his office).
) and have always dealt with an agent. (In Canada, State Farm has since been taken over by a Canadian insurer, but the business model remains the same.) I don’t get into accidents but I did have a couple of claims under comprehensive, and also a major roof repair after a bad storm, and both State Farm and their successor have been very good at settling claims.