Two insurance brokers sitting side-by-side

By IHS Insurance Insurance Industry News August 14, 2015

Brokers are your insurance advocates

Today we live in an age of convenience and technology. It’s a great time to be alive! It’s easier than ever to pull up the internet or an “app” and take a look at all of the different options available for the service or product we are shopping for. It’s so much easier now than ever to shop, compare and buy what we need.

The way that we shop for furniture or back to school supplies isn’t necessarily the best way to conduct all of our business, though. The technological options we love so much, unfortunately, are also a breeding ground for scams, fly-by-night operations and hackers. With the biggest purchasing and financial decisions of life there is still no substitute for finding a reliable professional to provide quality service without the risk of .

Insurance is certainly a situation where you are best served by locating an agent to guide you through the process of purchasing a policy. There are different types of agents, though, and it is important to understand the differences. Affordability, opportunity to comparison shop and quality customer service are top priorities and with that considered an agent with a broker’s office is your best choice. There are simply so many benefits that a broker’s agent can offer you that a captive agent or an insurance carrier’s representative won’t have the flexibility to provide these benefits.

Insurance Carrier Call Centers & Captive Agents

Many insurance agents exclusively represent one specific insurance carrier, they are considered a captive agent. The majority of insurance carriers also employ their own call center of sales representatives who can write business when prospective clients call the carrier directly. One definite disadvantage of working with these representatives is that they can only sell you products made available by the one insurance carrier they represent. As a result, they will not provide you with price comparisons of their product to identical products from other carriers you would qualify for.

When purchasing coverage from an agent employed in these large call centers you will not receive any additional customer service after that purchase is complete. When an issue arises with your coverage or you’d like to speak with your agent, that option the majority of the time would not be available. Independent agents are many times also a captive agent, only selling products for one insurance carrier and also cannot comparison shop coverage, re-evaluate your options regularly for savings and may not offer you the customer service that you desire.

Insurance Brokers and Broker’s Agents

Working with an independent broker’s office is one of the most beneficial ways to shop and make an informed decision on the right insurance and investment options available to you. What truly makes an insurance broker stand out among the rest is that a broker can shop for the product that you are interested in across all of the major carriers in the nation.

For example, if you are shopping for a new health insurance policy an insurance agent from a broker’s office might shop Aetna, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Cigna, Humana and others for you. This puts you at a fantastic advantage, because you get the opportunity to not only see what your many options may be, but to find the best price and best fit available for your unique needs. IHS Insurance Group is an example of an insurance brokerage which shops all of the major carriers in the United States and prides itself on offering the highest quality and wide range of customer services to our clients as possible.

IHS Insurance Group is in fact licensed to sell insurance in many states, but as an agency offers the unique opportunity for local customers here in Texas to visit agents in the office. Here on the northwest side of Houston we have many clients that visit us from not only Tomball but Spring, Cypress, Magnolia, Conroe, Huntsville, Humble, Waller and many other surrounding areas. It is certainly a pleasure to offer such a versatile and wide range of customer service opportunities to our customers. As an insurance broker whether a client is local or long distance we are able to offer the greatest degree of options, customer service and representation available when purchasing insurance coverage.

If you are interested in learning more about the benefits we can offer you as a broker’s office please contact us today. We would love to tell you more about all of the carriers we represent, the products we offer and the unique services we provide for our customers!