Broker or direct? Which is best?

There are a lot of choices available when it comes to buying insurance. Just Google insurance and you will see that quite clearly, with hundreds of results.

Certainly, customer satisfaction with brokers in general is higher. In the recent Vero SME Insurance Index Survey, 78% of broker clients said they were satisfied with their broker. This is a testament to the strong relationships that brokers have with their clients.

It also found that 61% of businesses are considering using a broker rather than buying direct. Good news for us – yeh! So, let’s look at why it is also good news for you.

Buying directly from an insurance company

Try this… google ‘Insurance Policies in Australia”. The first half of the page is sponsored ads and the rest is dominated by the major direct insurance companies who have the big ad budgets to stay high on Google.

So straight away you need to filter through the list, then reach out to each one to get quotes (and that’s the easy bit).  Next, you have to compare them all and dive into the policy small print to see what you are actually getting. Who has time for that?

What do insurance brokers do?

Brokers are qualified professionals, that live, breathe and eat policy wordings but most importantly act in your best interest and not the insurers.  We assess your situation and then develop a package to suit your needs.  Often this means the package developed will include a number of different insurers.  At Rivers, we have over 150 Insurers that we work with each year.

Due to the sheer volume of business handled by insurance brokers, our clients generally receive better policies and prices, than if you attempted to obtain those policies directly from an insurer.

Also, if the worst happens and you need to lodge a claim, Rivers have a dedicated claims team that goes to bat for you and helps you through every step of the insurance maze and jargon involved in the “fine print”, to ensure you get the full amount which you are entitled to.

How are brokers paid?

Brokers, like us, generally receive a commission from the insurer, this is because we are doing all the processing to set up your policy in the insurer’s system and providing you with all the legislative documentation.  In addition, a fee is usually charged at the beginning of the policy, to cover the advice given and support provided to you, including at claims time.  So this way, your set not matter what happens, for the next year.

But the good thing is, we work with 150 different insurers, so we have no obligation to give you coverage with just 1 or 2 key companies. It is based on your needs and we give you options to suit and work with you to decide what is the best cover.

Working with a broker shouldn’t be a more expensive exercise for you. The benefits are that we do the hours of work to give you options, we understand the fine print and we go into bat for you.

** Advice is general in nature so please talk to your insurer or broker to get advice based on your specific situation.

Would you like more information? Speak to one of our Rivers personal insurance brokers.

Cairns            4051 8522
Brisbane       3028 9494
Innisfail         4061 1766