The Battles On - Insurance Broker or Direct Insurer

Ask anyone who has a TV if they know what the little red phone or the dog who everybody loves (uugh) are advertising and they will tell you - INSURANCE. Brilliant advertising I must say but does it give the customer the best all round deal,once you have passed the initial showbiz hype - I doubt it.

Insurance brokers have always been able to compete with direct insurers but rarely can they afford the gigantic advertising budget of the direct insurers. HOWEVER - bearing in mind that insurance brokers can normally beat the premiums the direct insurers offer or at the least match it, what extra can they offer that the direct boys cannot.

• MULTIPLE QUOTES - If you ring a direct insurer or company they can only quote you from the one lot of premium rates - THEIRS; but guess what brokers have caught on to this thing called technology over the years and we now use the very latest hi tech gizmo's which allow us to check over 200 insurance schemes with LOTS OF INSURERS. If we can't compete with or normally beat a single direct insurer then maybe we are in the wrong business. We have been doing it for over 30 years so I can only imagine we have got something right.

• FACE TO FACE CONTACT - Ever called one of the direct insurers and felt that the person on the other end was reading from a script, well you would sort of be right as most call centres give their staff a set wording to go through. Ask them something unusual such as a query about "excess of loss " and you will be greeted I am sure with a rather puzzled "WHAT". I see direct business as bulk business, sort of conveyor belt technology which is fine as long as the person has understood all of your answers fully. At a brokers office however you get face to face contact, normally with a person with many years experience who can answer all the tricky questions you may have. let me ask you this - Would you be prepared to arrange your will for example on the internet? I am sure the answer is no. Well I believe that an insurance document is of similar importance and can have similar serious consequences if not done properly

• BEWARE OF SPECIAL DEALS - You know what I mean " We guarantee to beat your premium by £10" or £15 worth of Marks and Spencer vouchers". Insurance companies are not charities and these are just one off gimmicks to get your attention and your name on the books. The number of times people have come into our office and said that in the second year the premium jumped drastically. What did they expect a free cuddly toy or trip to Disneyland. Brokers if they are any good (and we are the best - I know self praise is no recommendation but I am going to say it anyway) will AUTOMATICALLY check your renewal premium EVERY YEAR so you will get the most competitive premium every year without the gimmicks.

• BROKERS EXPLAIN - YOU DONT GET THE CONVEYOR BELT EXPERIENCE - What do I mean by this - let me explain

I compare the direct insurers to some of the High St opticians. You may have experienced them. If you have you may feel like I did recently that they were going through a set procedure and it was a numbers game, they needed you through the system as quickly as possible, not the case with your local friendly optician who has time. The local insurance broker is the same,you can sit down face to face and he has the time (and hopefully the experience) to answer all your little queries like "if I have a barbeque in the garage because it is raining, am I covered by fire" or my son has not passed his test but can he drive me home from the pub when I am way over the limit as long as I am sat beside him - providing he has his L.Plates up of course." I know I am being a bit sarcastic there but hopefully you understand what I am saying. Brokers are personal (and sometimes friendly). I would just mention that there is one difference between local insurance brokers and local opticians (apart from the obvious one that we make far less money than them). The reason that the public use the gimmicky national opticians is normally down to one thing THEY ARE CHEAPER. That is where we differ. A good local insurance broker can normally get it CHEAPER than the direct insurer.

IN CONCLUSION - I leave you with this thought. If you had a £10 million house to insure which would you be happy doing. Ringing a direct insurer who will go through a set procedure and hope you dont ask too many tricky questions or require answers which are not on their screen or popping into your local insurance broker who will sit down and spend the time going through every query until he is happy that you understand fully exactly what you are covered for. I think I know the answer. Well we treat all customers the same whether it is a £10 million house or a £100,000 cottage.

AND IN FINAL CONCLUSION - Should you be unfortunate enough to get a claim we wont put you through to the UK's dread - The Claim Centre in INDIA. We may have to speak to them but that is our responsibility then and not yours. Believe me they are really nice and very educated people but Indian claim centres just DO NOT WORK.

Graham Hodgson is one of the UK's top insurance brokers and has over 30 years experience. The one thing that most of their customers say is that before they did business with his company G.J.T.Hodgson Insurance Services they thought brokers were not friendly and had no sense of humour. They are what insurance broking is all about. Check them out at:

http://www.hodgsoninsurance.co.uk