Big Things in a Small Package: Why You Should Buy Insurance Locally
When shopping for personal lines of insurance many peoples’ first thought is to reach for those companies who spend millions broadcasting commercials and adverts to drill their name into the heads of consumers. What many don’t know, however, is that while name recognition and national brand strength is important, especially for insurance carriers, there are advantages that small insurance carriers can provide that are worth investigating.
Personalized service. Think of a national insurance carrier. Chances are if you called one of these national companies ten times, you would speak with ten different people. In this environment where the entire relationship with your insurance agent is over the phone or by email, it’s much harder to forge a valuable relationship with your insurance provider. What many people don’t understand is that your friendly neighborhood insurance agent truly acts as a financial planner, since he looks to protect your wealth and assets if ever you’re stuck in one of life’s many unfortunate situations. And what’s more is that because of this relationship, your local insurance agent’s success is directly tied to yours. This is what drives a local insurance agent to go to bat for you on your claims and process them quickly. This is the reason that your local insurance agencies, whether for personal or commercial property insurance, home, business or auto insurance, have this advantage over national companies who may know little else about you besides your home address, phone number, and billing information. When you work with somebody one-on-one you’d be surprised how you might get to know them, and how they get to know you and your needs.
Don’t get me wrong, national insurance carriers aren’t the devil, nor will they always provide you terrible service at horrifyingly high prices. It just happens to be the case that people tend to overlook smaller insurance agencies that can provide many benefits over such large name brands. For example:
· There are countless companies and plans available, and they are NOT created equal. A knowledgeable insurance agent will help you find the right company and plan to best suit your needs
· A national insurance company may spend upwards of 8% of revenues on advertising, which comes directly from – you guessed it – your payments
· Insurance plans are rarely simple, and it always helps to have an expert you can sit down with to explain exactly what your policy does and doesn’t offer… before you find yourself under-protected
· When you need to file a claim, meet with an adjuster, or want to quickly put your life back on track after an incident, a local agent will be crucial in contacting the right people for you
Whether its insurance for your business, home, or car, you may be surprised what you find by looking in your area for a local agent. So next time you think about switching your insurance provider, give a local agent a call and you may be surprised to find a big improvement from the small guy.
