Insurance agencies: The process of
getting insurance quotes in Florida.

Blue Sky life insurance agency in Boca Raton educates you on the different
types of insurance agencies, how they work with major companies
to quote your rates and provide policies.

In the insurance industry there are two types of insurance agents you should be informed about before you start the quote process for your property, life or business. Navigating the insurance quoting process can seem to be complicated for most people so we want to help educate you so things will be a little clearer for you going forward.

First lets take a look at two terms you may be familiar with.
1) Insurance company - This is a major insurance carrier that agents get your policies from, provide service for and distribute their products.

2) Insurance agents - These are referred to as: 1) agencies 2) brokers and 3) agents.
These are pretty much interchangeable terms depending on what category they fall under.

There are two categories.
• Captive or exclusive agency - They are contracted with one insurance company and only sell that one company’s products. They are called Direct Writers.
• Independent agency or broker - They represent a number of insurance companies - not just one. And they are doing business as their own brand, such as Blue Sky Insurance agency of Boca Raton.

If you watch television you have probably be inundated with commercials from insurance companies like Allstate, Geico, State Farm and many others that serve customers on a national level. Hundreds of thousands of people will pick up the phone and call that insurance company to get an insurance quote for their home, health, life, auto and more.

When this happens you are entering into communication and a quoting system with a direct writer. (captive or exclusive agent). A direct writer is often an employee of the company you called and that direct writer insurance agent is bound to only write a policy for that particular company that they are employed or contracted with. In this case you are limited to only the products that insurance company sells. So State Farm cannot quote you a policy from Allstate. Allstate agents cannot write polices for any other carrier but themselves. So you get higher rates and no alternatives which limits your choice.

In addition, an independent agent or agency will not take as much commission from a policy as would a captive or exclusive agent. And they also can save clients money and build their customer base that otherwise would seek different companies for different lines of insurance.

Also, with an independent insurance agency, you have the freedom to shop around with different insurance companies to get the best product and quotes. For instance, your car can be insured under one insurance company, while your home is insured with a different company and all is done with one insurance agency.

In the insurance quoting process your independent insurance agency does not set the price for the policy. This is done by the insurance companies in which they are getting quotes from. But an aggressive and resourceful agent with experience will put forth the extra effort to work the companies so you get a better rate than would otherwise be offered if the agent didn’t put in the work on your behalf.

Insurance companies are bound by state regulatory laws, in our case the State of Florida, for how much they can profit off of your insurance policy. They will assess your risk given the information they collect on you ( see - how to save money on your insurance rates) and determine their profit while providing a competitive insurance quote for you rate premiums.

Your independent agent cannot adjust the cost of your insurance policy. They can only adjust the amount of coverage you have. And once that policy is set forth the insurance agency cannot change that coverage that the insurance company has provided. What they can do is provide other coverage that supplements your existing policy. That is determined by you and your agent in consultation when assessing your risks and financial goals.

To dig even deeper into the insurance quoting process, insurance agents that write property and liability coverage are involved with a set of standards called “ACORD”. When the quoting process begins it is often done electronically with the insurance companies where the ACORD data is sent and the quoting system generates the rates. many times further information is needed and is done manually until the agent is presented with the policy, terms and rate. Once this is agreed to the policy is generated into a hard copy for both all parties involved.

So to sum up, you have learned about the different types of agents, what an insurance company is and how they all work together to provide you the insurance policies and quotes you are seeking. We hope this gives you a better understanding how the process works and how it will benefit you when you are looking to insure your property, cover liabilities and obtain other types of insurance coverages.