Most of us use a professional such as a solicitor for legal advice or an accountant for tax advice, but is it necessary to use an insurance broker to give you insurance advice?

Here’s 3 questions to help you decide if an insurance broker would benefit you.

1. Do you have a good understand of insurance and confidence that you have the right solution in place?

Insurance is complex, and getting it right can mean the difference between having peace of mind or heartbreak.

An insurance broker has the expertise to ask the right questions to understand your risks, and then ‘broke’ the insurance market to negotiate with insurers on your behalf to get you a good solution at a good price.

There’s no substitute for years of experience, training and professional development – each year insurance brokers have to participate in continuous learning to stay across changes in the market and emerging risks.

2. Do you want to save time, hassle and even maybe some money?

It may seem like buying your insurance directly online could save you time, money or hassle – and, we live in such an online and DIY (do it yourself) world that it normalises these kinds of purchases.

And, a lot of people are initially sceptical about paying a fee for an insurance broker’s services.

But an insurance broker is more than a middle man. They make sure that your insurance solution is tailored for you – and they can look after all your insurance needs in one place.

If you buy online, you may have to do hours of research and price comparisons to find an insurance solution for your business or your home, car and earthly belongings. What huge things to gamble with – the financial future of your business or yourself and your family! It’s a big decision, and one that an insurance broker has done years of study and experience to assist you with.

Insurance brokers not only have great connections and relationships with their insurer partners to try to get you the best insurance solution, they also have access to some solutions that are not available online through the direct market. Insurers often offer lower pricing to insurance brokers, because the broker is trained to select the right solution for clients and therefore less risk (i.e. risk of underinsurance) to the insurer. So save yourself time, stress and the hassle of shopping around and let your insurance broker guide you through the best options and deals for your needs.

3. Have you ever lived through making an insurance claim?

If you’ve ever had to make an insurance claim, you probably understand the value of an insurance broker. Making a claim is the moment of truth, when you’re calling in the ‘piece of paper and a promise’ (or ‘PDF and a promise’ as may be the case these days).

If you’ve gone direct to get your insurance online and made a claim, you’ve likely spent many minutes (or even hours) on the phone, waiting on hold, never speaking to the same person twice. Perhaps they’ve denied your claim or you didn’t get what you thought you were owed and you weren’t sure what avenues for recourse are even available to you.

If you’ve used an insurance broker, you speak with one person, who then manages the claims and all the back and forth for you, even negotiating with the insurer on your behalf to get the best possible outcome.

Working with an insurance broker, you can feel confident and have peace of mind that should you need to make a claim, you’ve got the right insurance solution to protect you and an insurance broker to support you, advocate for you and manage your claim.

Convinced that getting your insurance solution through an insurance broker is the way to go? Looking to discuss your needs? For a free, no-obligation quotation, contact the team at GS Insurance today. At the very least, you’ll get an idea of whether you have the right policies at a competitive price in place!