Not all insurance agents are created equal. A recent commercial by a leading insurance company had a slogan "Do you love your insurance agent?" This is a great question to ask yourself and if the answer is no maybe it is time to find a better agent. Everyone has different expectations of an insurance agent. When I was an agent I had a customer tell me that she expected me to be at the scene of any accident she had because it was on a commercial.
While it is not reasonable to expect your insurance agent to be at each accident it is reasonable to expect professional service. How do you define professional service? Professional service includes:
* Timely response to questions or claims
* Easily accessible throughout the business day
* Knowledgeable with insurance products
* Ethical business practices
* Caring about the customer's needs
It can be difficult to find an insurance agent that fits all of these criteria but you should not settle for any less. Most people find their insurance agent through a referral from a friend or family member and more and more people are using the internet to research insurance companies and agents.
There are many resources online that offer you the ability to see an agent meets your criteria. You can access his or her website to see what hours they operate. There is even a department of insurance for each state which will tell you if that insurance agent has had any official complaints. It may be harder to know if a particular agent will be caring about your needs but a great way to test this is to get a quote from them. By getting a quote from a company or agent you can tell a lot about how they will treat you in the future. For example if the agent only quotes your policies and doesn't follow up to see if you have questions or if the coverage is adequate this agent probably won't review your needs each year for coverage gaps.
Some people only care about the price of insurance because they think it is a waste of money, that is until something happens and they need to file a claim. Rule number one when shopping for insurance is not to judge a book by its cover or not to disregard an agent by the price of his quote. If the agent shows interest in helping you understand the policy this can be worth the additional cost.
If you are interested in finding a new insurance agent who can better serve your needs and hopefully save you some money try getting quotes online.
How to Find a Great Insurance Agent
