It may not be insurance news, but the FCA recently recommended that all mortgage brokers should be placed on a comparison site to allow house buyers to compare and contrast.
We’re not going to get drawn into that debate, but it did get us thinking. Would a comparison tool work for comparing insurance brokers.
We decided it wouldn’t, for the following reasons:
1 Price isn’t everything
Comparison sites work because they allow you to compare like for like. The only difference between the options is price and added benefits.
This wouldn’t work for insurance brokers because you’re not just comparing tangible differences like cost. You also have to take into account the broker’s experience, their commitment, their personalities etc. What might be an added benefit for some (e.g regular communication) could be a negative for others.
2 You couldn’t put all the relevant information into the filters
When you compare car insurance, you tell the comparison site the make and model of your car, any accidents you’ve had and what level of excess you’re willing to pay.
You couldn’t do that with insurance for your business. A good insurance broker won’t just ask you about the size and shape of your business. They’ll want to understand the industry you’re in, future changes you’d like to make, what risk management procedures you’ve gone through historically. Image typing all that into a comparison site!
3 Somethings, you just can’t compare
Take Romero for instance (and this isn’t intended as a sales message). We’re proud of our award winning claims department and the dedication of everyone who works in it.
How could a comparison site compare dedication? Or determination? Or experience?
4 You need to meet your broker face to face
Comparison sites usually work on a click, quote and purchase model. Some may require you to send in some documents to confirm the information you’ve given, but it very rarely goes further than that.
But we’d advise you to meet any prospective broker face to face. Getting the right insurance could be the difference between your business thriving or failing. How can you trust someone with your business if you’ve never met them?
5 Aggregators work in black and white
This is a bit of a long winded point, but stick with us because it is relevant.
Comparison sites are aggregators and they work on percentages from a number of different questions and formulas. Remember, we said this was long winded.
In simplistic terms, the person searching for insurance has to answer questions in a very exact way to see an insurer in the comparison results.
For instance, an insurance broker might tell the comparison site that it will only work with businesses that keep their cash in a safe because that’s the best way of preventing theft. However, your business might not use a safe because you’re next door to a bank and you deposit any takings as soon as you have them. The insurance broker would most likely still work with you because you care about keeping money safe, but they wouldn’t appear in your comparison results because you said you don’t use a safe.
If you’d like any more information on what you should look for in a quality insurance broker, give our friendly team a call on 0113 281 8110.
