Online commercial insurance brokers do more than just compare prices for business insurance

Brokers offer service, knowledge, quality products, help with claims, and advice, and they can also compare insurance quotes. These are things that are hard to find or don't exist in the self-service world of online price comparison websites. 

When direct personal lines cover became a valid way to sell and deliver insurance over the Internet, business doomsayers said that the insurance broker as a profession was on its way out. Even more so for the insurance brokers who specialise in business insurance. 

Commercial insurance was known to be hard to set up auto-quoting and underwriting systems for, and the mandarins thought that commercial policies couldn't be sold online to a public that didn't understand them. 

People thought that all insurance business would be done directly, either over the phone or online, and that the broker business would go away. 

At the time, these people didn't realise that the broker business model, which is based on comparing policies and making them fit each person's needs, was a tried-and-true method that would come back online as the most popular way for people to buy insurance, albeit in a bigger form in the form of a price comparison site. 

Then, it was thought that price comparison websites for commercial insurance would replace brokers since they do the same thing that brokers do, but on a much larger scale. 

A broker has an advantage over a price comparison site because they can offer more specialised products. However, many of the specialised schemes that commercial insurance brokers used to offer can now be found on price comparison sites. To find them, you will often have to look hard and do a lot of research on the market for quotes. 

Even though a lot of smaller brokers have joined the big price comparison sites, when you look for their products, you rarely see what they have to offer. This is because many brokers have set strict underwriting criteria for the kind of business, they want from the comparisons site. You must go for the expert insurance brokers in regions like Sydney. 

Most of the time, these rules make it so that the price aggregator can't quote their policy because of the rules. 

All online sites that compare commercials have to follow strict rules set by the company that underwrites the site. 

If, for example, an office doesn't meet strict security requirements, the system for comparing office packages is programmed to turn down the business. 

No, says the computer! 

So, when quotes from comparison sites are shown to a potential buyer, they are usually shown from cheapest to most expensive, starting with the ones that don't have any restrictions or endorsements. 

Smaller plans that might be more useful but are slightly more expensive or need a few changes to the information entered to get a quote don't stand a chance against big insurance companies that can compete on price. 

Many people, especially small business owners with limited funds, think that the cheapest insurance is enough for their needs. 

This is especially true for the sole trader or self-employed tradesman who doesn't like being told he needs public liability insurance to work, say, on a construction site. 

He will probably start with a search engine and then go to a big brand price comparison site to find the best deals. 

Most commercial insurance brokers don't want this kind of cheap liability business anyway, because it's more trouble than it's worth if there's a claim. 

They do want real small businesses and registered companies, and they have an advantage over price aggregators because they can offer not only packaged policies for shops, offices, restaurants, pubs, and commercial property, but also a face to the business. 

As it gets easier to get a product to market, commercial insurance websites are getting more and more trade-specific packages every month. 

Online brokers can offer phone help, callback services, claims services, market knowledge and advice over price, human vs. computer help, or just service. All the things that the sites that compare prices don't have. 

The new online commercial broker is taking the lead and making it fair for everyone to sell insurance on the Internet. 

Overall, the future looks bright for a broker who is willing to move away from Main Street's old ways of doing business and embrace the Internet for all its potential. 

As a word of warning, a local broker who only sells traditional products and doesn't change won't be found by the general public and will only be able to sell locally. 

The Internet has made it possible for online commercial insurance brokers to offer specialised risks and coverage to businesses that might not have known about them before. 

It has also created new risks, such as cyber risk coverage, professional indemnity and liability for consultants in all IT and online jobs, and even commercial property insurance for web server farms. 

These services are now being offered to new markets around the world by niche brokers with niche schemes. You can get in touch with our team of Insurance Brokers in Sydney.

Disclaimer: This is generic Information & post; content about the services can be changed from time to time as per your requirements and contract. To get the latest and updated information, contact us today or visit our website.