Originally posted by Mixalot27
^^Good post. Its interesting to hear the experiences from someone who works in the industry.
I guess, I now question the benefits of going through a broker instead of directly through an insurance company. While a broker might be able to secure you a better rate (this hasn't been my personal experience but for some it is probably true) and also eliminates some of the legwork involved in obtaining quotes from several insurance companies. It also seems to me that it adds a whole second company to the mix, which may also increase the chances of being misquoted, or having an error or miss-communication arise.
I've seen just as many misquotes coming out of direct writers (TD, RBC, AMA) as brokers. In the end no matter which way your looking at, there is still a person calculating your quote. People make mistakes.
In my situation the higher rate resulted from a computer error, and through no fault of my own. It had to do with the type of car in which I drive. The same situation would have happened to anyone obtaining a quote for the same model of car as me.
My issues with the situation are:
1. I believe that the broker or insurer should have an obligation to inform the client of the change in premium PRIOR to the money being withdrawn from their bank account. Not everyone has hundreds extra in their bank account at any given time. Not being informed and able to prepare for the withdrawal can easily lead to that payment or another being returned due to insufficient funds.
In theory this SHOULD happen every single time the policy is issued at a different price than the original quote. If we get a policy back at a different rate we always call the client to let them know what's up.
2. If the difference between the quote arises because of an error on the broker or insurance companies end, the client should be allowed out of the contract without paying a penalty.
This does exist. If a policy is issued at a different rate than quoted you are allowed to cancel the policy without penalty based on the QUOTED premium, not the issued premium. I believe it has to be done within 10 days of policy issuance though.
Had these two things happened in my case, I would have had no problem with the situation. I certainly understand that errors or miss-communications can happen. But its how a company deals with them that is important.
In cases where the client provided inaccurate or incorrect information, they have no one to blame but themselves, and I certainly wouldn't blame the broker or insurance company in that situation.