Congratulations you have bought a new property. Perhaps we, at Nowick, have supplied you with the fantastic mortgage option for that property. Now there is a mountain of tasks to do before turning that property into a home. And you want to protect that home with all your might. You want to insure it, right? You ponder home insurance company versus home insurance broker. Your first phase of research almost causes a complete brain shutdown with all the gobbledegook. You’re not alone with that experience.
A lot of delighted homeowners are blissfully unaware that there is a striking difference between a home insurance broker and a home insurance company. Aren’t they the same you exclaim whilst unpacking yet another box of those holiday trinkets which you thought had been sent to the charity store? The difference is significant, and the implication for you is even greater. With most home insurance companies flooding the market with adverts and making you believe that they are searching for deals for you from multiple companies (all owned by them) no wonder it’s confusing.
How Does A Broker Help Me At The Choosing Phase?
There are many, many different insurance options out there. Each one has 20 to 40 pages on inclusions and exclusions and if-that-but-when phrases that can you send you in a loop. Literally. The legalese can be very difficult to understand especially when referring to multiple previous phrases on six different pages. You have to know your stuff. Home insurance brokers study for a long time and have to be approved by several authorities before they can give advice. There is no way that Mr Citizen can step into those shoes overnight and decode the entire insurance market. Not even Mr Sherlock Holmes.
An insurance company agent will (and can only) sell you products from the company that they are directly employed by. A home insurance broker can review all the products in the market, discuss your specific needs and unique situation and select a product from any company that they choose. They can even look at other insurance needs you have and possibly group them to lower the underwriting risk. Knowing how to meet the underwriters’ expectations, to your advantage, is another big value add that comes with using a broker.
How Does A Broker Help Me At When The Brown Stuff Hits The Fan?
Well, we hope that that never happens to you or your home, but when life’s best-laid plans are upturned by an unfortunate event, it’s going to involve a claim against your insurer. Using a home insurance broker means you will not have mistakenly undervalued your items. A big target for insurance companies. So the first hurdle avoided. You notify your broker that you will be claiming against the chosen insurance company so they may give you some upfront advice. You compile your claim and submit it. Sorted, right? Well, not really. The insurance company will come back with rebuttals, ifs and buts, and try to protect their asset (the pool of money). Your home insurance broker will help you leap deftly over hurdle after hurdle.
Finally, if things get really difficult with the insurance company, then your home insurance broker will step in with the big guns and chase your claim. Sounds a bit like the Wild West. We kid you not, it can feel like that sometimes.
The above scenario shouldn’t happen as your home insurance broker will have commercial power of the insurance companies that you don’t. But do you want to bet on that risk and fly solo without a broker? We would propose you don’t, but the choice is yours.
If you have any questions or would like to be introduced to a home insurance broker that we respect and trust, please give us call, and we would be delighted to help you. Finally, congratulations again on the new property. Wishing you many happy decades in it.