When you’re in the market for insurance, you can feel like a number lost in the shuffle of large corporate agencies. Here are some of the top reasons why you should be working with an independent insurance agency.
Hello, friends and family in North Charleston and beyond! We continue to appreciate your support of our company and our social media presence. We are very excited to start a brand new venture; blogging! That’s right! Twice a month we will be giving you fun, informative, and interesting blogs to help guide and education you in the world of insurance. We know you love our company because of its individuality and the personal attention we give to our clients. Through these blogs, we hope you find even more reason to enjoy working with us, have fun learning, and feel free to ask any questions you would like in the comment section after every blog. We look forward to you joining us on this adventure! In this first blog, we are going to start with the basics, the top three reasons why you should be working with an independent insurance agent!
First off, if you’re new to our company you might know the difference between an independent insurance agent compared to a captive or direct insurance agent. A direct insurance agent works for, represents, and can only offer policies from one insurance company. An independent provider, like our company, offers multiple plans through multiple insurance companies. The goal of a captive agent is to work for and benefit the insurance company. The goal of an independent agent is to work for the client and to find them the best plan available to them based on their personal and financial needs. This has been our goal since day one when we started in a spare bedroom right here in North Charleston way back in 2014.
#1. Better Customer Service
As we mentioned above, our job is to work with you to find the best insurance policy for your needs. We get to learn about you and your family, and you get to learn about us! We search through all the plans and providers out there to create a handpicked plan based on the time we take to get to know you. It goes beyond picking the perfect plan, too. Once we’ve found the best plan, we keep up with your needs as time goes on. We help you resolve your claims much faster, it can be in a matter of days compared to a large agency that could take weeks or months to resolve an issue. We make sure to answer all calls, questions, emails, and general inquiries in a very timely manner. We can keep that personal connection with our current and future clients. An independent agent also knows and understands your policies and can easily catch any mistakes made on a claim, or a mistake made by an adjuster to avoid denial of your claim. An independent agent can also directly explain any confusing or difficult language within a policy that might not make sense or that you might not understand right away.
#2. A Lifetime Partnership
Once you begin working with an independent insurance agency, you can have a partnership with them through all the stages of your life. They get to know you as they pick out your very first policy, so they understand when your coverage needs to be reviewed and possibly changed. Did you just buy your first home? Have your first child? Send your child to college? Get that big job? Retire? All of these new and exciting stages in your life will come with new challenges and will need new insurance policies to match. You won’t need to shop around anymore, once you begin working with an independent agent, you just have to pick up the phone or pay a visit to the person you’ve been dealing with this whole time. This is such a rare and special quality. What also makes an independent agent so unique is that they are right here in your neighborhood and represent the same community you do. They understand your economy, what unique needs are needed for living in your area, and love living in your community just like you. They aren’t just your insurance agent, they’re your neighbors.
#3. Fighting For You
Like we’ve mentioned previously, independent agents work for you. They don’t work for the big insurance companies. When things get difficult in a situation where your insurance is needed, they can become your advocates. If a claim needs to be adjusted, if a mistake has been made, or you’ve had a huge life change and you need to edit your policy, your independent agent can act as a buffer between you and your insurance company. They can help you fix any of these issues promptly. Also, they can become your personal advisers, helping you make some tough decisions. They can give you a few options based on their long term knowledge of working with you. Also, an independent agent is a one-stop-shop. You can get every kind of insurance you need at one time, and each will be handpicked and curated to your needs and budget.
Pretty spectacular reasons, right? These are just a few of the basic ideas about why we love doing what we do. We encourage you to read more into the other benefits of working with an independent agent. You will be blown away by the amount of information a basic google search will give you! If you have any more questions, please feel free to reach out at any time or put them in the comments below. We are excited to work with you and love being a part of the Summerville community!