Your broker is your interface with your insurance company and performs vital functions on the insurance companies behalf.
What does my broker actually do for me?
In the case of Kayser Baird, almost everything! You get many different types of brokers, from small one or two person brokers that deal with the insurance call center on your behalf, to large global brokers that also have their own insurance licenses. The key is to choose a broker that suits your particular needs and wants.
If you are a Kayser Baird client, your broker does 98% of the administration pertaining to your policy. Kayser Baird manages your insurance policy on our own systems, either directly interfacing with the insurance companies system or through a third party insurance management system. We provide quotes, process amendments, open and manage claims, appoint assessors and panel beaters and administrate third party recoveries and salvage following motor accidents.
Is it cheaper to be insured with a broker or with the insurance company directly?
The difference in pricing between direct insurers and brokers comes to more than operational costs alone. If a direct insurer has lower operational costs because of it’s centralized call center environment, this benefit will be quickly eroded if it picks the wrong clients and makes an underwriting loss.
Think about it this way – if one insurer has 1 million low-risk clients and another has 1 million extremely high-risk clients, they cannot charge the same premium across their respective books and their operational cost differences will be irrelevant next to this.
What some brokers do better than direct insurers, is pick their clients carefully, a lot of new business that brokers write is referral business from their existing clients’ friends and family. Brokers do not do a lot of advertising whereas certain direct insurers rely on advertising as their main source of new business and attract new clients on price alone.
What benefits do I get being insured with a broker?
Your broker should be as capable as any direct insurer at managing the day-to-day administration of your policy. Where brokers truly excel is at providing focused, high levels of individual attention to clients. Your broker should be able to offer the same or lower premiums than a direct insurer and provide you with a far higher level of service due to smaller client numbers and more intimate knowledge of individual client’s needs.
The most important benefit of dealing with a broker though is the independent interface with the insurance company. Insurance companies are notorious for rejecting claims on technical grounds, sometimes unfairly, and although the South African consumer has recourse against the insurers through the insurance Ombudsman, it often requires a broker to help navigate through the complicated process of lodging a complaint.
Many complaints will be resolved by the broker early in the process, simply because insurers understand the powerful role that brokers play in the insurer / client relationship and it is often the brokers early representations in support of a client’s complaint that will discourage the insurer from upholding a claim repudiation.
Simply put, brokers are there to stand by the client in the event of a dispute and because of the sometimes-complex obligations of a personal or business policy holder.
How do I get a quote from a broker for my personal or business insurance?
The easiest way is to pick up the phone and give us a call on 031 – 767 8000 or email us on info@kayserbaird.co.za
Kayser Baird offers both Personal and Business short term insurance and is a leading South African broker. To request a quote for your personal insurance please contact us.
