May/June Issue 61 - Flipbook - Page 31
Aston Lark
THE ROLE OF AN INSURANCE BROKER
In 1995, Direct Line was launched,
which aimed to deliver car insurance
direct to customers with the objective
of ‘cutting out the middleman’. Their
view was that they could deliver
insurance to buyers cheaper when
there was no intermediary. This
model was successful and in the
area of simple off-the-shelf insurance
products, it can remain so today. But
the limitation of this is that it relies
on the buyer being able to adequately
assess the quality of the product they
are buying, and this may be why the
direct model of insurance isn’t popular
when policies are more complex.
This illustration, found within the
Chartered Insurance Institute’s
publication on the future of commercial
broking report perhaps highlights best
where the role of an expert adviser is
needed within an insurance transaction.
For simple products like gadget
insurance, or home and car insurance,
independent advice may not be required,
but when more complex products are
involved, it is essential that a business
seeks the advice of an expert.
Are all brokers equal?
The simple answer is no. The role of an
insurance broker should be more than
just a ‘middleman’, though it is likely that
some brokers don’t add any additional
value to their clients. At Aston Lark, we
work on behalf of more than 140,000
clients across the UK helping them with
a variety of matters. In 2020, more than
1,000 individual businesses decided to
move their insurance to Aston Lark.
doing this. If an insurance broker is not
4. Specialist knowledge - does your
able to satisfy the eight points above,
broker have sufficient industry knowledge then most businesses will be able to
to provide reliable advice when advising switch at any time.
you on the available options?
Why choose Aston Lark?
5. Claims Support - does your broker
offer a full claims service, or will you
Aston Lark is the largest independent
be expected to deal with your claims
Chartered Motor Trade insurance broker
yourself?
in the UK, working with and providing
specialist advice to reputable trade
6. Risk Management - can your broker
bodies like AVRO, WhoCanFixMyCar.
help you reduce or remove risk from
com and the Independent Motor Dealers
your business, and demonstrate this to
Association.
insurers in an effort to reduce the price
you are paying?
You no doubt hope that you will never
need to claim on your insurance, but if
7. Access - does your broker have access you do it is at that precise moment that
to the entire market, including direct
you’ll really appreciate having a broker
access into Lloyd’s of London to offer you like Aston Lark who has put the right
a full market offering?
cover in place. If you need to make a
claim, rest assured you will have the
8. Chartered status – is your broker
advice and support of our dedicated and
a Chartered Insurance broker? Only
experienced Claims team to guide you
brokers that meet strict qualifying criteria through the process and ensure that
are awarded this status.
you get back in the position you were in
before the loss, as smoothly and quickly
Do I have to change insurance
as possible.
company if I change my broker?
If you would like to speak to Aston
We’re often asked by businesses if they Lark with no obligation, then call Chris
must change insurance company if they Chapman now on 01234 56789 or email
want to use another broker. The answer chris.chapman@astonlark.com
is usually no. In the main, businesses
typically review their broker and
In next month’s edition of AVRO News,
insurance company at the renewal date, we will be going into more detail on the
however it is possible to change broker
benefits of appointing a new insurance
at any time and often, there is no cost to broker mid-term.
What to look for when selecting an
insurance broker
These eight points will help you evaluate
your current broker, and can be used in
your selection of a new broker:
1. Experience - does your insurance
broker have experience working with
other businesses in your sector?
2. Endorsement - is your insurance
broker endorsed by a reputable trade
body or organisation?
3. Scale - does your broker have enough
scale and leverage to negotiate the best
price possible?
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