In this day and age of practically instant communication and the purchase of goods and services via the internet, there may be more than a simple temptation to do your own shopping around and approach suppliers directly for the products you need. In this kind of environment, therefore, is there still a role for an insurance broker – an intermediary between you the customer and the insurer underwriting the risks you want covered, especially if you’re looking for insurance in Kent?

Why use a broker

• if you are looking for motor or home insurance in Kent – and the myriad of variations on these two themes – there are a number of reasons why you might use the services of a local insurance broker:

• an insurance broker typically has a particular, professional knowledge of customers’ needs – sometimes knowing better than the customer him or herself precisely what type of insurance is appropriate;

• with the diversification and proliferation of many different types of niche product in the markets for home or motor insurance, for example, it may be difficult for the average person to the most suitable form of cover;

• if you are going to shop around for your insurance cover, you clearly need to know just what you are looking for – it also helps to know just where to look;

• this is the companion expertise of the insurance broker, who has built up a detailed knowledge of the many different types of product available across the whole of the market – a knowledge about which insurers offer the particular cover required and which of them do so at a competitive price;

• you might even find that a local insurance broker may offer discounts to local customers, thus making policies even more competitively priced for insurance in Kent;

• as a Whitstable-based insurance broker, this is certainly the case here at GSI Insurance where we may typically offer price match or discounted schemes to local customers of motor and home policies arranged by us;

• we tend to have a better, more complete picture of the particular needs and requirements of our customers here in Kent and are therefore able to identify the cover likely to be suitable to meeting those needs;

• given that head start and in anticipation of continuing to serve our local, loyal customer base, we are able to offer discounts on the price of cover;

• this also helps to point up one of the critical but perhaps less tangible benefits in dealing with an insurance broker – the opportunity to build relationships with real people, responding directly to your telephone call, rather than the anonymity and distance typically encountered when dealing with an insurer’s call centre;

• you make take peace of mind from the fact pointed out by Wikipedia all insurance brokers are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

The next time you are looking for motor or home insurance – or coming up to the renewal of such cover – you might want to enlist the help of your local insurance broker in doing the shopping around on your behalf, thus helping to ensure that you arrange the cover you need from a suitable insurance product at a competitive market price.