Insurance is a personal matter and finding the right insurance agent is an important decision. Licensed insurance agents are trained to help you analyze your insurance needs and make coverage recommendations based on your personal or financial situation.

With so many TV commercials, newspaper and radio ads and unsolicited mailings to your home, how do you decide which insurance agent will best serve your needs? Here are a few ways to make sure the agent you choose fits the bill.

Captive Agent or Independent Agent?

Captive agents represent one insurance company and can only provide you price quotes and financial services from their one contracted company. They cannot “shop around” your insurance coverages with other companies. Examples of captive agents are State Farm agents, Farm Bureau agents and most Allstate agents.

Independent agents are appointed with multiple insurance companies and can quote your coverage with many different companies. They are not obligated to place your coverage with any particular company, and the choice is up to you. Read the rest of this entry

The internet has made buying car insurance online pretty straight forward and easy. But what about those situations when you aren’t sure what coverages you need?

If you’ve ever read your auto insurance policy, you know there is a lot of legal mumbo jumbo and it’s just not very much fun to read. Even experience insurance agents will tell you they don’t particularly like having to dig into the policy language to decipher coverages. If they’re smart, they won’t even attempt to, as one of the biggest mistakes agents can make is misinterpreting a policy and telling an insured they have coverage when, in fact, they don’t. Read the rest of this entry