How do I choose an insurance broker, and what should I ask them?
Ask the questions they cannot answer from a script. Which carriers write your exact trade and which have stopped this year, what the proposed form excludes, whether the additional insured wording is blanket or scheduled, and what happens to the price if you add work at height or a subcontractor. A broker who places your class answers in specifics; one who does not answers in reassurance, and the difference is audible within about four minutes.
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Tell us the situation.
A licensed human replies the same business day — not an auto-responder, and not five producers calling at once. We shop it across our carriers and tell you if the policy you already have is the right one.
We use this to quote and service your insurance, and we do not sell it or pass it to lead networks. Privacy policy.
What this means for you
- ASK WHICH CARRIERS WRITE YOUR TRADE, AND WHICH HAVE STOPPED. Appetite moves constantly and is largely unpublished. Someone active in your class will name carriers, say who tightened this year and who is still open. Someone who is not will talk about their markets without naming one.
- ASK WHAT THE FORM EXCLUDES, not what it covers. Every quote covers something. The exclusions are where two quotes at different prices turn out to be different policies, and a broker who has read the form can list them from memory for a class they write often.
- ASK WHETHER THE ADDITIONAL INSURED WORDING IS BLANKET OR SCHEDULED. If you sign contracts this is worth real money and real delay. Scheduled means a request and a wait every time you win work; blanket grants the status wherever a written contract requires it.
- ASK WHAT CHANGES THE PRICE. Work above the third floor, a subcontractor without their own coverage, a new state, one claim. The answer tells you whether they understand your business as a risk or as a form to fill in, and it tells you what not to do by accident.
- ASK HOW A CERTIFICATE GETS ISSUED, AND HOW FAST. This is most of what you will actually need from them across a year. Same-day is routine for a broker set up for it and genuinely hard for one who is not, and it predicts the relationship better than the quote does.
- ASK WHO YOU WILL BE TALKING TO AT RENEWAL. A named person who knows the account, or whoever picks up. Continuity is the difference between a renewal remarketed on merit and one rolled over because nobody had time.
- ASK WHETHER THEY HAVE EVER TOLD A CLIENT TO STAY PUT. A broker who never has is selling rather than advising. Sometimes the incumbent has the better deal, and the useful ones say so out loud.
- BE WARY OF ANYONE WHO ASKS FOR YOUR CURRENT QUOTE FIRST. The number is not the brief. A broker who wants to beat a figure rather than understand the business will beat it, by taking coverage out until the price fits.
Related questions
- Broker, agent, direct writer: what is the actual difference?
- An independent broker represents you and can approach many carriers. A captive agent represents one carrier and sells its products. A direct writer sells its own policies with no intermediary at all. None of the three is better in the abstract. A simple, standard business often does perfectly well direct; a business with claims, mixed operations, contract requirements or anything unusual is generally better served by someone who can take the account to a market that underwrites by hand.
- Direct insurers versus a broker, in full
- Does using a broker cost me more?
- No, and it surprises people. Commission is paid by the carrier out of the premium, and the same policy generally costs the same bought through a broker or bought direct. What you are choosing is not price against no price. It is whether somebody is standing between you and the carrier when something goes wrong: at the claim, at the audit, and at the renewal where the price moves.
- How many brokers should I approach?
- One, in almost every case, and it is counter-intuitive enough to be worth explaining. Brokers approach the same carriers, and a carrier looks at an account once. Whoever registers it first owns it and everyone after is told the market is blocked, so three brokers produce one set of options and two dead ends. Choose carefully, then let one person work the whole market.
- Why several brokers gets you fewer options
- What should I have ready before the first conversation?
- A plain description of what you actually do and in what proportions, loss runs for the last three to five years, any contract that states insurance requirements, and your payroll and vehicle numbers. A broker given those can tell you something useful on the first call. One given a renewal date and a target price can only tell you what you already know.
- Is it a problem to switch brokers mid-policy?
- No. It is done with a broker of record letter, it is your decision rather than theirs, and it does not disturb the policy: the coverage, the carrier and the price stay exactly as they are. The only thing that changes is who services it. Worth knowing that this is your tool, because it is occasionally described as though it were not.
- How a broker of record letter works
Need this handled?
We do the filings, and we place the accounts other brokers decline — lapsed authority, claims history, new ventures. Tell us the situation and a licensed human replies the same business day.
Written by the licensed brokers at Boring Insurance. Last updated 2026-08-22. See all guides.