What Happens When The Insurance Agent Becomes The Customer?

For this one, let's dive into a little bit of storytime on my experiences looking and buying a new home for me and my family, and also discuss some important lessons on getting insurance as an independent agent.

Now, it's pretty obvious that as an insurance agent myself, I've been through a lot of training, met a lot of clients, handled a lot of commissions, and provided care for anyone who comes to me. You'd assume that since I've been in the insurance industry for fifteen years means that I can basically manage my own insurance, right?

Well, not necessarily. I think it's important to mention that generally my knowledge on insurance is mastered towards flood insurance — hence Flood Insurance Guru — so this doesn't mean that I have full confidence that I can just handle all my insurance policies. There's a huge difference between homeowners insurance, life insurance, health insurance, and auto insurance, so you shouldn't really be confident to go over such things on your own.

I may have a lot of experience in home insurance and auto insurance, but that was really from several years back and a lot of things change on this. Since I don't deal with this type of insurance anymore, there's a lot of things I really don't know. This is the reason why I always go to a local expert insurance agency or agent even when it comes to home insurance.

I could write it if I want, but I don't want to because I'm not really that knowledgeable anymore on the best possible insurance policy and insurance company for me. Since they have more training than I do on home insurance or auto insurance, more experience in handling clients and customers on these types of insurance, and generally since they're most likely connected to insurance companies and can get more resources, I can get the best deal. 

What about flood insurance? I hear you asking.

Well, even when I pick a house that isn't in a high-risk flood zone, I still get that flood policy because of how crazy close it is from high-risk areas. Here's a quick flood education tip, when you buy a new house in a low-risk flood zone, you should still purchase flood insurance as protection from flood damage especially if you're close to a high-risk flood zone. Why? Well, flood water can redirect to low-risk zones given some circumstances, and like I always say, low-risk flood zones don't mean no-risk flood zones.

Even as a professional, you still want to get that second opinion when you purchase insurance whether if it's for your home, your business, or if you're helping a friend. These types of insurance have different policy jackets and policy exclusions. You may learn a thing or two as well on additional coverages that you might miss if you write these things on your own. Having a valued and experienced agent help you can really save you from a bad deal.

We've seen a lot of customers go online, set their insurance policies on their own, and loss occurs. The one thing they regret is not consulting with a local agent who has the proper training for that specific insurance product that they got. This is why it's important that you always have a wide range and team of local agents who really know their craft, not just on insurance sales, but insurance laws and insurance coverage. You'd be surprised to see how much they can help your growth and protection from any kind of loss.

That's it for our little storytime of when an insurance agent becomes the customer.

If you have questions on flood insurance for your business, commercial insurance on flood policies, insurance organizations you can go to, and insurance application for flood policy, reach out to us.

Remember, we have an educational background in flood mitigation here in the Flood Insurance Guru and we want to share this knowledge with you. You too can be prepared for when crap happens. I hope you're having a great day.