The insurance broker is an independent professional who negotiates contracts for you with insurers and assists you in advising, underwriting and managing your contracts.
The broker belongs to a regulated profession and must be registered with ORIAS . He has professional indemnity insurance. The broker has a duty to advise which may be brought into play by his client if he fails in his performance.
A broker is a licensed professional to help you find the best , cheapest and most suitable insurance solution for your situation.
As a professional, you have compulsory insurance and the broker will advise you so that you are in compliance with the law as well as your collective agreement.
The broker is also in contact with insurance companies to negotiate contracts and manage administrative procedures.
In addition, the broker’s remuneration is made by the insurer, so it will cost you the same price or even less than if you had gone directly with the insurer.
Finally, a broker helps you find contracts in Corsica and in the DOM TOM. It publishes several professional insurance quotes for you and therefore saves you time.
In summary, the broker simplifies all the steps of a professional insurance subscription, namely: research, negotiation and administrative procedures .
If this job interests you, see our article on the insurance broker to find out about the education and salary of a broker.
What does an insurance broker do?
The main missions of the broker are to advise you, help you find the best quote, subscribe for you and take care of the management of your contract.
The insurance broker’s advisory mission
The broker has an obligation to advise his clients. Its liability may be engaged if it does not fulfill this obligation.
He is certified with ORIAS (Organism for the register of insurance intermediaries)
Insurance brokers benefit from expertise in the products they sell and therefore share this knowledge with their clients to guide them in their choices.
The broker therefore searches for insurance contracts for you and compares the offers available on the market.
The broker is independent, he has no interest in highlighting one player over another.
It is a partner of insurers (AXA, Groupama, Aviva etc.), mutualist groups (MMA, MAIF, MACIF etc.) and provident institutes (Malakoff Mederic, Humanis, Entoria etc.).
To find the best quote on your own you should ask each insurer individually, the broker has already done this work upstream which saves you time.
In addition, the broker has access to contracts reserved for brokerage which you will not have access to if you go to the insurers’ website.
The broker is to be distinguished from the insurance comparator who identifies contracts but does not carry out the deed of sale. The comparators resell your details to the insurer you have chosen who will contact you to make you subscribe.
Underwriting insurance contracts
If the subscription of the contract requires the deposit of supporting documents (example: extract of KBIS for a company), the broker will help you to constitute your file.
The broker will edit the contract you have chosen for you, after which all you have to do is sign it.
A traditional broker will ask you to sign the paper documents and send them by post while an online broker will allow you to sign them online.
Management of insurance contracts
Insurer management services are often complicated to reach and the various procedures can be very cumbersome to manage.
For example, if you have to make an amendment to your contract or terminate a contract; you will need to send a registered letter with acknowledgment of receipt. You will also have to respect a formalism and legal deadlines for the request to be taken into account.
The broker carries out these management actions for you. He knows the procedures and is therefore more efficient than you.
a commission paid by the insurer. It should be understood that in the cost of the insurance premium, a small part always corresponds to the sale. Consequently, when the insurer does not carry out the commercial part itself, it pays a commission to the broker. In this case, the cost is therefore neutral for the customer.
advisory fees or management fees paid by the client. They are optional and are mainly imposed by traditional brokers. Check your quotes and if there are any fees, negotiate them.
It should therefore be remembered that in general it is the insurer who pays the insurance broker but that some brokers charge additional fees. So be vigilant!
Who are the best business insurance brokers?
Brokers specializing in pro insurance offer all the products that a company or a self-employed person needs to protect its activity and its employees: RC Pro, multi-risk Pro, provident insurance (professional and collective), mutual health insurance (professional and collective) and also products retirement savings. For this last category, wealth management advisors will also be suitable.