High Street Insurance branches and brokers

Michael_Johnson_999

Does anyone buy insurance in a high street branch nowadays? Everything is done on the internet so I was just wondering if anyone actually physically goes into these places??

ACG

It depends on what you want. We are mortgage advisors but we do commercial insurance and buildings and contents.

If you want cheap and cheerful then internet is the way forward, if you want more indepth cover or specialised insurance then your probably better off speaking to a broker.

From a personal point of view, i dont do cheap and cheerful and im fully upfront about that - i dont want my clients moaning to me it never paid out so i would rather sell them something i have confidence in... the choice is then theirs.

InsideInsurance

ACG wrote: »

If you want cheap and cheerful then internet is the way forward, if you want more in depth cover or specialised insurance then your probably better off speaking to a broker.

But brokers do have telephones, or at least the ones I've dealt with do. The OP explicitly asked about people going into a branch for a face to face chat.

I have to say that the few that are left that I see tend to be empty but on the phone a moderate amount. Most are chains and so there can be an argument that it is now mainly marketing and possibly dealing with the occasional old dear who likes to deal face to face

Michael_Johnson_999

Isn't it a bit time consuming going in a branch? Also, I don't expect the branches to be able to compare all the costs like you can online either? Are shops on the way out??

ACG

InsideInsurance wrote: »

But brokers do have telephones, or at least the ones I've dealt with do. The OP explicitly asked about people going into a branch for a face to face chat.

I may have missed something here?



Is it cost your specifically looking to compare?
This is the problem with price comparison sites... they compare the price and not the cover to any major extent.

Sally_A

We still get customers coming in, mostly personal lines that like the face to face contact, the onus is on us to explain cover, whereas online the onus is on the customer to read through pages and pages of small print.

We've had customers leave us for a year, and begging to come back at next renewal, either pee'd off with call centres, or no-one that will give a straight answer to a query, along with the 10p(min.) a minute phone line, that keeps them on press 1, 2, 3 for a good 5 minutes.

I think face to face local brokers will win in the end, nothing nicer than having regular contact with one person, who can chat about your daughters' wedding or your recent holiday to Crete whilst they look up your records.

People are gradually appreciating service and will pay a few £££ extra to be treated as a person, not as a unit of income.

thrifty_pete

The brokers near me seem to specialise in cover for taxi drivers. I guess there are people who want to pay in cash for their insurance, and so need a physical shop to go to. The only broker I've been into was very up-market, and unless you had a holiday villa in Tuscany and kids away at boarding school, they weren't much help! Insurance cover is pretty much a commodity - you just need to make sure you are getting the cover you need. There are some good people in the call centres, I've actually spoken to a bloke in the claims department of Lloyds home insurance to get help with a quote!
Pete