Truckers On The Offensive™ #005 - Why Your Insurance Broker Should Not Be Paid Commission.

The Insurance Industry Does Not Favor The Buyer.

The current state of the insurance industry can be compared to how the investment and mutual fund business was before the SEC deregulated commissions in 1975. Buyers dealt with high commissions and tainted “advice”.

The industry standard is for insurance companies to pay agencies/brokers 10 to 15 percent of the premium in commission. Unless met with the threat of losing your business, most brokers show no incentive to go out and negotiate the best deal for your company. The insurance agency industry looks at regular rate increases and “hard markets” as a positive occurrence and even factors them into their yearly revenue forecasting.

A Different Approach – Insurance Advisors Not Receiving Commission.

With innovation and increased competition, the mutual fund industry has migrated to where no-load funds are the most prevalent option. For advice and direction, you can partner with a fiduciary advisor who offers their services for a flat fee.

We bring that same approach and innovation to the commercial insurance industry. We have the insurance companies remove the commission, lowering the policy premium. We then bill clients a flat fee that is mutually agreed upon.

This compensation model is transparent and puts us in alignment. What is good for your company is good for us. You will know that any advice we give comes without an agenda to sell more insurance.

“I would rather overpay you with a fee than know I am stuck with an agent who is keeping my premiums high, so they don’t lose commissions.”

-Owner of a Texas-based trucking company

What Do You Get In Return For Your Broker's Compensation?

There are two types of brokers, those who provide insurance renewals and the timely processing of vehicle changes and COI requests. The other group of brokers look at the first as the bare minimum. They provide their clients with tailored services to protect liability and reduce their insurance costs. In my opinion, for the money we make as brokers, it is a moral obligation to help our clients in these areas.

At Roark & Sutton, we specialize in the transportation industry. As a result, we have DOT advisors who help clients in numerous ways, our Plaintiff’s Playbook Assessment ™ to help identify vulnerabilities a plaintiff attorney could exploit, and many other services. We are not the only agency with a long list of services, but what makes us unique is our approach to working with our clients to determine your needs and create a scheduled-out plan of services that get delivered.

This is all great, but someone once told me “Don’t confuse effort with results”. At the end of the day, all the fancy services need to materialize into results. We measure those results, and our clients can attest to the protections we help put in place and the cost reductions they have experienced.