Ways to Purchase Insurance

• Directly from a company by calling them/using their website - can be great if you love a certain company, but often is via a call center w/minimal/incorrect advice providing an impersonal experience and potential gaps in coverage

• Directly from an agent of a company- often referred to as "captive" agents - local presence, but locked to one carrier. If they provide competitive rates, quality relationship, and good advice can be a good option. Just watch out for rate creep - may be competitive when you set it up, but creep up over years costing you hundreds or thousands. Frog in boiling water?

• Directly from a broker - brokers have access to a list of carriers as well as a "rater" that shops all the carriers not only up front, but can easily re-shop it on renewals if the chosen insurance carrier drastically changes rates. Often the best option as you get a local agent, solid advice, and consistently competitve rates. Just make sure the broker doesn't set it and forget it. Ask them what their annual review process is. If that concept sounds foreign to them, keep calling around until you find someone that reaches out annually to check in, make adjustments, and shop it out again if necessary.