Professional/General Liability - Questions.....

Don't work in the market, but faced a similar situation about 5 years ago. The way we were able to get around that was by assigning the new broker as the broker on the account. It eliminated the possibility of the old broker being able to compete to keep the business, but in my situation I knew the old broker was just riding the premiums.

Hell, he tried to come back with quotes ~50% less than what we paid in prior years, and the new guy was still able to beat those prices without knowing about them

Depends on the markets. PL and GL markets will typically require an AOR or BOR to get quotes from markets the other agent has blocked. Some Workers Comp markets will give both agents quotes. If you don’t think your current agent is doing the best job, you could let the other agent AOR specific markets that he or she would want. Just be wary that it takes 10-15 calendar days for the AOR to go through. So if you are getting close to your ex date it can put you in a jam. I hate that you are having this experience with your current agents. It can be very frustrating when too many people have their hands in the cookie jar.

First suggestion is that you pick your Broker based upon value added services, experience and niche specialty. Second set of factors that you should look at include local support staff on hand that can assist with account Mngt , COI, claims, etc. Once you’ve made your selection based upon this criteria, signed the BOR to this specific broker. Let them do their thing at that point. Not sure of what your business operations consist of, but you wanna broke her that works both with domestic and London underwriters. This will give you a more markets to access purposes of obtaining best terms and conditions for coverage and pricing. Do you need someone for me with the nuances of your type of business and the benchmark of others in your business.

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it astounds me that I can't have 2 brokers competing for my business

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as the next post says some carriers (Very very few) will give both brokers the same quote if both complete the full submission. But most of the time its one quote to a single agent for each carrier. If it was issued to agent A but you want it given to agent A, you need to tell the carrier via agent of record letter.

Insurance quotes are not a tangible product like a refrigerator or a car where you may not know what the seller is making off the sale and thus they compete and may undercut each other. The carrier is issuing a quote with rates vs exposure that equals a premium and the agent is paid a specific percentage. They also dont like having a second agent come in with different exposures and then they dont trust the risk (you) and dont issue a quote at all.

The reality is if your current guy has earned getting fired, fire them by BOR and move on. If they are coming to you every year and throughout the year talking about your program, do you want to market X line or negotiate with the current carrier, talking about exclusions and endorsements and if you call them with a question they can answer.... id have them come sit down and talk through it. Grass isnt always greener and there are many agents good at selling new business for themselves then the fumble for a few years screwing up your program till you fire them as well.

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it astounds me that I can't have 2 brokers competing for my business

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Why would an insurance company work with 2 separate brokers on the same account?

From the perspective of the insurer, a BoR makes total sense.