Online Insurance: The End of the High Street Broker?

When I was a lad, some 25 years ago, the Insurance Company called to your door every month to collect your life insurance premium. My recollection is of a drab suited man having to run the gauntlet of neighbourhood dogs rather like the postman.

Then through the eighties more and more people found their wages being deposited directly into hastily set up bank accounts; this led to the standing order for paying all sorts of regular bills including insurances and heralded the demise of the door to door representative. An economy quickly realised by big insurance companies in the UK.

Then during the nineties big firms latched on to the idea of "direct" which is a handy abbreviation for cutting out the middle man. Just watch tv or listen to the radio toady and you are sure to observe this direct and that direct. The purpose of this in the world of insurance is to cut out the traditional high street broker and the percentage paid to them wherever possible.

The advent of the Internet and its increasing usage in most homes up and down Britain has accelerated the "direct" phenomenon. The big boys have quickly realised that websites are cheap to build and in addition there is a small army of privately owned websites on the World Wild Web that are more than happy to promote their insurance products for a commission - this commission usually being a lot less than a typical shop front broker is currently paid.

This all sounds very good???for the PLC that is. From the consumer's point of view the casualty in all this is usually the level and quality of service. It's fine when you are arranging your policy on the phone or on the net and you can even have the privilege of paying there and then by credit card. What will the "direct" experience be like when it comes to making ac claim? Just how "direct" is a call-centre located in India?While you the consumer are no doubt seeing some of the savings by skipping the broker don't think for one minute that all the savings are being passed on.

So in ten years time will the high street broker be a thing of the past?

George McGonigal

George is webmaster of online insurance resourcs for UK motorists. We bring under one roof insurers who offer online quotations to allow our visitors to compare rates in the comfort of their own homes. Why not visit Car Insurance Scotland: Competitive insurance quotes online. Car Insurance UK: Competitive insurance quotes online for Great Britain.

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table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-0fd=Rurl=http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/triage/2008/12/health-insuranc.htmlcid=1276133500ei=UsE0SbHhHaqi9gTr7LEgusg=AFQjCNFSFnTGEqGIdghxPc12Y3_Z8y5hcgHealth binsurance/b sticker shock hits consumers/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fChicago Tribune,nbsp;United Statesnbsp;-/font nobr10 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Health binsurance/b sticker shock overcame Mickey Trznadel when he opened an envelope from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois earlier this year, b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-1fd=Rurl=http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Blue-Cross-Blue-Shield-Michigan/story.aspx%3Fguid%3D%257B5379FA18-BBBE-4084-A40A-AB5CFFB0BDAD%257Dcid=1276133500ei=UsE0SbHhHaqi9gTr7LEgusg=AFQjCNG2rcWbS6wvfykul4-34DDKLVr1gABlue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Answers Attorney General/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrMarketWatch/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-2fd=Rurl=http://www.mlive.com/annarbornews/news/index.ssf/2008/12/blues_michigan_ag_continue_hea.htmlcid=1276133500ei=UsE0SbHhHaqi9gTr7LEgusg=AFQjCNGXBPzg9Q4LeZgLPDQtrrmgiCqeQwBlues, Michigan AG continue health binsurance/b fight/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrMLive.com/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-3fd=Rurl=http://www.mlive.com/kzgazette/news/index.ssf/2008/12/blue_cross_blue_shield_of_mich.htmlcid=1276133500ei=UsE0SbHhHaqi9gTr7LEgusg=AFQjCNHanqo8lnU7_k9Gdr0S11Fv14jJggBlue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan continues push for health b.../b/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrKalamazoo Gazette - MLive.com/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1 class=pa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-4fd=Rurl=http://www.freep.com/article/20081201/FEATURES08/81201068cid=1276133500ei=UsE0SbHhHaqi9gTr7LEgusg=AFQjCNHeqNb3IrC166xN5KZfZppHb5vzCwnobrDetroit Free Press/nobr/anbsp;- a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/1-5fd=Rurl=http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20081201/FREE/812010270/-1cid=1276133500ei=UsE0SbHhHaqi9gTr7LEgusg=AFQjCNGdAQufnyk6YcItA3MdjTO06VIqognobrCrain's Detroit Business/nobr/a/fontbr/font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1276133500hl=ennobrall 23 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

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