Welcome to today’s episode of The Murray Group Mailbag, where we answer your questions about insurance. Today’s question comes from Joe in Glens Falls, NY and Joe asks:
How are insurance agents paid?
Watch the video below or read the video’s transcript if you don’t have the capability of watching the video. If you’d like to submit your own question about business insurance, home insurance, or auto insurance, you can do so in the comment section below this post, on our Facebook page or you can email us at insurance@murraygrp.com.
How are insurance agents paid?
Watch this short video to get the whole answer.
Video Transcript:
Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of the Murray Group Mailbag. My name is Ryan Hanley. I am the Director of Marketing and Sales here at the Murray Group and our mailbag feature is basically just quick videos where we answer one question submitted by insurance consumers to either our website, Facebook page or email. And we just figured that if one person has that question, we’re going to put it into video and share it on YouTube and on our website, because we know that there’s more people. If one person has that question, then we think that information should be free and easily available. So if you have more questions, be sure to check out the rest of
our mailbag episodes.Today’s question comes from Joe, who is from Glens Falls, which is about 45 minutes to an hour north of where I’m standing right now. And Joe’s question is, “How are insurance agents paid?” So a question I’m sure many of you have but maybe have not gotten up the gumption to ask your insurance agent. So how are insurance agents paid? There’s actually three ways that insurance agents are paid.
The first would be a fee. Insurance agents in New York City can charge a fee for their services. Now, I would tell you that it’s not a very common practice, especially in the Albany capital district area. Not many agencies charge an additional fee for their services. If you are being charged a fee, you may want to ask your insurance agent why. There are specific scenarios where, if you’re dealing with an access lines carriers, there might be a fee charged for their services, but that’s only in very particular situations, and I’m sure that your insurance agent has explained to you what that fee is all about.
The second is a commission, so this is the most standard way that insurance agents are paid. A small portion of the premium that you pay to the carrier is actually paid back to the insurance agent in the form of a commission, most common way that an insurance agent is paid.
The third and final way that an insurance agent can be paid is contingency. And contingencies are based on the individual loss ratio, so how much business an insurance agent is riding with a carrier versus how much money was actually paid out in losses. And based on a specific contract that that insurance agent has with that specific carrier, there can be an additional contingency payment or revenue brought into the agency.
So those are the three ways that insurance agents can get paid and like I said, fee not real common, commissions most common by far and contingencies is really on a case-by-case basis but Joe, hope that answers your question. If you have any more questions, if you have your own question that you’d like to submit to the Murray Group Mailbag to be answered on a future episode, you can either leave it in the comments below this video or you can visit our Facebook page at… just search Murray Group on Facebook or you can email us at insurance@MurrayGrp.com. That’s insurance@MurrayGrp.com, and submit your question for the Murray Group Mailbag and I’ll be sure to make sure that I answer it on a future episode.
Thank you and have a great day.
This video is part of an ongoing series dedicated to helping consumers get answers to their insurance questions.
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If you have questions about your insurance program or if you would like to receive a proposal for auto or home insurance coverage, please give us a call at 518-777-7777 or email us at insurance@murraygrp.com. You can also click here to contact us through our website.
We’re here to help you find peace of mind.
Thank you and good luck,
Ryan Hanley, CIC
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