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I'm sure this is not the first time you've heard not to put all your eggs in one basket and I think it applies
to insurance also. The first advantage one might consider is they only have to deal with one company and secondly, multiple
policy discounts.
About dealing with one company, you do have the convenience of communicating the concern to one
entity but what about the focus of that one entity? Do you have your car insurance with a company that has a life insurance
backbone? This by itself does not mean the company with the life insurance focus will not handle the car insurance issue properly.
In fact they might perform in an outstanding manner. The area I am pointing to is that a lot of companies make the claim that
they handle all matters better than any one else. And if one company was so superior, they would have all the business. The
fact is that insurance companies build their business by focussing on special areas and grow to offer more and more services
as any good business plan would set as a goal. If your company has tried to convince you to put all your concerns in their
hands, consider if the multi-policy discounts extend to all your policies. Usually there is a discount limit that companies
set that would preclude a discount on everything they sell to one person. There should also be a concern for the
cost (just because you are getting a discount doesn't mean the price is lower than others). And if you are like me, you
don't intend to ever have a claim and insurance is a necessary evil so you might only ever have but one claim out of the
three, four or five policies you purchased so dealing with different people is not that big of a concern anyway.
The individual agent has an area of specialty also. He wont let on usually that a certain area is not one he is fully abreast.
So in a situation of dealing with a car insurance agent about coverage for the nail salon you are interested in opening,
there could be something overlooked. The license for selling car insurance and small business is the same license but issues
particular to a certain business change with time and if you are not actively involved, it would be easy to be ill informed.
It is not a loyalty issue either. You don't have to consider you are robbing your favorite agent if you get specialized
attention elsewhere. He should not only understand but have a referral system to aid you.
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