Who is insurance agent (or agent or captive agent)? An insurance agent is a person who works for an insurance company and sells the insurance products of this company. An important aspect of working with an agent is that he / she sells insurance products of one company only, and thus is typically not able and not interested to compare prices and features of other products on the market. Agents should not be confused with brokers (or insurance brokers) who are typically able to compare products from several insurance providers.
Typically, an insurance agent receives a salary paid by an insurance company, and he/she can also receive a sales-based commission or bonus. Often, an agent will be interested in selling additional products from the same company (e.g. sell you a small term life insurance policy in the beginning and later offer you disability insurance and / or critical illness protection). Some companies, such as State Farm work exclusively with agents and, therefore, their products will not appear among the products offered by brokers.
There is an additional category of agents called independent agents who may work with different companies similarly to insurance brokers.
Our Publications related to Life Insurance
Life, Disability and Critical Illness Insurance: Do Men or Women Pay More?
Introduction There were many articles written about men paying more for car insurance than women, but what about other insurance types? Do women always benefit from lower insurance rates? We took on this question and systematically went through various life insurance, disability insurance, and critical illness insurance by consulting with professionals who had the answers. […]
Introducing a New Tool to Find Out What Issues Canadian Face with Their Insurers
The arrival of COVID-19 has pushed Canadians, more than ever before, online for finding and applying for insurance and banking products. It is not easy, though, to make the right choice without knowing if a particular insurer will be there when you need them the most. As the largest Canadian review platform with thousands of […]
If Life Insurance Plans Were Cars: How to Look at Various Types of Life Insurance in Canada
Overall, insurance is considered a somewhat boring, though necessary, topic. On top of that, it is not always clear – there are plenty of various types of life insurance products in Canada that work differently. I decided to explain it in a bit of a different and funny way – I hope that you will […]
Insurance Companies in Canada – Easily Explained
The life insurance landscape in Canada is quite unique. The infographic below shows all the key players and their size, reflecting their assets under management (AUM) based on life and wealth segments of the company’s business. scroll further down to continue reading In Canada, the majority of insurers fall under the umbrellas of three large […]
What is Travel Insurance, and Why Do I Need it?
By RateHub.ca When it comes to budgeting for your vacations, travel insurance is one of those things that’s often overlooked. It’s easy to understand why: we have publicly funded healthcare in Canada, so many people assume that benefit applies to wherever we travel in the world. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. The cost of seeking […]
