+3 for working with an agent. Our insurance company is so specialized that it doesn't show up on any web searches, and it's far cheaper than any "name brand" insurance company. Top ratings as well, perhaps because they don't waste money on advertising...
I always assumed that since agents provide an additional level of intermediary between myself and the insurance company that buying through them would typically be more expensive. Do you think it's just that the insurance companies that you get through them are cheap enough that the difference is made up that way? Just curious.
I wondered if I should have been more specific. I'm speaking of independent agents, not agents who represent "X Insurance Company". Sorry if that was confusing.
I'm not completely certain how it works. Perhaps smaller companies pay commissions to the agents because they save money by not having their own sales force or that using agents provides other economies, like having to spend less on advertising. Mortgage brokers seem to be similar. They provide/vet customers in exchange for wholesale rates. I once applied for loans with a mortgage broker and with my bank, Wells Fargo. The mortgage broker easily beat WF's quote to me, so I went with them. The lender turned out to be...Wells Fargo.
Recently, our Homeowner's Insurance rate spiked. On a whim, we stopped into our broker's office unannounced. She was able to see our entire rate history and explain that it really wasn't the spike it seemed, because our rates had dropped considerably over the years.* She had all that info at her fingertips. She then reviewed all of our other policies, then we chatted about other stuff and left happy.
*When we bought our house in 2012, homeowner's insurance was $1050/year. It dropped every year, bottoming out at $597, stayed there for a couple of years, then gradually increased. This year's bill "jumped" to $1250. It seemed huge, but from a historical perspective, it really wasn't. BTW, the house rose in value from $900k to $1.7M in that time.