Why broker is best ...

I've got a confession to make. It's got nothing to do with phone hacking or corrupting police officers but nonetheless it is a pretty shameful admission for the editor of an insurance title to make.

Until this week, I had never purchased any kind of insurance whatsoever. Nothing - not ever car insurance. I don't drive, have never owned a house or had any contents that I considered valuable enough to insure and I have never, although I should, taken out travel insurance.

But I recently got married and along with the jewellery etc we have started to settle down and with that comes household purchases that are valuable enough to insure. So we got some contents insurance.

Having written about insurance for nearly five years now, I was pretty confident that I knew what I was doing, that I had to pay close attention to the details and exclusions and ensure that I didn't do anything that might result in a claim being repudiated.

I thought it would be a doddle but the enduring feeling as I was going through the quote process was fear and trepidation. I was convinced that if I didn't dot an 'i' and cross a 't' that my policy would be rendered useless. The question sets requires you to confirm many things that you think might be true but if you are honest with yourself, you can't be 100% sure the statements you are making are true.

I got my policy no problems but I was left thinking that I wasn't as confident about buying insurance as I thought I'd be. So I asked a couple of experts in the industry and by that I mean people that have made a living out of selling insurance. To my surprise they too found themselves less than 100% sure of what their policies covered in the event of a claim and found the process a 'little edgy'.

Which got me wondering about how it must feel for the average consumer when buying insurance? If industry practitioners feel nervous about buying insurance what on earth must others feel? Is it the industry's fault that this feeling of fear and trepidation goes hand in hand with the purchase of a policy?

I'm not sure about that - perhaps it's simply the nature of the beast. But I have learned firsthand that when it comes to buying insurance, it's probably best to go to an expert who will be able to ensure that you dot that 'i' and cross that 't' and ensure you are getting the best cover for your needs.

It's a confusing process, that much is clear, but what is also clear that is brokers make that process so much easier and take out the fear aspect. It's just a shame that when it comes to personal lines, aggregators and direct writers can shout much, much louder than brokers.