Questions to Ask Your Insurance Agent or Broker
(and the Answers to Watch For)
The most useful questions to ask a broker cut straight to coverage gaps and incentives: Which carriers did you shop? What's excluded from this policy? Am I underinsured anywhere? How are you paid? What happens at claim time? A good independent broker answers all five without flinching.
- Five questions cut through the pitch. Market access, coverage gaps, exclusions, compensation, and claims service — ask them before you buy, not after a loss.
- Underinsurance is common and usually invisible. 77% of small businesses remain underinsured, up from 75% in 2023, according to the 2025 Hiscox Underinsurance in Small Business Report — often because no one ever asked what was excluded.
- Compensation isn't a secret worth guarding. Commission is built into your premium whether or not your agent volunteers the number. A broker who explains it plainly is more trustworthy, not less.
- Claims are where the choice of broker matters most. Claim handling was the single largest source of insurance complaints nationally in 2024 — 65.2% of all closed NAIC complaints — which is exactly where an advocate earns their keep.
- A good broker answers all five without flinching. If yours dodges one, that's information too.
"How many carriers did you actually shop for me?"
Ask this first, because it determines everything else that follows: an agent can only sell you what they're appointed to offer. Whether they can shop your risk against one carrier or dozens comes down to who they represent — an independent broker works for you across many carriers, while a captive agent represents exactly one company, and neither structure is disclosed unless you ask.
Why it matters: the number of carriers shopped is the single biggest driver of whether you're seeing a competitive price and the right fit for your risk, or just the one option your agent happens to sell.
A good answer sounds like: a specific number of carriers, named by name, along with why those particular markets fit your risk — not just "we shopped it around."
A red-flag answer sounds like: vague reassurance with no names attached, or a quote that only ever came from one company regardless of what you asked for.
How Anvo answers this: we're an independent brokerage with more than 100 carrier and program relationships across commercial and personal lines, and we'll tell you exactly which markets we approached and why. Read more about how we work.
"What am I not covered for — and where am I underinsured?"
This is the question most people never think to ask, because it requires the agent to describe what their own policy doesn't do. It matters because underinsurance is the norm, not the exception: 77% of small businesses remain underinsured, up from 75% in 2023, according to the 2025 Hiscox Underinsurance in Small Business Report. The same report found that only about 65% of small businesses carry general liability coverage, 49% carry property insurance, and 42% carry professional liability — meaning a large share are missing at least one core protection entirely, not just underlimited on the ones they have.
Part of the reason gaps persist is that most people simply never re-shop or re-review their coverage. Three out of four respondents to Motley Fool Money's 2024 Auto Insurance Preferences and Trends Survey don't shop for new coverage annually, and 43% say they've never switched providers at all, per the same survey. If you've never compared your current policy to what else is available, you're working from whatever your agent set up years ago, gaps included — see our guide on how to compare insurance quotes for what to actually look at side by side.
A good answer sounds like: a specific walk-through of your limits versus your actual exposure — replacement cost versus policy limit, revenue versus business interruption coverage, named perils versus what you assumed was covered.
A red-flag answer sounds like: "you're all set" with no numbers attached, or a shrug when you ask what would happen in a specific, plausible loss scenario.
How Anvo answers this: we place both commercial and personal lines, so we look at gaps the same way whether we're reviewing a business's coverage lineup or a homeowner's policy, and we'll show you the specific number, not just tell you it's handled.
"What did you change from the standard form — and why?"
Every policy is a standard form plus a stack of endorsements that add, remove, or modify coverage — and the endorsement schedule is where the real terms of your policy actually live. Asking what was changed forces your broker to explain the parts of the policy that don't match the glossy summary.
Why it matters: this is also where market placement comes in. If your risk doesn't fit a standard carrier's filed form at all, you may end up in the excess and surplus (E&S) lines market, where carriers can write custom terms — which can mean broader coverage for an unusual risk, or narrower coverage at a lower price, depending on how the form was built. Either way, you should know which market you're in and why.
A good answer sounds like: a plain-language list of what's excluded and what's been added back in, with the reasoning tied to your specific risk — not a recitation of legal boilerplate.
A red-flag answer sounds like: "it's standard coverage" with no acknowledgment that every carrier's standard form is different, or reluctance to point out what's excluded until after a claim is denied.
How Anvo answers this: we place both admitted and E&S business, so we'll tell you plainly which market your policy sits in and walk through the endorsement schedule line by line — check our insurance glossary if a term on your policy doesn't match anything we've defined here.
"How are you paid, and does it change what you recommend?"
This question makes some agents uncomfortable, but it shouldn't — the honest answer is short. Agents and brokers are paid commission by the carrier, built into the premium you already pay, whether or not you ask about it. Independent agents typically earn somewhere in the range of commission on a new home or auto policy that's noticeably higher than what a captive agent earns on the same sale, with renewal commissions settling lower in later years, according to Insure.com's breakdown of industry pay structures. You're not paying extra for that commission by asking about it, and you're not saving money by not asking — the number is the same either way.
A good answer sounds like: a plain statement that commission is baked into the premium, an approximate range if you press for it, and an explanation of why a particular carrier or coverage was recommended on its merits — not its payout.
A red-flag answer sounds like: defensiveness, deflection, or the claim that they work for free. No one in this business works for free; the only question is whether they're candid about it.
How Anvo answers this: we'll tell you plainly that we're paid by commission like every other broker, and that transparency about it — not the absence of it — is what should earn your trust.
"Who handles my claim, and what do you actually do for me?"
This is the question that matters most and gets asked least, because most buyers don't think about claims until they're already in one. Claim handling is where things most often go wrong: it accounted for 65.2% of all closed insurance complaints nationally in 2024, according to a ValuePenguin analysis of National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) closed-complaint data — far ahead of policyholder service, underwriting, or sales as complaint categories.
Within claim-handling complaints specifically, delays were the top driver at 22.2%, followed by unsatisfactory settlements or offers at 12.2%, per the same analysis. Both are exactly the moments where a broker who advocates on your behalf — pushing an adjuster for a timeline, or pointing out where a settlement undervalued a covered loss — is worth having, versus filing a claim directly with a carrier and working it alone.
A good answer sounds like: a specific description of what the broker does when you file — who you call, what they'll push on, and what happens if the carrier drags its feet or lowballs you.
A red-flag answer sounds like: "just call the 800 number on your card." That's not wrong, exactly, but it tells you the broker sees their job as ending at the sale.
How Anvo answers this: claims advocacy is part of the relationship, not an add-on — we stay involved when a claim is filed, on both commercial and personal accounts, admitted or E&S.
Red-flag answers to watch for, all in one place
No single red flag automatically means your agent is bad at their job — but a pattern of them is worth noticing. Here's the shortlist:
- Vague market access: "we shopped it around" with no carriers named, or every quote coming from the same one company.
- "You're all set": reassurance about coverage adequacy with no specific numbers — limits, replacement cost, or business-interruption period — attached to it.
- "It's standard coverage": no acknowledgment that every carrier's form is different, or no walk-through of what's actually excluded.
- Defensiveness about pay: discomfort, deflection, or a claim of working for free when asked how they're compensated.
- "Just call the 800 number": no description of what the broker actually does for you if a claim goes sideways.
None of these questions are hostile, and a broker who's good at their job won't treat them that way. If you get real answers to all five, you likely have a broker worth keeping — regardless of what they charge or who they work for.
One question — "what's excluded?" — surfaced a gap the prior agent never mentioned
A business owner came to us for a second opinion on a renewal that, on paper, looked identical to the policy they'd carried for years. When we walked through the endorsement schedule and asked what had been excluded from the standard form, it turned out a key piece of their operations had been carved out since the policy was first written — a change the prior agent had never flagged, because no one had asked.
The fix itself was straightforward once we saw the gap: a specific endorsement added back the coverage at a modest cost increase. What stayed with us was how long the gap had gone unnoticed. The owner had renewed that policy several times without ever being told what it didn't cover, because the question had never come up.
Representative scenario, anonymized and generalized to protect client confidentiality.
Frequently asked questions about talking to your insurance agent or broker
No. Commission is a normal, disclosed part of how insurance is sold, and every broker — independent or captive — is paid this way. Asking isn't an accusation; it's a reasonable question about who has what incentive. A broker who answers plainly is demonstrating trustworthiness, not being caught out.
Not necessarily on one weak answer — but a pattern of vague or defensive answers across several of these questions is a real signal. Switching brokers doesn't require switching carriers or restarting your coverage from scratch; a new independent broker can usually take over servicing an existing policy or re-market it at your next renewal.
A good one won't. These are standard buyer questions, not accusations, and a broker confident in their work will answer them the same way they'd explain any other part of the policy. If a straightforward question about carriers shopped, coverage gaps, or compensation produces irritation instead of an answer, that reaction is itself useful information.
At every renewal, at minimum, and sooner if your risk has changed — a new location, added employees, a renovation, a life event, or a claim. Most people never re-shop at all, which is exactly how coverage gaps and above-market pricing persist for years without anyone noticing.
Yes — liking your agent and having adequate, well-priced coverage are two different things. A good relationship with an agent doesn't guarantee the market was fully shopped or that the policy has no gaps; the only way to know is to ask directly, even of an agent you trust.
Not sure what to ask your agent?
Ask about the right questions to ask an insurance broker for your specific situation.
Ask us any of these — straight answers, no pressure.
Bring us your current policy, or start from scratch. We'll walk through market access, coverage gaps, exclusions, compensation, and claims service the same way we'd want them explained to us.