Why your Agent raises your rates!

Have you ever gotten your 6 month or annual renewal papers and seen that horrific rate increase? It is that thing that evokes anger, distrust and leaves you as a customer asking, why me? I think most people can agree that no one likes to pay more money for the same thing. How would you like it if every year your loan on your car changed and increased?

Many customers see themselves as a very responsible and safe driver or home owner. This is why when you have no tickets, accidents or claims filled you feel betrayed when you see you will now be paying 5 or even 20 dollars more every single month for your same coverages and service. What most people don't know or understand is that your agent isn't to blame.

There is a huge misconception that your agent can raise your rates, when actually we have no control over the rates. We the agents want you to get the best price, coverages and as many discounts as possible. But we can only do so much. The company as a whole will have logistics and teams making calculations to determine if group A needs a rate increase, or if group B is getting older and gets a decrease. Its just an example of how your agent isn't really to blame. Although your agent isn't to blame for the increase he or she could be to blame for poor attention to your policies and not covering every discount under the sun and more importantly making sure you are covered the way you need to be covered. An agent should be someone who has your best interests at mind. They make sure you understand a coverage and make sure you know what is available to you at any time if you choose to pursue additional coverages or products.

To make the subject short and simple, whenever you get that letter saying your premium is going to be increased, either there have been claims or tickets as a result of you the customer, or the company has simply issued a rate increase, which is fairly common. The company wants to stay competitive and charge the right prices, even though we might not agree with them. All in all I think next time you get those pesky papers showing your increase you shouldn't ask yourself why the agent raised your rates, instead ask yourself is your agent is truly taking care of you, your family and your assets. If your answer is yes, you might be okay with those extra dollars each month.