A captive agent is someone who works specifically for the insurance company they are representing. The larger names include Farmers, State Farm, American Family associated policy, Allstate, USAA and Shelter. The easy way to describe this is if you go to an American Family associated policy agent to get insurance, you are going to get an American Family associated policy. These agents only have the underwriting guidelines and premiums that their specific companies offer, that’s it. An independent agent is not married to one carrier, but has a portfolio of carriers to offer our clients. We don’t specifically work for one insurance company and we choose the carriers that we represent. Colorado Insurance has 15 carriers to offer our clients which gives us the most flexibility with underwriting guidelines and premiums in the industry. This allows us to consistently stay competitive in both of these categories while always striving to insure you better.

Home claims are absolutely something you should discuss with your Colorado Insurance service team before filing with the insurance carrier. The correct procedure for a home claim is to have a licensed contractor come out, look at the damage and give an estimate. This will provide the information needed for you and the Colorado Insurance team to discuss the actual claim amount, your specific home deductible and previous claims history. Then from there you can make a decision on whether submitting a claim is the right decision for you. The number of home claims that you submit within 3-5 years can affect both pricing on your home policy as well as acceptability with insurance carriers moving forward.

Bundling all of your insurance policies together is always going to make the most sense. You are going to received substantial multi policy discounts for having these policies together, and the more policies you have with one carrier, the more saving you will see. Another big reason why you should always keep your policies together is for the direct correlation on liability that your insured items have (house, cars, toys etc…). For example, if your home were to burn to the ground, also burning your car that is parked in the garage, and you have your home and auto insured with two totally different companies, this could pose a real problem. Your homeowner’s insurance company could try and pass the liability of your car being damaged to your auto insurance company saying that this is a comprehensive claim and needs to be paid out by them. Then your auto insurance company could try and pass that liability right back to your homeowner’s insurance company saying that the peril happened as a result of a covered homeowner’s claims and refuse to pay. This is just one of the many reasons why keeping you policies bundled together if at all possible is always a good idea!