Among the more common types of services that agents provide to customers: claim-settlement and investigation; obtaining medical, accident and repair coverage; managing policies for group or family coverage; handling special circumstances such as boating and rental rental property coverage, family burial plans, life insurance for disabled children, increasing deductibles on policies or obtaining extended premium certificates, making annuity payments and collecting policy surrender values. Some brokers do offer this type of advice or services to their customers. However, it is not something that brokers can usually obtain from an employer's company.

An insurance broker essentially acts as an agent to help you buy any kind of insurance product, but they only get paid when you get value from their products, which can simplify things. Imagine if I told a friend they could only purchase something from me after it worked well enough to help them save money... In an economy that is extremely tough, it would probably be more helpful than charging someone for a product they would not use.