By
Are All Insurance Brokers the Same?
Same license, same word on the door. The differences are the ones you cannot see on a quote, and four questions bring every one of them into the open.
The answer
No. Every broker in Texas holds the same agent license, but the differences pile up behind the quote. Some brokers race you and your family to the bottom of the mountain for price, because it is easier to be cheap than to serve. Some answer to a carrier they have to feed to keep an appointment. Some charge fees because they expect you to leave. The right one reads your contract, knows which carriers want your house, knows who to call when something goes wrong, and tells you to stay when staying is right. Four questions tell them apart.
The four questions, held up to any broker
Ask these of any desk before a declarations page leaves your hands, ours included. A broker who answers all four plainly has nothing to hide. A broker who cannot has already told you something.
- 01
Who they are
Are you independent or captive?
A captive agent can only offer one company's contracts. An independent broker chooses among many with you. Either answer is honest. A vague one is the problem.
- 02
The cost
Do you charge fees on personal lines?
A licensed carrier's rate is on file with TDI, and the carrier pays the commission. A fee on top is the broker's choice, and it says something about how long they expect you to stay.
- 03
The read
Will you read my actual policy language?
A quote is a number. The contract is what pays. A broker who reads the sublimits, the deductibles, and the endorsements beside the price is doing the job. A broker who quotes you a price is doing half of it.
- 04
Stay test
Will you tell me to stay where I am?
An agent who can never say stay has a conflict you will eventually pay for. About 40 percent of the time we tell homeowners to stay with their current carrier, and sometimes even with their current agent, because that is the right answer for the family.
Then ask the one that has no script.
If this were your grandmother or grandfather asking for the right coverage, what would you change?
If the answer comes back as a completely different policy, it was never about who they could serve, only who they could sell. Ask for the grandmother answer, then hold it against yours.
The race to the bottom of the mountain
There is always someone willing to cut corners for a little less money. Many brokerages are in a race with you and your family to the bottom of the mountain, and it is easier to be cheap than to serve, the way any restaurant can be cheaper by putting less on the plate. We have watched homeowners get helped to close in fifteen minutes, a name, an address, and a number slapped on a page, and end up in debt on the worst day because the sheet of paper could not hold its weight. It is easier to be cheap than it is to serve.
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The fifteen-minute quote
- What gets asked
- A name and an address
- What gets read
- A number
- Where the carrier came from
- Whichever one the desk needs this quarter
- When the trouble shows
- At the first claim
- What it comes down to
- A number on paper
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The forty-minute read
- What gets asked
- The house, the roof, the record, the cars, the goals
- What gets read
- The contract, line by line, beside the price
- Where the carrier came from
- The one that wants your house, out of the 50+ top Texas carriers we know well
- When the trouble shows
- Before you bind, where it costs nothing
- What it comes down to
- A contract that holds
Why some desks push one carrier
An agency that writes bad business can lose its carrier appointments, and an agency with a volume commitment it cannot meet has to feed that carrier to keep it. Either way the household gets the carrier the desk needs, at the price that comes with it. Ask any broker which carrier they wrote most last quarter and why. The right carrier for the desk is rarely the right carrier for the house.
Local broker. National infrastructure.
A desk in Spring with three people cannot carry the volume a national carrier expects on its own, and the brokers who try end up feeding one carrier to keep the door open. We are an agency partner of Premier Group Insurance, established in 1999, with 550+ agents nationwide and 220+ carrier relationships, so the volume a carrier expects is carried by the network and our desk carries little or no quarterly sales requirement with any one of them. There is no pressure on this desk that has to be passed on to you or your family. That is how a local brokerage keeps access to 50+ top Texas carriers through direct and network relationships we know well, and why no carrier on your page is there because we owed it business. Local broker. National infrastructure.
What a higher level with a carrier buys you
A broker with a real relationship with a carrier knows their way around its kitchen. They know who to call, where the next step is, and how to get a thing done. A broker without it is standing in the dining room, hoping someone comes out. We hold Progressive's Platinum designation, which Progressive describes as invitation-only, for agencies that commit to placing profitable, preferred bundled business, and which comes with a fast pass to its agency service team and its full suite of products. In our experience that shows up for you as faster answers and more doors, and it changes what can be offered. Progressive says it plainly, prices may vary based on how you buy, because the expenses differ from one door to the next, and the level of the desk you walk through is part of that. Written through a brokerage, you lose nothing on the carrier's side. Our clients with Progressive, GEICO, Travelers, or Liberty Mutual can call the carrier and be served like a client, because they are. A good relationship with a carrier means knowing your way around the kitchen.
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Knows the kitchen
- An underwriting question
- A name and a direct line
- A claim that stalls
- The escalation path, by name
- A product the carrier sells
- The full suite, on the page
- What it comes down to
- Things get done
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Waiting in the dining room
- An underwriting question
- The general queue
- A claim that stalls
- The same hold music as everyone
- A product the carrier sells
- Whatever the portal shows
- What it comes down to
- Things get started, maybe
Fees, in one line
A fee is a bet. A broker who charges one on personal lines is betting you will cancel before the policy ends, or simply wants the extra money. We make a different bet. Work well with people for a long time and the money takes care of itself, and respect runs in both directions when nobody is reaching for a fee. McDade adds no agency or brokerage fees to personal lines policies, including personal flood and surplus lines home. A fee is a bet that you will leave. We bet that you stay.
Two desks, side by side
Most of the difference between brokers is visible in the first conversation, if you know where to look, and the rest shows up in the contract. Here is where to look.
A desk racing to the bottom
- Quotes in fifteen minutes from a name and an address.
- The same carrier on every quote, every quarter.
- A fee on personal lines.
- Never once says stay.
- Cannot name who will adjust the claim.
- The renewal arrives with no call and no read.
A desk built to serve
- Asks about the roof, the record, the cars, and the goals before any number.
- Shows the contract beside the price, sublimits and all.
- No fees on personal lines.
- Says stay when staying is right, and says why.
- Knows who to call at the carrier, by name.
- Reads the renewal with you every year and names what changed.
The desk that asks more questions is the desk that read your house.
What happens when you send it
You want one thing from this page. To know which kind of desk you have, and what the other kind would change, before anything moves. Here is the whole path.
- 01
Free
Send it
The declarations pages for the house and the cars, through Compare Coverage or by email to contact@mcdadeins.com. Ask us the four questions while you are at it.
- 02
On our desk
We read contract to contract
Every carrier we run has to beat the policy you hold on the contract before it is allowed to beat it on price. Comparing apples to apples does not work, because we do not sell fruit.
- 03
Your call
You get one of three answers
Stay, adjust, or move, with the reason in writing. If the desk you have is doing right by you, you will hear that first.
You ask the four questions. We answer all four, in writing.
I want to earn your business
My grandpa used to say there is always someone willing to cut corners for a little less money. He was right, and in this business that someone is racing you and your family to the bottom of the mountain. I would rather lose a quote than win one that cannot hold its weight on the worst day. A fee is a bet that you will leave early, and I have never needed to make it. Work well with people for a long time and the money takes care of itself. I want to earn your business, not your fees.
Charles McDade, LUTCF
Questions readers ask
Are all insurance brokers the same?
No. The license is the same Texas agent license and the word is the same. What differs is who the broker answers to, whether they charge fees, whether they read your contract or quote you a price, and whether they will tell you to stay. Four questions bring all of it into the open.
Why do some brokers charge fees and others do not?
A licensed carrier's rate is on file with TDI and the carrier pays the commission, so a fee is the broker's own choice. Usually it means the broker expects you to leave before the policy ends, or wants the extra money. McDade adds no agency or brokerage fees to personal lines policies, including personal flood and surplus lines home.
Does it matter which carriers a broker is appointed with?
Yes, and it matters more how the broker got there. A desk that has to feed one carrier to keep its appointment will put that carrier on your page whether it fits your house or not. A desk whose network carries the volume can let every carrier earn its place. Ask which carrier they wrote most last quarter and why.
What does Progressive Platinum mean for a client?
Progressive describes Platinum as an invitation-only designation for agencies that commit to placing profitable, preferred bundled business, with priority access to its agency service team and its full suite of products. For a client of a Platinum agency, in our experience, that shows up as faster answers on service and underwriting questions and more of what can be offered. Progressive itself says prices may vary based on how you buy.
Can I still call my insurance company directly if I use a broker?
Yes. The policy is with the carrier, and the carrier's service line is yours. Our clients with Progressive, GEICO, Travelers, or Liberty Mutual can call the carrier for billing, payments, the app, and roadside, and come to the desk for underwriting questions, changes, advice, and the renewal.
What should I ask a broker before I send my declarations page?
Independent or captive. Fees on personal lines, or none. Will you read my actual policy language. Will you tell me to stay where I am if staying is right. Then the one with no script, what would you change if this were your grandmother asking. The answers tell you which desk you are talking to.
Sources worth opening before you decide
- How do I find an insurance agent or company?, Texas Department of Insurance, updated December 11, 2025
- How to Choose an Insurance Agent, National Association of Insurance Commissioners, February 1, 2019
- Premier Group Insurance, the network's own page, established 1999, 550+ agents, 220+ carrier relationships
- Progressive Platinum, Progressive's own description of the designation
- Why Car Insurance Prices Differ, Progressive, prices may vary based on how you buy
- Progressive Platinum, Exclusive Bundles, Exclusive Rewards, Progressive for Agents Only, February 5, 2018, the fast pass to agency customer service and the full suite of products
The purpose is to help the reader ask better questions before claim time.
See how your broker measures up
Same license. Different desk. Find out which one you have.
Send the declarations pages for the house and the cars, and ask us the four questions. A licensed Texas agent answers all four in writing, reads the policy contract to contract, and tells you plainly if the desk you already have is doing right by you. We translate the contract before you sign for another year.
The audit is free. The decision is yours. No broker fees for personal lines clients.