Advised vs non-advised, which to choose?

There’s a lot to consider when starting your protection insurance journey, one of those things being how exactly you’re going to go about actually applying. This is normally the point where you would decide if to go down an advised or non advised route. But which should you choose?

There are many ways of taking out protection insurance. You can go directly to an insurer and complete their application form, you can use the likes of an online comparison website or you can use a broker. Each of these fall into one of the two categories.

Advised

Many brokers offer advice, such as us here at Cura. We have industry trained protection insurance advisers ready to help you with personal, business, group and international protection policies. We have a wide range of clients and what is great for us is that no two cases are ever the same. A key difference between us and non-advised routes is that we look at your circumstances and tell you what insurances you need. We will always listen to what insurances you want and wherever possible give you options to look at that match this, but we will also be giving you details of what insurances you need based upon our many years of experience and understanding these products inside and out. 

At the end of the day, it is always up to you to decide what insurance you wish to go for. Even if you change your mind and no longer wish to have insurance, that is also absolutely fine too.

Non-advised

Many people choose a non-advised route as for some, it can be quicker or easier, for example if they have little to disclose on their application or they feel completely sure about what insurance they need. Using a comparison website is non-advised, and going directly to the insurer is usually non advised too.

There are also many brokers who help in sourcing insurance but don’t actually offer any advice. They are there purely to find the insurance which you have asked for, whether or not that policy type is truly the best option for you. Using a non-advised adviser can be good for you if you know what you want but would like some help finding the best deal.

Which to choose?

Both routes have their benefits. As an advised firm we are bound to say that an advised route is best and often it is, but every route to insurance can stand out as being better in different situations.

An online comparison site can be quicker for some people. If your application can be accepted straight away online, then this can sometimes suit people who just want things done and dusted. But it’s important to be aware that with quite a few online systems they cannot accept applications online where people detail some medical conditions. It can be quite disheartening to go through all of the questions online, to then find that you are declined the insurance, needing to start over again somewhere else.

Many of our clients at Cura have more to disclose than usual in terms of their health, or have maybe been struggling with finding insurance themselves. Often if there are medical conditions or other disclosures then it could mean there’s going to be evidence requested from the likes of GP surgeries, and the evidence can sometimes take weeks or even a couple of months to come back. Using an advised route through Cura means that we can listen to you and your circumstances and then go do research with the insurers on your behalf, saving you from having to try and apply to each one individually and be unsure of what the outcomes could be.

An advised route is great and hugely beneficial for those who don’t know what insurance is best to suit their needs, or who have a few questions they would like to ask before committing to anything. We speak with the underwriters at insurers and know which ones are right for you and your circumstances. We also know the quirks of different protection policies to make sure that the insurance is actually going to achieve what you want it to.

There are instances where a broker or protection insurance adviser (advised route) will have access to more products and insurers than if you were to look for example on an online comparison site. There are times where we have access to slightly different question sets than the forms that you can access online, which can make a world of difference on what can be accessed for you.

At Cura we do a fair analysis of the whole of the market to find the best product for you, and we also have access to a number of specialist insurers and products which can offer great options but can only be accessed through approved advisers such as ourselves. These are great for certain situations and a specialist insurer doesn’t necessarily mean silly pricing or confusing terms and conditions, it just means that we are needing to take a different approach to get you the best value insurance.

Kathryn previously hosted an episode of the Practical Protection Podcast where advised and non-advised routes to protection insurance were discussed. Check it out below, or visit the Practical Protection Podcast website.

We are more than happy to answer any questions which you think might help you decide if to go down an advised or non advised route. It’s important to remember that everybody has different needs, so there is no wrong or right route to take, it’s all down to personal preference and we understand that completely.

Related blogs

Advised and non-advised, what do they actually mean?

How to get the all important protection insurance that you need

5 Tips on how to choose the right protection adviser