What is an Agent of Record?
An Agent of Record is an individual or an organization that is certified to work with an appointed insurer dealing with its investment, functioning, and managing insurance coverage. Insurance companies are not entitled to reveal or share the information of the insured with any other person but they do this only with the agent of record. The insured companies have the right to change the agent of record, however, they need to submit a new agent of Record letter to the authorized insurance company requesting them to issue their information and share the information with the replaced agent of Record.
An agent of record also called broker of record deals on behalf of the insured party to manage its insurance policy.
Why Do Companies Hire AOR?
Business companies hire agents of record to work on their behalf to look for and deal with health insurance. The agent of Record provides them with all kind of services related to insurance and enable them to focus more on their business strategies. The agent of Record helps them to save their time and lets them take worthwhile and profitable decisions to enhance their business and employee benefits.
AOR serves as the company’ legally authorized representative and they deal with the insurance company directly. The company does not directly involve and does not interact with the selected insurer. The designated insurer does not deal with any other individual or entity that is not legally authorized for the insured party. AOR is the mandatory intermediary.
Why Does an Insured Change or Hire AOR?
If you wish to shop for an insurance policy, you need to sign the agent of record (AOR) letter during the process. If you are hiring AOR for your company for the first time, or you are intended to change your current insurance agent or broker because the rate of premiums is higher than the average market rate. Maybe your current broker is not actively managing your insurance coverage requirements. In all such cases, you need to sign an AO to designate an agent who can represent insurance companies on your behalf.
What is an Agent of Record Letter?
An agent of Record letter or broker of record letter is a certified document signed by a business owner as approval of which agent they want to hire as a representative of their business to the insurance companies.
Business owners need an agent of record letter if they wish to change their existing AOR. The letter names the agent of record as the representative of the business to deal with the particular insurance company regarding premiums, and coverage. The agent serves as a liaison, handling insurance contracts communication, insurance quotes, befits administration, policy details, and non-mandatory benefits on the insured company’s behalf.
When an AOR signs the agent of record letter, it automatically null and voids the previous one. AOR letter is only required by businesses with current policies that intend to work with new AOR or need help finding new insurance policies.
Why Should You Remove an AOR Agreement?
Here are some causes that call for the termination or replacement of the existing AOR.
- Dissatisfied with the existing agency’s services or handling.
- The current AOR mismanaged a job.
- Other insurance agencies offer more incentives in your industry.
- Your agent of record cannot predict an important problem or issue.
- The existing agent of record does not have access to a particular market.
Most companies decide to replace insurance agents when they are not satisfied with the agent’s communication, and services or remain disconnected. Another main reason for the replacement of your existing AOR can be the incapability of the agent to perceive a significant expertise gap between two insurance agencies.
For Instance, suppose you are in the commercial property enterprise and your agent of the record offers just basic insurance services. Later, you come to know about another company providing specialized and customized offers such as liability coverage, litigation services, and potential hazards or harms needed for property businesses. In this scenario, there arises the logic of replacing AOR to make your business protected, serviced, and monitored by the new one.
Before you sign an AOR Letter, What Things You Should Know?
Before you sign a new AOR to manage your business insurance details, you need to read the new agreement beforehand to avoid any problems ahead. It looks like relatively a simple task to get a new insurance agent. Not every AOR or BOR letter needs to be the same. Each letter has the agreement’s details particular to that agent, therefore, it is crucial to read the agreement closely.
The following two things to be aware of:
You must terminate the old AOR before getting the new one. When you sign an AOR letter, it means you are terminating the existing agent and hiring a new one. As this is an official transfer, make sure you are not signing it prematurely. You must be very rigorous as brokers are not very open, transparent, and sometimes sneaky about their AOR signing.
You need to incur servicing fees. Agents of record don’t get paid for one whole year if you fire expire the agreement in the middle of the policy term the AORs are working for a fee from the date when they signed the AOR letter till the date when the policy’s effective date starts. Therefore, the agent of record may charge you the servicing fee as the insurers are not paying them. Not all agents of record inform you of this, so always review and details of the contract wholly to avoid any surprise charges or misunderstandings ahead.
How Does the AOR DO the Work?
The AOR process starts once you have finalized to work with a specific agent and takes almost ten days to complete.
Phase 1
The agent gives you an agent of record letter carrying your company’s name, carrier’s name, policy number, and the effective policy date.
Phase 2:
You review the letter, go through it closely, put it on your company’s letterhead, sign it as a recognition of receipt, date it, and send it back to the agent.
Phase 3:
Your new agent of record will send the signed AOR letter to the insurance carrier.
Phase 4:
The policies transfer within 5-10 days until the carrier receives a cancelation of AOR from the existing current agent signed by the policyholder. As soon as the insurance carrier accepts the AOR letter, the new agency relationship starts and the old relationship expires.
What Should You Do if You Have Signed a Bad AOR?
If you regret signing an agent of record, you have the limited time of 5-10 days to terminate the agent even after signing the agent of Record letter. After terminating the agent of Record, you have to sign a rescinding agent of record letter. By signing this letter, you can null and void the original AOR.
However, you cannot replace the existing AOR once the time expires. In this condition, you cannot sign the rescind of the agent of record letter by default. The only solution to replace the existing AOR remains is to sign a new AOR letter with a new AOR, in this way you can terminate the existing agent of Record and can get the services of the new one.
if you plan to replace the agent after 10 days of signing the AOR letter, you are unable to do so by default by just signing the rescind of the agent of record letter. In this situation, you have to sign a new AOR with the new agent only then you can get a new AOR and terminate the previous one.