To answer this question, we firstly need to understand what we mean by “direct”. In the UK, you have two choices when you are looking for a shop insurance quote. You can go to an insurer direct and this means speaking to the insurers staff and getting a quote from that one insurer only. This way, you do not have any choice in the product you buy. In the event of a claim you speak direct to the insurer and are at their mercy in the event of a claim, potentially, being turned down.
There are a number of brokers that, whilst they do have access to more than one market, they place 95% of their business with one insurer or underwriter, this, to all intents and purposes, is direct.
Then, the second choice you have, which is the better one, is to speak to an independent (important) business insurance broker. Why is it important that you go to an independent?
The reason is that the broker chooses which insurer offers you the better cover. If insurer a is cheaper, but they maybe outsource their claims and are notorious for turning down claims without any discussion whatsoever, then a good broker will not recommend them. What they will do is speak to other insurers and get them to quote as near to insurer a’s price as possible.
This way, insurer a has given the bottom market price, so they need to get as close to this as possible, but with wider cover, to comply with the authorities requirements that they will, at all times, treat customers fairly. This means not offering a price just because it is cheap, they have to earn their commission by searching the available market for you and offering the most suitable product for you.