Professional indemnity insurance is not rocket science. Now, everyone knows that, but you would be surprised to hear how complex this is made out to be when working for a major insurer.
One of my old bosses, who was pretty froward thinking, used to get irate with the old timers in the company who used to say things like, it takes 15 years to make a good insurance underwriter. His favourite riposte was that it took less time to to train to be a brain surgeon.
Both of them were right, in their own ways. The basics of commercial insurance are not that difficult to learn. This is why we have exams to sit through. It is the experience that counts.
Now there are certain categories of insurance where, in the past it would take you ages to get a quote. One of these is professional indemnity. In the good/bad (delete as applicable) old days, you had to speak to a broker, explain what you wanted, fill out a proposal form, post it to them, they would then send to insurers to get a quote, then a few days/weeks (delete as applicable) later, you would get your quote. Sometimes, you were so thankful to have a quote that you daren’t ask them to go elsewhere.
Nowadays though, in most cases things have changed. Yes, you still get the old dinosaurs that will only quote based on a fully completed proposal. Other, who plainly do get it, have websites that allow us, the business insurance broker, to get you, the purchasing customer a quote within minutes. Of course, there are certain categories where we do have to refer to insurers, but for many trades, instant quotes for PI are available.
If a broker says you have to fill in a proposal form first, your question should be – is that really necessary? If they say yes, at least give one other broker a shot.