How to choose an insurance broker in LebanonHow to choose an insurance broker in Lebanon

Most people in Lebanon choose a broker the way they choose a mechanic: someone in the family used them once. That works until the day you claim, which is the only day the choice was ever really about. This is what to look at before then, and the questions that separate a broker who will work the file from one who will forward your documents and wait.

Know who the person in front of you works for

Two different jobs get called the same thing in conversation.

• An agent represents one insurance company. Their range is that company's products, and their duty runs to the company that appointed them.
• A broker is meant to act for you, and to place your risk with whichever insurer suits it. That is the whole point of the role.

Neither is dishonest. But if you ask an agent whether another insurer would cover you better, the question has nowhere to go. Ask directly, at the first meeting, which it is. A straight answer is itself a good sign.

Check that they are properly registered

The insurance sector in Lebanon is supervised by the Insurance Control Commission, which sits under the Ministry of Economy and Trade, and both insurers and intermediaries fall under that supervision. There is also a syndicate for insurance brokers.

You do not need to become an expert in the regulations. You do need to ask two things and get answers without friction:

• Is the brokerage registered, and under what name?
• Which insurers is it appointed with?

A firm that hesitates on either question has told you something. Ask for the registered company name too, not just the trade name, because that is the name that will appear on your paperwork.

Ask which insurers they place with, by name

"We work with all the companies" is not an answer. Ask for the list. A broker who genuinely compares will name six or eight insurers without pausing, and will tell you which ones they tend to use for motor, which for medical, and why.

Then ask for the comparison in writing. Not a verbal "this one is better", but the options side by side: insurer, premium, limits, deductible, exclusions that actually apply to you. If every quote you are ever shown comes from the same company, you are dealing with an agent who has learned the word broker.

Settle the currency question first

This is the question that matters most in Lebanon right now, and it is the one people forget to ask until the claim.

For any policy you are considering, get clear answers, in writing, to all of these:

• In which currency is the premium payable, and in what form?
• In which currency will a claim be settled?
• If a claim is paid in a different currency from the one you paid in, at what rate is it converted?
• For medical cover, does the hospital network accept the policy directly, or are you paying and then claiming back?

A premium that looks cheap next to another one is often cheap because the answers to those questions are different. A broker worth the name will raise this before you do.

Judge the cover, not only the premium

Price is easy to compare, which is exactly why it is the thing people compare. The differences that decide whether a claim is paid sit elsewhere.

Motor

Compulsory third-party cover pays for injury you cause to other people. It does nothing for your own car. The real decision is usually between adding material damage cover and taking full all-risk. Ask how the declared value of the car was arrived at, because under-declaring to lower the premium is what produces a proportional settlement later. Ask what the deductible is and when it applies.

Medical

Ask which class the plan is, which hospitals are in network, and how admission works in practice: approval and direct billing, or pay first and submit afterwards. Ask how the plan sits alongside NSSF cover if you have it, and who files first. Ask how pre-existing conditions and waiting periods are treated in the wording, not in the brochure.

Property and business

Ask what sum insured the premium is based on and whether it reflects a realistic rebuild or replacement cost today. Ask which perils are in and which are excluded by name. For a business, ask whether business interruption is included and on what basis it is calculated.

A broker who cannot explain a deductible, a limit and an exclusion in your own language, without reading from the page, is not going to explain them to you at claim time either.

Ask exactly what happens when you claim

This is the interview question. Do not accept "we handle everything".

• Who do I call, and on what number, at two in the morning?
• Who files the claim with the insurer, me or you?
• Do you attend the survey or the assessment?
• What documents will I need, and can I have that list now, before anything happens?
• What do you do if the insurer rejects or reduces the claim?

The useful answers are specific: a name, a number, a list. A broker who can send you the document checklist for a motor claim the same afternoon has done it many times.

What should happen at renewal

A renewal notice that arrives as a single line with a new premium is a rolled-over policy, not a reviewed one. Ask what the broker does at renewal:

• Do they re-approach other insurers, or renew with the same one by default?
• Will they tell you if your claims history has moved the price, and by how much?
• Will they flag cover you are now paying for and no longer need?

The value of a broker compounds at renewal. If nothing happens there, you are paying for an introduction you already had.

How a broker gets paid

Brokers are generally remunerated by commission from the insurer, which is built into the premium rather than added to it. That is normal and it is how the market works. What you are entitled to know is whether there is anything on top: a policy fee, a service charge, an administration fee. Ask plainly, and ask before you sign.

Also insist that payment goes where it should. A receipt should be issued in the insurer's name for the premium, and you should end up holding the policy document and its schedule, not a summary written by the intermediary. If you are asked for cash with no proper receipt, stop.

Signs to walk away

• Only ever one insurer's quote, whatever you ask for.
• Pressure to decide today, or a price that expires this afternoon.
• No written proposal, and no copy of the policy wording.
• Vagueness about currency, deductibles or exclusions.
• A summary of the cover, in place of the actual policy document.
• No clear answer on who files a claim.

The short version

Ask which insurers they place with, and get the comparison in writing. Ask about currency, on the premium and on the settlement. Ask who files your claim and who answers the phone at night. Ask what happens at renewal. Then read the policy document, not the summary.

If you want a second opinion on cover you already hold, send us the details or talk to us on WhatsApp. We will tell you what it does and does not do before we tell you anything about price.