Mechanic vs Salesman

Here's a question worth asking before any big decision: who would you rather take advice from the salesman, or the mechanic?

Think about the last vehicle you bought. The salesman was great. Friendly, knowledgeable about the brochure, knew exactly which buttons to point at. He told you what you wanted to hear, because that's literally what he's paid to do. Then he shook your hand, watched you drive away, and turned to the next customer.

Now think about who keeps that vehicle alive. The mechanic. The one who's elbow-deep in it every day, who knows which parts wear out early, which systems are brilliantly designed and which ones are a headache waiting for a cold January morning. The mechanic knows the strengths and the weaknesses because he works with both every single day.

So when that vehicle leaves you on the side of the highway, who do you call? Not the salesman. He couldn't help you if he wanted to. You call the mechanic.

Insurance works exactly the same way and insurance is a much bigger decision than a truck.

Paid to say what you want to hear

The person who sells you a policy is paid to say what you want to hear. You're fully covered. Great price. Don't worry about a thing. Maybe it's all true. But notice the incentive: he's rewarded for the signature, not for whether the coverage holds up on the worst day of your year.

After the handshake, you're handed down the line

And here's the part nobody tells you at the point of sale: after the handshake, you almost never deal with that person again. The daily grind the renewals, the changes, the questions, the claim gets passed down the line. To processors. To renewal teams. To junior staff hired to "handle" your account. The salesman has moved on, because his job was to sell to you.

An imbalance of power and pay

That creates a strange imbalance inside the industry, and I watched it for 25 years. The power and the pay sit with the people who sell. The people who actually carry your risk day to day the ones who read the wording, process the changes, and fight through your claim sit at the bottom of the ladder: the least senior, the least paid, and the least able to change anything for you. The expertise lives in one place. The reward lives in another.

Which side of the counter I'm on

I'm not saying salespeople are bad people. I employed plenty of good ones. I'm saying the system points their loyalty in the wrong direction for you. A salesman answers to a sales target. A mechanic answers to the machine and to whether it runs when you need it.

That's the side of the counter I chose when I started Jasper Private Insurance Consultants. I don't sell insurance. Nobody pays me a commission to tell you your coverage is fine. I'm the mechanic: I work with the complexities of these products every day where they're strong, where they're weak, and where they'll quietly fail you if nobody checks. Sometimes that means telling a client they're in great shape. Sometimes it means telling them the opposite. Either way, it's the truth of the machine, not the pitch.

And when you hire Jasper Private Insurance Consultants, that mechanic is exactly who you get: the benefit of a wealth of knowledge and experience, and unbiased advice from a seasoned professional overseeing all of your insurance needs. I don't pass your file down the line for someone junior to review and then charge you an expert's rate for it. Every risk is personally reviewed by me or by someone with decades of the same knowledge and expertise.

So before your next big insurance decision, ask yourself one question: am I listening to the salesman or the mechanic?

If you'd like a mechanic's look at your coverage, start with a complimentary 30-minute assessment. No sales pitch. Just an honest read of what you've actually got whether you hire me or not.

Jeff Kristjanson

Jasper Private Insurance Consultants