Questão número 636854

Read the text below in order to answer questions 16 to 18.

INSURANCE AGENTS

Insurers deliver their insurance products to policyowners primarily through independent or exclusive agents. Historically, almost all insurance agents were independent business people paid on commission. More recently, many insurance companies have adopted a system where the agent is a paid employee of the firm. These agents are referred to as exclusive agents. Economists studying the differences between these two distribution systems have long argued that the independent agency system is a less efficient method of getting the product to the customer as measured by the ratio of expenses incurred to premiums written and other statistics. But recent studies suggest the reason for the higher expenses with independent agents is that they offer higher quality to policyowners through more personalized service, more advice on policy limits as well as more help when a claim is filed with the company. So one thing you could consider is how much guidance and service you want.

The text suggests that exclusive agents

• A. are not paid employees of the company
• B. have long been paid on commission
• C. were the first category of insurance agents
• D. are part of the current distribution system
• E. have been providing below the average service