of course. you can simply visit any branch of the insurer and ask them to insure you direct. agent comission will be given to you in the form of a discount. comission is high: general insurance 15% of the annual premium (every!!! year), PA its even 25% percent. why throw money down the drain like that?

every insurance company will do so. i am running every single one of my insurances as a direct customer and they all give the agent comission as a discount. comission varies depending on your insurance (i.e. car: 10%, general insurance like medical 15%, PA 25%, householder 15%, houseowner 15% etc.). Just insist you dont to insure through agent or go to insurance branch. a couple of years ago you had to insist on getting a discount due to no agent but nowadays they all straight away give. i have not come across an insurance which doesnt give the discount.

since 2004 (not using them all at the moment, we have changed some polices throughout the years): axa, allianz, mcis, tokio marine, msig, AIA, prudential,etiqua, ACE, Berjaya Sompo, Pacific Insurance, uni asia. i doubt any company would refuse the discount if you ask them. the above list is where i personally have received the discount for motor/health/PA/house and some other policies.

yes all general insurance products get 15% of the annual premium, all PA covers have 25% and all auto policies get 10% discount.

you can check for yourself by asking any of your insurances to move an existing policy to "direct" upon renewal. you will get the renewal notice with the stated discount (if you dont remind them, as mentioned for the last 3,4 yrs i dont have to remind them anymore - once discount is given you never need to "remind" them anymore.)

once again- you can get the discount TODAY if you go direct. no problem. also i seriously doubt that the agent can make a claim that the insured cant make. either a claim is valid or its not. there is no in between. i have made several claims in the past directly with the insurance and have always gotten 100% of what i claimed as damages - one time they sent someone to asses damage due to fire in fron of my house, they even added things i didnt know i could claim for so i got even more (!) than my initial claim. the companies i have dealt with are professional and give advise on how to claim and walk direct customers through the process. there is little to complain about besides a total loss claim for a car i had like 10 yrs ago (also direct!) where it took some argument but i did get the full amount insured from the insurer in the end. also agents dont optimise the portfolio for the insured, mostly they (not all but all i ever met) try to optimise MY insurances to maximise THEIR comission.

you're right. i forget about life insurance. i dont buy life insurance products for many reasons and considering comissions between 25%-35% as per link it appears questionable to me. i dont want want just a measly 70 sen per RM premium actually going to insurance which also takes its overhead leaving maybe 60 sen per dollar for the actual product. makes no sense to me. GI is in that way superior as you can decide to maximise the money you actually put up for the insurance part of the policy . seriously what do agents do that warrants 25% of the premium as comission? (GI or life)? this seems way over the top to me.

first off: if you are direct customer with axa, yes they will give you 15% for the smartcare, the PA you will get 25% of the premium as discount.

call them and ask that the policy be moved to direct customer. most likely its not atm - then upon renewal you will enjoy the 15% discount. if the policy were direct already you should already been given the discount as AXA gives it now by default (ie. no need to ask for it). feel free to check with axa - if under direct and no discount given they will probably refund you the discount if you ask for it (the right way).

then you should be direct. check the last renewal slip. right colum (for AXA) got "Intermediary:" underneath should be stated DIRECT-PERSONAL and then the number of the branch you signed up with (my case subang). Then Gross premium (ie. before discount) and next line states the discount ("Less Discount"). This is the agent comission for SCO its 15% of the annual premium.

Do report back - if its direct they should be acting up and refund the discount to you. Ask nicely for, will probably get you further

hmmm strange - i nvr went to any branches. got all the stuff done online & through phone. ask them to change to direct account to ensure discount for renewal. i would also write in and request a refund as the account was direct all the time - at least for the last year. i think if you nego well you should be able to get it. i dont know about your package but 15% on my cover is a around 500 bucks so i wont just let it slide.

i always got the discount - even though i handle the accounts online. but mind you i check for it and asked for it upon signing up. for your info: with SCO you can add a very usefull "rider" now - might be worth checking out. increases kidney, cancer benefits and adds home care.

SCO = Axa's Smart Care Optimum

actually given the cover SCO is the best deal you can get in malaysia. the savings in early days will compensate the higher future payments but you will have to handle it yourself - this is not life.

i do annual comparisons - you dont get a better deal from allianz. you need to compund and NPV total lifetime premium for an identical cover to compare. note the annual limit with SCO is 500k per sickness and year. that is according to my data the best deal for a local medical insurance in malaysia - esp. when you compound it.

means if you want to compare a cover you first convert them all to apples and then you make you sure you look at a uniform pricing regime. comparing an ILP with some possible premium table and a general insurance product with a currently locked (but exposed to inflation) pricing wont work. those are fundamentally different products. that's like saying kangkong is better than cherries (or cherries are better than kangkong). you can say it but it has no verifyable justification.

how did you derive allianz is better? axa sco delivery a better coverage per NPV RM of premium than any other medical cover in the market - esp. if compounded and NPVed for a lifetime coverage (NPV = net present value), taking into consideration a 3.5% annual increase in premiums. since its next to impossible to compare GI with ILP or life only logic dictates that the same is true because the insurers riskmanagement will do the same and apply a generous safety buffer on top - so you *will* always pay more for any ILP or life medical cover compared to a steadily adjusted GI cover because they wont have to apply a safety buffer for (worst case) 80 yrs into the future.

i agree. the problem with life / ILP is they boost either age bands or even uniform premiums which is a real problem to price. furthermore ILP you depend on the performance of the "surplus" so if *I* would have to price it, my buffer would be big so I dont have to come back to customers later too often (PR reason as you say). GI is much more straightforward and will for those reasons give better pricing. i am not sure about the comission to agent for medical riders but this might also play into the game.

In general when you start to mix Insurance with investment etc. you tend you get a worse deal almost all the time.

PA I currently use MCIS supreme PA. Depends on your provisions. After 25% direct customer discount the price is alright.

please read posts properly. i wont spoonfeed.

they pay according to the general limits of the policy i.e. no surgical sub-limits apply. if you get into panel hospital AXA settles the bill for you, otherwise pay first claim back later.