Short answer
Check the licence first — insurance brokers must be licensed in every state. Then check that the business is who it says it is: of the 720 Australian insurance brokers in this directory, only 59.7% publish an ABN you can confirm, and 8.8% list a phone number that contradicts the one on their own website.
Insurance Brokers handle business insurance, public liability, professional indemnity, income protection, landlord and specialist cover arranged across insurers. This is what to check before you rely on a policy you have not read, and what the evidence says about the category as a whole.
Insurance Brokers must be licensed
Arranging insurance for a client is a financial service, so a broker must hold or act under an Australian Financial Services Licence and give you a Financial Services Guide. Most professional brokers are also members of NIBA and bound by the Insurance Brokers Code of Practice, which is a real standard with a real complaints body behind it.
Search ASIC Connect's professional registers for the AFS licensee or authorised representative, and NIBA's member directory for the Code of Practice.
What 720 Australian insurance brokers actually publish
We check every business in this directory the same way, and publish the result whether it flatters the trade or not. For insurance brokers:
| What we checked | Insurance Brokers | All trades |
|---|---|---|
| Publish an ABN we could confirm | 59.7% | 21.5% |
| Listed phone matches their own website | 55.6% | 59.2% |
| Listed phone contradicts their own website | 8.8% | 7.7% |
| Website responded when we checked | 86.8% | 81% |
| Corroborated by two or more sources | 93% | 81.1% |
| Median number of Google reviews | 11 | 39 |
What goes wrong with insurance brokers
- Not knowing whether the broker acts for you or for the insurer, which decides whose interests come first in a claim
- Commission and fee arrangements that are never disclosed
- Cover that is cheap because an exclusion was never explained
What to ask before the work starts
- What is your AFS licence or representative number, and do you act for me or for the insurer?
- How are you paid for this policy?
- What is not covered that I would expect to be?
A insurance broker who answers all three of those without hesitating is telling you something useful. One who is vague about a licence number is telling you something too.
The median matters more than the average
The median insurance broker in this directory has 11 Google reviews. That is the number to hold in your head when you see a perfect five-star rating: five stars from four reviews and 4.6 from three hundred are not comparable, and the second is almost always the safer hire.
It is also why the ranking here weights review volume more heavily than review score. A business cannot buy its position, and a handful of glowing reviews does not move it far.
Where the insurance brokers are
Melbourne (60), Sydney (40), Brisbane (32), Adelaide (25), Perth (22), Newcastle (17). A shortlist for your own area is more useful than a national ranking — the best insurance broker in the country is no help if they are four states away.
Where to check a licence, by state
There is no national register. Search the licence number with the regulator for the state where the work is happening.
- NSWNSW Fair Tradingbuilders, electricians, plumbers and specialist trades
- VICBuilding and Plumbing Commission, and Energy Safe Victoria for electricalbuilding practitioners and plumbers; electricians are Energy Safe Victoria
- QLDQueensland Building and Construction Commission (QBCC)building and most trade contractor licences
- WABuilding and Energybuilders, electricians, plumbers and gas fitters
- SAConsumer and Business Servicesbuilding work contractors and supervisors
- TASConsumer, Building and Occupational Services (CBOS)building and occupational licences
- ACTAccess Canberraconstruction occupations licensing
- NTNT Government building practitioner registrationbuilding practitioners and electrical workers
Common questions
- Do insurance brokers need a licence in Australia?
- Yes. Arranging insurance for a client is a financial service, so a broker must hold or act under an Australian Financial Services Licence and give you a Financial Services Guide. Most professional brokers are also members of NIBA and bound by the Insurance Brokers Code of Practice, which is a real standard with a real complaints body behind it.
- How do I check an insurance broker's licence?
- Search ASIC Connect's professional registers for the AFS licensee or authorised representative, and NIBA's member directory for the Code of Practice.
- What percentage of Australian insurance brokers have a verifiable ABN?
- 59.7% of the 720 insurance brokers in this directory publish an ABN we could confirm against the national register, against 21.5% across all trades.
- How many reviews should an insurance broker have?
- The median insurance broker here has 11. Treat a five-star rating from a handful of reviews with more caution than a slightly lower rating from hundreds.
Compare insurance brokers near you
720 insurance brokers, ranked on the evidence described above rather than on advertising.
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