I posted a blog entry on June 5, followed up by a column in the June 25 edition of NU, basically raising the question of how truly “independent” independent agents are. I wondered whether such intermediaries fully explain to prospects and clients that their “independence” is limited to serving as agents for those carriers with which they have contracts–that in fact they are not “independent” to do business with just any carrier at any particular time. One agent threw down the gauntlet in a July 3 e-mail and asked for an apology. Click on for our exchange, and please log on to offer your own take on this controversy.


On July 3, David D. Warren addressed the following e-mail to me:

I read with interest your editorial in the 6/25/07 issue regarding what you claim to be an “oxymoron” in the term “Independent Agent.” I would like to offer you a few comments as a rebuttal to the tone of your article.

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