Commission not helpful

If brokers are going to charge a fee rather than commission then I can agree with Ben Davies (Letters, 20 April), but as this is a discussion on commission disclosure then I disagree most strongly.

Commission disclosure is not helpful to the general public as many believe, but confusing, just as are the pages of information we are now obliged to provide, effectively causing information overload.

To borrow a example from Direct Line, if two identical brothers come to a broker with two identical cars and two identical circumstances, then the commission earned on each would be the same. But if one of them had had a claim the previous year with another broker, then his premium would be higher and the new broker would earn more commission, although the work he had to do would be, in theory, the same.

How then do you explain to the two brothers why you are earning more on one than the other? Does this help them in any way?

Stephen Mourton
Milestone Insurance Consultants