Reason 4: You might be double covered, and an agent can help you!
Insurance can be quite complicated, in fact most of us don't entirely understand out insurance policies. The result is that most of us are double covered. That means that we have more than one insurance policy covering the same event. This also means we are paying more in premiums than we need to be. It is a good idea to have your insurance policy re-checked periodically so that your agent can help you determine whether or not you are double covered.
Double coverage occurs when you have more than one policy covering you for the same thing. This is far more common than most people realize, mainly because they don't really know what is covered by each policy. These days most of us have severally different insurance policies that cover things like homeowners insurance, life insurance, auto insurance and often many others. A common example of double coverage would be having comprehensive auto insurance that covers your car in the event of a fire and then having your car covered against fire while it is parked in your garage. If this is the case you are paying for more insurance than you actually need.
The problem with having double coverage when it comes to insurance is that in almost all case you will only actually get paid by one company. In the example of the care being damaged by the fire you would not be paid by both companies for the damage if you get reimbursed by one company you won't be paid by the other one. Since insurance companies rarely offer any coverage without factoring it in to your premium you are almost certainly paying more than you need to on at least one of your policies. Even worse there will likely be an argument between the two insurance companies as to which one is actually responsible for making the payment. This can result in a significant delay in getting your money. It is a good idea to talk to your insurance agent from time to time and have them check your policies so that they can make sure that you aren't double covered.
There are times when it makes sense to be double covered and you will want to keep these in mind when you have your insurance re-checked. The most common example of this is with life insurance. It is common to have life insurance provided by your employer, however many people find that this policy doesn't provide enough coverage and will by another policy. In this case both policies will payout when you die so it may make sense to be double covered. The other example where it may make sense to be double covered is with health insurance but this situation is very complicated and you will definitely need to talk to an expert for advice.