Guides
The broker of record letter, explained
Moving brokers and moving insurers are two different actions. Here is how a broker of record letter works.
Greater Edmonton
Commercial Insurance Broker in Edmonton
One experienced broker handles your file from the first quote through to the claim call, and you speak to that same person every time. This page is about why Edmonton owners move to us and then stay.
Most Edmonton businesses do not change brokers over price. They change because nobody called them back. This is a market dominated by large, volume-driven offices where a commercial file is a row in somebody’s queue, and the person who sold you the policy is rarely the person you reach afterwards. Velocity was built as the alternative to that, one relationship at a time. Mandy Stierman spent over twenty years inside brokerages, across front-line underwriting, complex placements, hard-market renewals and claims advocacy, and she founded this one after watching good businesses get handed to whoever happened to be free that morning.
Why Owners Move
What we hear fromEdmonton business owners.
01
I never speak to the same person twice, and they never know my business
The file gets sold by one person, serviced by another and renewed by a third, and none of them carries the history. You end up explaining your own business back to your broker every year. That is the complaint we hear most often in a first call with an Edmonton owner.
02
I am not convinced anyone ever looked at how we really operate
A machine shop in the industrial northeast, a clinic off Whyte and a landlord with four walk-up buildings are three different risks, and they are routinely sold the same package with the name changed. The gaps surface at claim time, when the wording turns out to describe somebody else’s business.
03
My renewal just turns up as a bill
A renewal that gets rubber-stamped drifts upward. Nobody re-tests the market, nobody asks whether the revenue figure is still right, and nobody mentions that the limit you bought four years ago would no longer rebuild the building.
04
I can never get a straight answer about what I am covered for
Certificates take four days because the request sits in a queue. Nobody can say offhand what your limits are, what changed at the last renewal or what is still outstanding. The information exists somewhere in a file you have no access to, and getting a straight answer means waiting for somebody to go and look it up.
Why We Stand Out
What you get insteadas our client in Edmonton.
- Proudly independent, with fourteen insurance partners behind you
- No insurer owns a share of Velocity and none of them sets our targets, so we shop the market on your behalf instead of feeding an underwriter’s quota. When an incumbent raises your Edmonton renewal without a reason, the file goes in front of thirteen others.
- Relationships, not transactions
- You work directly with an experienced broker every time. No call centres, no automated service, no queues, and no handover to an account team once the sale is done. Mandy quotes your file, places it, issues your certificates and picks up when something goes wrong.
- Deep commercial expertise
- Over twenty years of hands-on experience across front-line underwriting, complex placements, hard-market renewals and claims advocacy. On a difficult Edmonton file that experience earns the exception. Knowing how an underwriter is measured, and where their authority ends, will often turn a decline into a quote.
- Built around how you really operate
- There is no standard approach to managing risk. We ask what the business does before recommending anything, and the program gets shaped around that. If you take on a new contract or open a second location mid-term, that is a phone call instead of a surprise at renewal.
- Explained in plain language
- You get told what a policy does and what it will not do, in words that make sense without an insurance background. That includes the exclusions, which is where commercial claims get declined and where most owners have never had anything spelled out for them. Having to ask the same question twice is not something we make you do.
- Superior service, backed by advanced technology
- Our software is built in house by the people who use it every day, so the admin that clogs a service queue elsewhere runs in the background here. Your policies, documents and invoices sit in a client portal you can open at ten at night without emailing anybody. The design brief was human first, and technology only earns its place when it hands you back time.
Your Broker
Mandy Stierman · Founder & Principal Broker
Licensed Alberta broker · 20 years in insurance
Velocity Insurance Inc. is a proudly independent, female-led commercial brokerage founded and owned in Alberta. Mandy was formerly an Account Executive with Spruceland Insurance and is a member of the Insurance Brokers Association of Alberta.
What clients sayabout working with us.
★★★★★
“She took the time to explain everything clearly in a way that actually made sense… her rates were more than competitive, and the level of service she provided was truly exceptional. It’s so refreshing to work with a woman entrepreneur who is not only amazing at what she does, but also genuinely cares about her clients.”
TJ Aneca · a month ago · Google
Reviews come from clients across Alberta, Edmonton included. Read them on Google
Common Questions
Choosing a brokerin Edmonton.
Are you an Edmonton broker, or just licensed here?
Edmonton is where the brokerage was founded and where most of its clients are. We run remotely by design, so your file is handled by phone and email instead of by appointment, and we meet in person when you would rather do that. Being an Alberta brokerage means the same licence and the same markets wherever you are in the province.
Who will be handling my account?
Mandy Stierman, the owner and principal broker. She quotes the file, places it and services it, and she is who you reach when you call. There is no handover to a service team once the sale is done.
What sets Velocity apart from a larger Edmonton brokerage?
Scale works against you on a commercial file. A large office measures itself in policies processed, so your account gets standardised and your questions get queued. We took the opposite trade deliberately. Fewer clients, one experienced broker on each of them, and enough market access to move a file that has stopped being competitive.
You are independent. How do I know the price is competitive?
Because we have to demonstrate it every year. With fourteen insurance partners behind us there is no house insurer taking the file by default, and you see what the alternatives quoted. A broker tied to one company can only tell you their number is the best one available to them.
What happens at my renewal?
We look at the file before it renews, check whether your revenue, payroll and operations have moved, and decide whether the market needs testing. If we remarket it you see what came back and the reasoning behind the recommendation. A renewal invoice with no conversation attached is not something we send.
How quickly do you respond?
Same business day for a question, and a certificate as soon as we can turn it around once your policy is bound. If something is going to take longer because the file is sitting with an underwriter, we tell you that up front instead of leaving you wondering.
What does it cost to use a broker?
Nothing you pay directly. The insurer pays a commission out of the premium it charges, and that sits in the price whether or not a broker is involved. Going direct does not remove the cost. It removes the person negotiating for you.
How easy is it to switch insurance brokers?
Easier than most owners expect, and it takes one signature. A broker of record letter moves your existing policy to us with the same insurer, the same wording and the same premium. Nothing is cancelled, nothing is re-underwritten, and there is no gap in cover at any point. You do not have to wait for your renewal date either. From the day it moves across, we have until that renewal to make the case that we were worth moving to.
Could you review my current insurance program?
Yes, and there is no charge or obligation for it. Send us your current policy documents and Mandy goes through them personally, then tells you where the gaps are, where the limits look wrong and whether the price is still competitive. If your coverage is already right you will be told that too, which happens more often than you might expect.
The Next Step
Talk to the brokerwho would handle your file.
Send us what you have and we will tell you what we would do with it. If we are not the right brokerage for your business we will say so on the first call.
Talk to a Edmonton broker
How do you prefer to work through your insurance?
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