What is a surplus broker? and what do they do?
I believe you are taking about a Surplus Lines Broker. If that is the case, you are talking about someone who writes insurance direct from a company and only to an agent for a line of business that is not desirable in a 'standard' market, such as a dump truck driver, or a general contractor in many cases. It is also referred to as an 'excess market.' In more cases than not this type of insurance will cost you more than a 'standard' market (such as Geico) and you will get less coverage.
Feel free to email me with any other questions about insurance, I am an agent! : )
They generally write business that you can't place with your standard companies. I once had a home built in 1920 that had a replacement cost of $500,000. The only place I could write the insurance was with a surplus broker who offered a bare bones policy for a lot of money.
It's a broker with a license to write insurance with companies that are not licensed to do business in their state, such as Lloyds of London.
A "retail" agent can go to a surplus agent when they have a client that needs insurance, and none of their admitted companies will write that business.
person who exchanges over produce commoditys into fair market products
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