You
Run Comp Check and talk to the broker. You are not billed at any point, whether or not anything places.
What this costs you
You do not pay for Comp Check or the broker's review. Not a fee, not a deposit, not a card number.
Where the money actually goes
Run Comp Check and talk to the broker. You are not billed at any point, whether or not anything places.
If the broker can help and a policy places or renews through him, that transaction is what triggers payment.
The insurance carrier pays a commission directly to the broker. You are not the one writing that check.
In plain terms
Commission is paid on placement or renewal, and it comes from the insurance carrier's side of the transaction.
It reads your figures and produces a finding. Nothing about running it commits you to a purchase.
Instead of billing you to find out, he tells you plainly rather than stringing out a sales process.