What Is a Broker of Record Letter and How Does a BOR Change Work?

A broker of record (BOR) letter is a short signed document in which you appoint a new insurance broker as your official representative with an insurance carrier. Once the carrier accepts it, the new broker takes over quoting, servicing, and renewal negotiations on the policies named in the letter, the commission moves to the new broker, and your previous broker loses authority over the account. The letter changes who represents you. It does not, by itself, change your policy, your carrier, or your premium.

Businesses sign BOR letters far more often than they realize they can. If your broker stopped returning calls, missed a renewal deadline, or never remarketed your account, you do not have to cancel your policies to leave. You appoint a replacement with one page. This guide walks through what the letter does legally, what happens in the days after you sign, and when a BOR change is the right move versus letting several brokers quote against each other.

Broker of Record (BOR) Letter

A broker of record letter is a document signed by a policyholder that designates a specific broker as their exclusive representative with an insurance carrier for the policies it names. Carriers rely on the letter to determine who may access the account, negotiate terms, and receive commission.

What is a broker of record?

The broker of record is the one broker a carrier recognizes as your official representative on a given policy. A BOR is simply industry shorthand for that designation, so signing a BOR means signing the letter that appoints a new broker of record. Carriers will not take servicing instructions from three different brokerages on the same account, so they keep a single designation on file and route everything through it.

The broker of record receives your policy documents, endorsements, cancellation notices, and loss information, negotiates with the underwriter at renewal, and earns the commission built into your premium. Every policy has exactly one. Whoever holds the record designation controls your account at that carrier. Nobody else can touch it.

That exclusivity is the whole point. It protects you from unauthorized changes, protects the carrier from conflicting instructions, and protects the broker who did the placement work from having the account quietly serviced away.

What is the difference between a broker of record and an agent of record?

An agent of record letter works exactly like a broker of record letter. The difference is who the producer legally represents, not how the carrier processes the change. A broker represents you, the policyholder, and can approach any carrier willing to work with them. An agent represents one or more carriers under an appointment contract and binds coverage on the carrier's behalf.

Because an agent and a broker sit on opposite sides of the transaction, carriers label the designation to match. The letter is an agent of record (AOR) letter when the producer is an appointed agent and a broker of record letter when the producer is a broker. Some producer agreements use the umbrella term producer of record to cover both. From your side of the desk the paperwork is identical. You sign one letter naming the new producer, and the same carrier confirmation process applies.

What does a broker of record letter do?

Legally, the letter is your written instruction to the carrier to substitute one representative for another. Carriers commonly require it on your company letterhead, dated, signed by an owner or officer, and specific about the carrier and the policies or lines it covers.

Once accepted, it transfers three things at once. Authority moves, so the new broker can request endorsements, order certificates, and negotiate renewal terms. Access moves, so the new broker gets the carrier portal and the underwriter relationship while the incumbent is locked out. Compensation moves too, since the carrier redirects commission to the new broker of record.

A practical detail buyers rarely see: who signs matters. Carriers generally want the signature of someone with authority to bind the named insured, typically an owner, officer, or the person who signed the application. A letter signed by an office manager on plain paper often bounces back for a corrected signature, which burns days you may not have before renewal.

What happens after you sign a BOR letter?

The new broker submits your letter, and the carrier notifies the incumbent broker before making the change final. Many carriers hold the designation open for a defined window, commonly 5 to 10 business days from their notice. Standard producer of record clauses in producer agreements often fix the incumbent's confirmation window at 10 business days. During that window the incumbent can ask you to reconsider, and if you send the carrier signed revocation instructions before it closes, nothing changes. If the window passes quietly, the designation becomes binding on both brokers.

Expect the rescind call. Incumbents almost always make one, and it is often the most attention the account has received in years.

Commission timing is the part practitioners argue about. Under many producer agreements, commission on premium already earned stays with the prior broker until the policy cancels, expires, or hits its next anniversary date, whichever comes first, and only then flows to the new broker of record. Other carriers redirect commission as of the BOR effective date. Your new broker takes over servicing either way, which is why brokerages think hard before accepting a mid-term BOR that carries months of unpaid work.

Here is what a processed BOR letter changes and what it leaves untouched:

What does a BOR letter not do?

A BOR letter does not cancel, rewrite, or replace any policy. Your coverage continues under the same policy number, the same forms, and the same premium, because the carrier's contract is with you, not with your broker. The letter also does not obligate the carrier to requote your account or improve your terms, and it does not erase anything in your file, since your claims history follows the account regardless of who represents it.

It cannot reach policies it does not name, so a letter addressed to your property carrier leaves your auto and workers compensation placements exactly where they were. If the goal is a different carrier or a lower premium, the BOR is only step one. The new broker still has to market the account, and the honest ones say so before you sign.

One more limit worth naming. A BOR letter is generally revocable the same way it was made. If the new relationship sours, a later letter designating someone else supersedes it, because carriers act on the most recent designation on file.

Should you sign a BOR letter or let several brokers quote?

For a marketing effort, a BOR letter usually beats sending three brokers to the same carriers. Most carriers will release only one quote per risk, reserved for whichever broker submits the account first. When multiple brokers shop you simultaneously, they race to file submissions and block markets against each other, underwriters see duplicate submissions and sometimes decline to quote at all, and you end up comparing whichever leftovers each broker could still reach. Brokers call this blocking markets. It is the single most common way buyers sabotage their own renewal.

The cleaner alternatives are two. Either sign a BOR with the one broker you trust and let them run the entire marketing effort, or keep your incumbent and assign specific carriers to a second broker in writing so nobody overlaps. A broker asking for your recent loss runs before promising savings is a good sign, because real marketing starts with underwriting information rather than a guess.

When should you change your broker of record?

Change brokers when the relationship costs you more than the switch would. The recurring symptoms are renewals that show up days before the effective date with no marketing summary, certificates that take a week instead of an hour, no annual conversation about how your operations changed, and a book that never leaves one carrier even as your premium climbs.

Access matters as much as effort. If your operations have outgrown standard markets, you need a broker who can reach both admitted and non-admitted carriers rather than one who quotes the same two companies every year. Timing matters too. Carriers process BOR letters mid-term, but most buyers sign 60 to 90 days before renewal so the new broker has time to market the account properly.

When you are ready, the switch runs in a fixed order:

1. Interview the replacement before signing anything

   Ask which carriers they hold appointments with, who will service your account day to day, and what their renewal timeline looks like. A capable broker reviews your current policies and loss history before promising anything.

2. Sign the BOR letter the new broker prepares

   The letter goes on your letterhead, names the carrier and policy numbers, states the effective date, and carries the signature of an owner or officer. Sign one letter per carrier being moved.

3. Wait out the carrier's confirmation window

   The carrier notifies your incumbent and commonly holds the change open for 5 to 10 business days. Expect a retention call, and revoke in writing only if the incumbent genuinely changes your mind.

4. Transfer the account file to the new broker

   Once the designation is final, the new broker pulls policies, endorsements, and loss runs through the carrier and rebuilds your certificate holder list so proof of insurance keeps flowing without interruption.

5. Set the renewal strategy with your new broker

   Agree on which markets to approach, what to fix in the program, and when submissions go out. This meeting is the reason you moved, so put dates on it.

Done in that order, the first renewal with the new broker should look different on paper. Expect a marketing summary that names the carriers approached, the quotes each returned, and the reasoning behind the recommendation, delivered weeks before the effective date instead of days. That document is the proof the BOR bought you something.

This guide is for educational purposes and summarizes standard ISO policy language. Your policy's specific terms, conditions, and endorsements control. Talk to a licensed broker about your actual exposures.