I know it's hard to break ties with an agent you've known and trusted for years, but I've found many times over that you need to say to your self that friends are friends and business is business. When they say to you that they are re-evaluating, and you feel it's a little extreme, then you tell him that times are tight and that you need to re-evaluate your yearly expenses and that you understand costs go up but that much of an increase seems extreme. Then tell him you would hope that he understands that you need to get a few other quotes before you just accept this increase and that if you find his prices are out of line that you would like to sit down with him and compare pricing to ensure they're apples to apples. Also, since you do like and trust him, tell him that you're not looking to change agents and will give him the opportunity to beat or match any quote you get.
I've been in sales for over 20 years, we run a very honest company and sometimes we can beat a competitors pricing and sometimes not, but long time customers will almost always give you the opportunity to see if you can do anything. Customer service means so much that we have customers that know we are not the cheapest but came to us because of the support they get after the sale.
Gary
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