October 31st in the UK is becoming more and commercialised. Ever since the early 80’s Halloween has been celebrated. More so in the past with trick or treating. Nowadays though it is more likely that kids will go to a Halloween party without knocking on their neighbours doors and causing trouble.

The problem is, what exactly is trick or treating and how does this relate to your business insurance policy? Most people don’t exactly know what trick or treating really is. In some areas it has really replaced guising or penny for the gut where it was a way to get a bit of extra pocket money.

Sometimes it can be a nightmare where someones idea of a trick is to cause damage to a properly. If you have a business from home policy then it is something to worry about in case any of your business assets or stock are damaged.

The good thing is, that if there was any damage to your building or business assets then it would be covered under a standard policy as this is malicious damage. But, beware that some insurers may actually exclude theft and malicious damage or may have a very high excess, is is always worth ensuring that you check you policy wording thoroughly.

In every town or city in the UK, if you search for leased office space, you will find there are two options available. Firstly, where you lease an office in it’s entirety and secondly, where you rent space in a serviced office.

In the second example, you will still have your own separate lockable office but it will be within a block with other offices and business units. As part of the lease in a serviced office, you will usually have the option of not only renting the space, but also tables, chairs and office furniture.

You will not need, therefore, to arrange insurance for these contents when you move into your office. It is all about insurable interest, if you do not own a particular piece of equipment or buildings, then ordinarily you cannot insure it. The only exception is where the terms of the lease insist on you insuring the asset in question.

When you do move into your office, you will have a requirement to arrange office insurance for your computer equipment, portable equipment, liabilities and professional indemnity if required.

The computer equipment cannot be covered by the company that owns the serviced office because, as mentioned above, they do not have any financial interest.

Most UK commercial insurance companies will have some form of package policy which combines the covers you require. Minimum premiums for these packages start at £262.50, with monthly instalments available, if you speak to a business insurance broker.

Most businesses in the UK send and received goods, stock or equipment. The exceptions are the service providers such as accountants, lawyers, brokers etc.

If you do send and receive goods, you will usually have a responsibility to insure them. not a legal responsibility, but if what is being delivered to you is damaged once it leaves the suppliers address, you are normally responsible.

Most third party carriers or couriers will offer some form of insurance. You will have to pay for it and depending on the value of what is being sent, any payout maybe inadequate as it is only and amount per kilo.

Many commercial insurance package policies, will include an element of goods in transit cover. Usually, you will get cover up to a couple of thousand pounds, if being moved in your own vehicles.

To get cover for goods being moved by a third party, over which you have no control, you will need to speak to your insurance broker to get a wider cover extension.

Goods in transit will cover UK/EU sendings in most cases. Where goods are being received or sent outside of the EU, you will need to buy a separate marine cargo or freight insurance policy.

Very few business policies include this cover. Some insurers, through a specialist commercial combined insurance may be able to extend the cover. Usually though you will need to get either an annual policy or a single “one off” cover for each sending.

The benefits of this cover are that you are insuring the replacement cost (plus a percentage for freight and insurance costs if required). Whereas if, for example, you are moving computers and you only get a certain amount per kilo, you may not be reinstated fully for your loss.

It is reported, on insurancefraud.org, that in Texas law enforcement and transport agents are no longer going to include the telephone numbers, of the parties involved in accidents, in the formal crash reports.

Here in the UK, we have not quite got to the stage of anyone who is involved in a car crash having the possibility of a “no win no fee” solicitor calling them up to fight for a settlement.

Data Protection laws are stricter in the UK, which is a benefit.

The question is though, what happens if you are a business who suffers a loss, who can fight your case for you?

A standard commercial insurance policy is there to provide you with reassurance that in the event of a loss, you will be financially reimbursed. But what if you are not happy or you just want a third party to “sanity check” what the insurers are offering.

In this case, you need to look for a loss assessor, not an adjuster (they are appointed by the insurer). An assessor acts for you, the business insurance purchaser, but be careful. They will take a percentage of any settlement amount. What is reasonable depends on the total claim, but an assessor taking any more than 15% will seriously have to justify their fee.

If you ask anyone who owns their own home “what is your house worth?” the chances are they can tell you, within 10%, what the property would fetch on the open market.

Even with the slump in house prices seen in the UK, homeowners are still switched on enough to know the market value of their property.

If you are a commercial property owner, then things become a bit more difficult. Commercial property prices have taken a bigger hit than residential prices, it is estimated that in some areas of England prices have dropped more than 50% from the summer 2007 peak.

When we are approached for commercial property insurance, one of the few things we will never need to know is the market value. This is irrelevant. What the insurers need to know is the rebuilding cost or reinstatement figure. Simply put, if your building were razed to the ground in a fire, how much would it cost to rebuild it?

If you look around the web for a commercial building insurance quote, you will notice that it is the sum insured that is always asked for. One way to reduce your premium payable, is to ensure that you obtain a quote for rebuilding cost only.

You may think that this is obvious, but if you have had your building insured for years, with automatic index-linked increases, your sum insured may be too high. Whether this is by 5 or 50% it doesn’t matter, you are paying too much for your insurance. Wouldn’t you rather the money was in your pocket and not your insurance companies?

Last week, the ABI (Association of British Insurers) confirmed that private car insurance (excluding business use) premiums had increased, on average, by more than 25% since September 2008.

It is of course easy to criticise the insurance industry for increasing their prices during a recession, but there are a number of reasons for this. These include increased repair costs, significantly reduced investment income and increased claims costs.

Motor insurance tends to lead the insurance market cycles. What this means is that when motor insurance prices increases, then all other types of insurance will tend to increase after this. This is because of the sheer scale of cars on the roads. Insurers cannot ignore it when they are losing money on motor insurance and have to increase their prices.

Whilst it is easy to concentrate on the headline increases, you need to look back over the past 9 or 10 years to see that insurance costs have remained virtually static. Unfortunately, there are likely to be increased premiums in commercial insurance as well. But, as this type of insurance has a much higher average premium, insurers cannot get away with 25% year on year increases. The increases will be much more gradual, probably around the 5/6% mark per year.

If you are careful and spend a bit of time looking, you can negate these increases by getting an online business insurance quote. Online brokers have to work to all the same rules as traditional, city centre, brokers but they can operate at reduced costs.

Going back many years, to get a business insurance policy was similar to obtaining a 1970’s mortgage (not easy and not quick – have things changed in 2009?).

Meetings had to happen with a broker, face to face, the broker had to go away and put all of the details you had told him to different insurers. They would then wait a few(!) days to get a written quote back from the insurers. The broker would then put this to you, either face to face or by post. You would then have to decide whether or not proceed. If you did, the broker would then send you a proposal form to complete and return. Lastly, many months later you would get a hand typed policy document.

Nowadays though, using a hypothetical shop as an example, you can phone a broker at 10am, get a confirmed shop insurance quote emailed by 10 past and if you are happy to accept it, you can have the policy documents and certificate of employers liability emailed through by half ten.

You may notice that in this scenario, which does happen and very regularly, that not one single document needs to be posted. Proposal forms are a thing of the past for most commercial insurance policies. Payment can be made by card, BACS or instalments as cheques are also on their way out.

So, whilst the post strike is a pain for one and all, if you are buying business insurance, you don’t have to worry.

If you run a small business, including a home based business, you needn’t have to pay a fortune for your business insurance.

Whether you are an established business, or just looking around for your first small business insurance quote, a bit of “smart searching” will save you money.

The key is to balance how much time you are prepared to spend looking for the cheapest cover. In reality, you only need to speak to two or three independent commercial insurance brokers to cover most of the available market.

The beauty of dealing with a broker is choice and the ability to speak to someone about your requirements. The broker has no ties whatsoever and can quote whoever they want. The other benefit is that the broker is legally obliged to offer you the best deal.

You may be tempted to look into one of the sites that offer to compare business insurance for you, but many of these do not provide advice. Deep in their terms and conditions they will deny any responsibility for misquoting you as you are the person making the choices. A broker operates in the opposite way and part of their service is the professional, unambiguous advice they give you.

Continuing on the theme of flood cover, many insurers are starting, slowly but surely, to amend their terms and conditions relating to flood cover.

The summer floods of 2007 cost insurers many millions of pounds. Flooding is one type of claim, that on the face of it, would not cost very much. A bit of water in a property can usually be dried out. But, a bigger flood over a longer period of time, will cause significant damage. As far as commercial building insurance is concerned, flood damage costs will be higher, depending on how long the flood waters lie for.

What this means is that a flash flood, where a small amount of water enters a property in the summer, can be resolved fairly quickly. The ambient air temperature helps get rid of any dampness from the water. If the flood waters stay for any more than a few hours then they seep into all parts of the building, the electrics and even into the concrete floors.

Many commercial insurance companies are starting to increase their standard excess from £250 for flood, up to £1,000 or even £2,500. This will not help in the event of a catastrophe (in reducing the insurers cost) but, is intended to concentrate the mind of the insured in reducing flood claims costs.

If your insurer has categorised your business as being in a flood zone and increased your premium, then you need to provide them with as much evidence as possible pointing to the fact that you may not suffer a flood loss. This includes things such as formal flood defences and whether the building is raised (ie on a hill) from the nearest watercourse.