Every UK business knows that it is sensible to arrange a good quality insurance policy to protect it’s assets and liabilities. But, one of the most difficult things to work out is where to start looking for a quote?

Many years ago, you only had one option and that was to speak to a local insurance broker. The broker would come out to see you, get you to fill in a proposal form and then they would go away. At some point they would come back to you with a written quote.

Nowadays, in the 21st Century, you have different options. Speed, service, quality and cost are the main issues that affect everyone’s purchasing choice, usually in varying degrees.

The best way to get a business insurance quote that is quick, with friendly service, that provides wide cover and is competitive is through an business insurance broker that trades online, or over the phone. You can do all that is required from the comfort of your own phone and if you have email or a fax, you can get the quote immediately.

Franchises are big business. The logic of the huge start up costs are sensibly wighed by the support and brand that usually comes with a decent franchise.

One downside of a franchise is that they usually offer you access to a specialist scheme business insurance arrangement they have negotiated.

We are finding more and more that many schemes (particularly restaurant insurance) are increasing their previously competitive premiums at many times the average inflation figure.

You may be told that this arrangement offers better protection for your business than a standard commercial insurance quote. But, you do have to ask yourself if the extra premium is worth it.

The best option, is to get your renewal quote and then look around for one or two more, without disclosing your renewal quote, and ask for the best possible price. Whilst nothing in life is guaranteed, it is almost a certainty that you will get a better premium, sometimes up to half price.

You then need to disclose your renewal quote to the competing broker and asl them to summarise (for free) the differences in cover. Then, you need to make a business decision whether it is worthwhile changing insurer.

UK home insurance companies, when quoting, will ask you how often your home is left unoccupied or unattended. These type of policies are only really designed to cover you if you leave your home empty for less than 30 days.

If you have a building that is likely to be empty for longer, you need to think about a specialist unoccupied building insurance policy. You basically have two types. Firstly, those that are slightly cheaper, but offer very restricted cover ie fire, lightning, aircraft, explosion and property owners liability only.

Secondly, if you look around a bit more, you can find a more expensive policy that will offer slightly wider cover, including theft, malicious damage and limited storm.

We would always recommend that you speak to a business insurance broker when getting  a quote. Commercial insurance companies offer these, long term unoccupied, policies more than a standard household insurer.

The cost difference is only around 20/30%. In our opinion, given the likelihood of storms in the UK, it is much better paying a few pounds extra for the increased peace of mind.

Whatever your trade and whatever your size, if you sit back and think about the risks that you face, third party liability is one that will be in your top three. If not, you need to really consider the potential that your business faces for a costly lawsuit.

At least 25% of every liability insurance claim is made up of legal fees, whether the claim is legitimate or not. What this means is that in 2009 and increasingly in 2010 it is easier than ever before to raise a claim against a business. Shoppers, customers and clients will think nothing about making a claim against you, partly in the hope that a small payment is made to settle early.

If a claim goes beyond this, you will need to appoint a solicitor even if you are fending off the most spurious of claims. A good quality solicitor will cost at least £100 an hour and that is without the costs for post, photcopying, printing and telephone calls which are usually charged individually.

One risk you will face, if you manufacture or supply anything, is for products liability insurance. If that tin of beans, bottle of pop or toy car causes injury, illness, disease or sickness, there is a significant chance you will face a claim.

One common mistake is that if you sell a product made by someone else you can just pass the claim to them. In UK law this is not the case. If you sell me a can of cola, I have a financial relationship with you and consequently I can sue you. Someone down the line your insurers will recoup the cost from the manufacture but they will pay out first.

Channel 4 news reports of increased concerns at  the lack of consultation involved for employees being made redundant.

Redundancies are never easy, never wanted and never accepted well. If you are in business the chances are that you have had to either lay people off or consider this as a reality.

Anyone that is made redundant will usually be aggrieved, this can lead to them fighting a case against your company, not necessarily because they want their job back, it could be in the hope that there is more money due back to them.

Legal advice is absolutely essential when faced with a potential employment tribunal claim which is the natural progression if an employee continues to feel that they have not been treated correctly.

Even before you get to a tribunal, you need to refer to either a solicitor or a company that specialises in this sort of conflict management.

One essential part of your business insurance arrangements must be commercial legal expenses insurance. In the event of a grievance, as soon as this starts, your insurance cover will kick in and lead you through the right paths, including legal fees.

Businessinsure has continued to go from strength to strength in what has been a very difficult time for all businesses that help to make up UK plc.

Traditionally we have only offered business and commercial building insurance policies.

We are increasingly being asked by our existing customers if we are able to offer household or home insurance. From the 1st January 2010 we will be able to offer a range of home buildings and contents insurance. We will advise our existing customers at renewal time, but if you need a home insurance quote prior to your commercial renewal, give us a call.

If your house or flat has an attic you may have been in it in the past few weeks to get your Christmas decorations down. It will not have escaped you that attics and lofts are very very cold.

Modern day insulation makes the situation even worse as less and less heat gets into the upper spaces of any property. In the olden days (pre 1980) you could tell who had the money to invest in lagging their attic because there where never any pigeons or crows sitting on their roofs!

In the southern parts of the UK the temperatures have dropped from the lows earlier on in the week.

Just a word of warning that during the exceptionally cold snap, some pipes may have burst, through expanded ice and you wont even know about it until the water thaws.

Home and business insurance policies will cover the damage caused by leaking water but not the cost of repairing the pipe.

It may well be worth just popping in to check your business premises over the Christmas break in case there is a leak which could be devastating if it continues for days and days.

All retailers need shop insurance. There is no legal requirement to have an insurance policy in force (except for employers liability) but it is less than sensible to trade without it.

A standard policy will include cover for different sections, one of these is for money. Shopkeepers do still accept significant amounts of cash, especially the smaller retailers.

If you have a policy in force it will cover cash on the premises, in transit to and from the bank and also overnight. With cash being so theft attractive, commercial insurance companies are not too keen to insure high amounts.

Usually, a policy will give cover for between £3 and £5,000 on the business premises during the day. Overnight, you will be lucky to get over £500 unless it is in a safe.

For this £500 cash overnight, that is not in a safe, you need to read the terms and conditions of your policy wording. It may well be that you have fairly onerous terms. Some of the main insurers will only provide cover if the cash is removed from the till and stored elsewhere on the premises (not necessarily in a safe). Where it is stored elsewhere, the policy will state that the till drawers need to be left open.

The reason for leaving the till drawers “out” is that any prospective thief may look through the shop window and, when seeing the empty till drawer, decide that there are better pickings elsehwere.

It is only a small point but if an insurer investigates (after a claim) and the cash was forcibly stolen from a till, you will not be covered.

If you are in any doubt as to the terms and conditions, give your broker a call, this will be easier than you having to read the documents yourself.

Most business insurance policies run for 12 months of cover, you take out a policy on the 23rd December 2009 and it will run out on the 22nd December 2010. This applies to over 95% of policies and similarly applies to car and home insurance. The exceptions are usually marine cargo, exhibitions and business travel insurance.

Normally, if you take out an annual policy, you will allow this to run for the twelve month period. In certain circumstances, you may have a requirement to cancel your insurance. This could be because the business has merged with another, you are moving premises or your current insurer cannot provide an extension of cover that you require.

Most sensible commercial insurers will allow you to cancel on a pro-rata basis ie you get back a proportionate amount of what you have paid (unless you have had a claim).

Certain types of policies may have what is called a “minimum and deposit” clause. This will only be two or three lines, but what this means is that if you cancel, whenever it is, you do not get a penny back.

This is a very onerous condition and one that must be made clear to you at quote stage. It will, in most cases, apply to combined liability and professional indemnity  insurance. If you have one applied, ask for it to be removed or at worst, when your renewal is due compare business insurance quotes from other providers to see what they can offer you.

Insurers have long argued that if you leave your keys in your car and your car is stolen, then this is tough luck on you. They say that you have not paid “due care and attention” to “protecting your asset”.

Examples of this are where you pay for fuel or leave your car in the driveway for 5 minutes with the keys in. Insurance is about unexpected events, if you don’t expect it to happen and it does, you should be covered.

The Ombudsman, reports Insurance Times http://tinyurl.com/yzxs98a is prepared to reconsider this. In essence, as long as you have not had a wilful disregard for your property, to you and me, been very silly and left you car unattended for a while where you could reasonably expect it to suffer a theft, then you may be covered.

This wil apply to home more than business insurance, but it is at least a start.