2010 January | BusinessInsure Blog

Archive for January, 2010

Free commercial insurance quote?

Saturday, January 30th, 2010

Anyone who has suffered a burst pipe in the recent cold snap or any other plumbing problem will be fully aware of the costs involved. Not the repair costs, but the costs in actually getting a quote. Even as we limp out of Gordon Brown’s legacy recession, some tradespeople are still charging to visit you and give a quote.

But, the good news is, if you are looking for a commercial insurance quote you will not have to pay a single penny. You may have to set aside some time but you do not actually need to visit a broker or insurer, it can all be done over the phone.

Most brokers are happy to receive inbound business insurance quote requests over the phone. Yes, if we look at the technicalities, you are paying for a phone call, so it is not strictly free. Call us though and we usually offer to call you straight back.

You do need to prepare yourself for this type of call. If you have an existing policy, it is useful to have it to hand. It is also helpful, although many people do not like doing it, to let the broker know what you are paying. This helps them decide which insurance company to approach on your behalf.

If it is a new venture, you are best to have all of your financial projections to hand.

If you have access to email, this is even better, because the quick and efficient broker will usually send you a written quote within a few hours of your first call. If they cannot offer an immediate premium, they will usually tell you and explain the reasons why. Expect to wait a maximum of 2 working days at the outside though.

Posted in business insurance quote, commercial insurance quote | No Comments »

Commercial liability insurance – whats included

Friday, January 29th, 2010

As a business insurance broker, we get calls from people that either have a policy in force, and are looking for an alternative, or others who are just starting out and looking for a bit of advice.

The good thing is, if you’ve got the time, our advice is free. As part of a business planning process, most people nowadays will use some form of software package (most of the banks provide these). One of the questions asked, is how much you will expect to pay for business or commercial liability insurance.

This is a good question, and the answer has to start with what it actually includes. A standard commercial combined insurance policy has the option of including three types of liability, these are more commonly called commercial or combined liability. Later blogs will cover each of these individually but the three types are:-

Employers liability (legally required if you employ anyone)

Public liability (not a legal requirement but a prudent cover to have in place)

Products liability (again, not required under statute but with the potential for most businesses of a significant claim, it is a sensible coverage to arrange)

Posted in business insurance broker, commercial combined insurance, commercial liability insurance | No Comments »

Business insurance quote – should I use a comparison service?

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

You may have seen, in the UK, the Direct Line red telephone/mouse adverts recently. They are saying two things, firstly that they have been around for over 25 years now and secondly, that they do not advertise on price comparison sites.

The buying and selling of insurance products has been transformed over the past few decades because of three things. Firstly, more use of the telephone. Secondly, the internet and thirdly the huge development of processing and memory power of computers.

This has all led to the ability of you or I to get, for example, a commercial insurance quote for a business, confirmed in writing (via email) within half an hour.

But there is one thing that has not changed, the middlemen. We are a broker and we do not hide the fact that we earn a commission from the insurers for placing your cover with them. If you save money by doing that, then we are all happy.

The reason there is a backlash against the sites that “offer” to compare business insurance are that they are not cheap to run. They have mind boggling advertising and website budgets. For this reason they insist on significant double digit percentage commissions. In reality though, they may not really be comparing the whole market as they claim to.

So, you may not be getting the best quote, as the insurers they work with may just be the ones that are naive enough to pay astronomical commission.

In answer to the post question, yes you should use a comparison service. But only by speaking, over the phone, to an online business insurance broker. Let them do the comparison for you and I can guarantee, you will get a much better service this way in the event of a claim.

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Employers liability insurance – minimum limit of indemnity

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

Here in the UK, we may feel at times that there are too many rules, too many laws and too much intrusion from the State. In practice, this is probably true. However, there are many benefits to this system of government which has been in existence for the last 100 years.

The thing is, with many of the benefits, you do not even know they exist. Alternatively, they are so ingrained in our way of life (voting democracy for example) that we don’t even realise how good things are.

One area where you may not realise the benefits of state intervention, is employers liability insurance. If you work for anyone, whether you are paid a salary, dividends, bonus or you work as an unpaid volunteer, your employer must have in force a certain type of insurance.

This governed by the Employers Liability Act 1969 (with numerous revisions). What this act means, very simply, is that you have the right to sue your employer if, through their negligence, you have suffered injury, illness or disease.

Negligence is fairly wide ranging and does include something such as them not training you correctly to use a machine. This is different from public liability insurance, which is responsibility for the same things to anyone who isn’t an employee.

The law says that an employers must have a valid contract of insurance in force that provides a minimum limit of indemnity of £5,000,000 any one claim. In fact, most insurers provide double this as standard.

You will not, unless your insurer is acting illegally, get a policy with anything lower than £5m.

Posted in employers liability insurance | No Comments »

Hired equipment – cover it through your business insurance

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

Oil baron Paul Getty said, “if it appreciates we buy it, if it depreciates, we lease it”.

In business this still rings true to many folk. Some still insist on buying an asset outright even if it depreciates by the day (ie cars). Others know that there is a benefit in leasing an item of plant or equipment because you can a) be certain of your fixed cost for the item and b) you aren’t stuck with the paper loss if the item depreciates.

Nowadays, even post credit crunch, you can still lease anything from a laptop to 300 ft mechanical digger. Finance is available, but finance costs. You have already accepted that by leasing it, you do not own the item. But, what some people are not aware of is, that someone wants that asset insured. The leasing company, the rightful owners, want it covered to protect their investment.

So, they arrange a sort of umbrella business insurance policy. You will see, in the deepest, darkest depths of your lease agreement that they have saved you the trouble of insuring this and done it for you.

What they do not tell you is that the premium charged is not really what you would call competitive. You will more than likely have some sort of commercial insurance policy in place. This will cover your business assets and liabilities.

You can usually cover the item of plant on your own policy for roughly 60/70% of the cost. You need to get your insurance broker to phone a company called “lease and loan” insurance (details in your lease agreement) to confirm that you have this cover in place. Once they have done this, to the satisfaction of L&L, then you will no longer get charged the higher premium.

Even if they have been covering this for months, your broker can still get them to refund you if they can confirm that dual cover was/is in place.

Don’t pay for what you don’t need, in this day and age, every penny counts.

Posted in business insurance, commercial insurance | No Comments »

Pub insurance – thatched properties

Tuesday, January 26th, 2010

Speak to any business insurance broker about a quote and they will ask you a range of different questions about your business.

One question that will always be asked is about the construction of the building. The acronym B.S.S.T is used a lot, this stands for brick, stone, slate or tile. It effectively is confirmation that any building that needs to be insured, is of standard construction.

Part steel buildings, such as modern industrial units, do not fall within this definition but are considered by insurers to be standard, as long as they do not have insulation panels made of highly flammable material (such as polystyrene).

The insurers prefer standard construction, because in the even of a fire there is less likelihood of it spreading quickly. It is also better from a theft point of view in that it is not easy to break through a brick wall, whereas it is if the wall is part wooden.

When we consider a pub insurance quote, there is always the chance that we will have a thatched property referred. Licensed trade premises tend to occupy more thatched properties than other businesses. They also tend to have open fires which concerns some insurers.

Have no fear though, some insurer do recognise that thatched roofs, if cared for and replaced often enough are not that bad a risk. There is the element of storm damage, but this really is minimal compared to a slate roof because thatch is so heavy.

The main risk is fire. If you do have thatch and are having difficulty getting a quote, you need to get on the phone and speak to a few brokers. Some of the main, larger, companies are quote happy to provide terms, without onerous conditions applying. It is the same old story, shop around and you will find the premium and cover you want.

Posted in pub insurance | No Comments »

Vet, dentist and doctors surgery insurance – how can this be office insurance?

Monday, January 25th, 2010

As we have mentioned before, UK commercial insurance companies like to categorise and segment different types of industries and businesses.

This makes things a lot easier when looking around for a quote or cover. But, as with everything there are always a few anomalies.

One of these relates to office insurance. Every town, city and village will have some sort of office, whether a separate commercial one or home based. As there are so many, insurers have sensibly put together a package that includes most of the common covers that would be required.

Now, the anomaly is that the vast majority of insurers that have one of these packages use them to cover doctors, dentists and vets. It may seem strange but to an insurer the risks presented are very much the same. You need to look out for the additional covers provided (say cover for visiting bags and equipment away from the risk address). Otherwise, to all intents and purposes the covers are very much the same.

Just make sure that whenever you get your policy it specifically states the type of business or trade that you are involved in. The rating will of course be slightly different. For example there is more likelihood of veterinary staff being injured than say, a dentist. For this reason the insurers will need to categorise your trade correctly.

As always, discussing your requirements with a broker is the way forward. They understand the options available and are legally obliged to provide you with a professional recommendation, in the form of a full written quotation with terms, conditions and excess laid out clearly.

Posted in office insurance | No Comments »

Small business insurance – how much should I expect to pay?

Monday, January 25th, 2010

A lot of businesses start out as just ideas. People decide that, for one reason or another, they do not want to work for someone else or another company any longer.

The leap from this to setting up your own venture is only as long as you want it to be. But, being cautious and crossing every T and dotting every I is usually the best approach.

Simple I know, but what you need to do it sit back and think about the following. If you are in employment at the moment (lets say earning £17,500) per annum your company will need to earn at least £20,000 (with NI) to pay you. This needs to be net profit. So, for you to start in business on your own and hopefully earn at least the same salary, you need to generate nearly £400 profit per week.

This is on top of all your other business outgoings. When doing your sums, you will be looking for an idea of costs for a variety of items. One of these will be small business insurance. We get a lot of phone calls from people who are thinking of starting on their own looking for a bit of advice and rough costings.

We welcome these calls but we do need some accurate information in order to give a realistic estimation. One of the main questions is, how much will I be paying.

The difficulty with commercial insurance, is that we need to know the location, the type of business, an idea of the replacement cost of all contents and turnover/wage roll. If you have a business plan, this information will be easy to come by.

Once you have this to hand, we can then give you a better idea of premium.

Posted in small business insurance | No Comments »

Mobile phones – get them covered under your office insurance

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

Walk down any high street and you will see a glut of mobile phone shops, all the big brands are usually there, plugging their wares.

If you are prepared to sign up to a contract, the longer the better, you will get a mobile phone for free. Everyone know this and we are all aware that the phones are expensive items. Lose one of the phones or get it stolen and you can be shelling out up to £500 for a replacement.

A lot of businesses have corporate accounts for phones, but what about the smaller business? Many owners simply have a phone, in their name, but it is purely for commercial use. Where you are looking at up to £500 to replace, this is an item that needs to be covered, usually under your office insurance.

All policies offer this option, it is not something that is automatically included. So, unless you specify it or ask for it to be included you may find yourself out of pocket in the event of a loss.

Just be aware that some, we feel unfairly, companies have a huge excess of £250 each and every claim. If you look around or speak to a business insurance broker, you can usually get an excess of £100 each and every loss. Yes, £100 is a lot of money, but it is lot less than £500.

Typically, expect to pay around £30 per annum for a £1,000 worth of cover. Just make sure that it provides cover without the need to specify individual items. This way all you phones are covered, as long as the overall sum insured is accurate to replace all of your portable telecoms.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Commercial building insurance – what is reinstatement?

Sunday, January 24th, 2010

Imagine going to the shops and buying a box of cereal. You pay £2.00 for it and on the way home it falls out of your bag, into a puddle and is ruined.

To put you in the same position that you were in before your loss, you would need to spend a further £2.00. This is the reinstatement cost.

Now, imagine if you bought a laptop in 2008, it had a 50GB hard drive and cost you £750. If you dropped it in the same puddle (careless I know) and went out to buy a new one, you would probably only pay £400. This is the because, to get the same type of computer is cheaper 2 years later.

Now, you have a property that you paid £250,000 for and you are looking for a commercial building insurance quote. Do you insure for the purchase value? the answer is no. You may have got a good deal, it may be an old Grade II listed property or it may be that you have paid a premium for the property because it is in a nice area. So, in this case if your building is destroyed by fire, it may cost £400,000, £200,o00 or any other amount.

The problem is, that you need to find out exactly what it would cost to reinstate the property. The only way to be sure, is to get a valuer to come and see the property and give you an accurate reinstatement figure. There are so many different factors that affect this that a business insurance company cannot give you any sort of help or advice, you need someone to come and see the property.

A quick valuation may only cost you a few hundred pounds and if it shows that you have been insuring for the wrong figure then it may save you money in the long run.

A very (and I mean very) rough rule of thumb, is £100 per square foot for modern industrial (block and steel) premises and £200 per square foot for other properties. This cannot be applied to properties that are listed, of non standard construction or built prior to 1900. Then, you definitely need to get an expert involved.