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Archive for June, 2010

Wholesalers insurance – cash and carry

Monday, June 21st, 2010

When looking for business insurance, you will, in over 90% of cases, end up speaking to an independent broker to get a competitive quote.

As part of this process, you will either speak to them over the phone or have a face to face meeting. When this occurs, there will be a large amount of information that they will ask of you, in order that they can present the risk to insurers to get the best price for the widest cover.

One of the questions, if you are selling products, will relate to the actual stock that you hold, and need to insure, at the business premises. For a wholesalers insurance quote, the two main questions will be what is the type of stock that you hold, and what is the maximum replacement cost. This cost is the amount you need to have cover for, so in the event of a loss you are fairly recompensed by the policy.

The dfficulty for a cash and carry business is actually defining the stock that hold. For a sweet shop, this is easy. But a cash and carry can have tens of thousands of different product lines, from meat, to sweets, to paper plates.

If you do not declare the correct type of stock, ie the sweet shop does not declare it has (much more theft attractive) tobacco stock, then if there was a break in the insurers could, quote fairly, turn down the claim.

So, the cash and carry owner want to be sure that they are adequately covered. One way of doing this is to get an insurer that has a specific business category for cash and carry. This way, in the event of a loss, if you can prove that the product line you are claiming for, is one that you or any other similar business would more than likely sell, then you will not have a problem in getting any claim settled.

As ever, speaking to a broker is the best, and easiest way to do this.

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Quality small business insurance

Sunday, June 20th, 2010

If you’re starting a new business or are reviewing your cover at renewal stage, you need to make sure that you not only have a competitive, but a quality policy that you can rely on in the event of a disaster.

Most business insurance companies have essentially two types of policies. A packaged (with a range of sections) policy suited to your trade, or a bespoke one (where you pick and choose the sections of cover) that is built, or put together, specifically for you.

As far as small business insurance is concerned, most of the forward thinking, progressive insurers have a packaged product. These usually include business assets, contents, stock, liabilities and money cover. As there are numerous insurers offering these policies, there are as you would expect significant variations in the type of cover and the prices you will pay.

Whilst it may take some time, it is always worthwhile getting more than one quotation, this is in addition to your existing insurers renewal offer, if it is not a first time policy.

How you can tell if it is a quality policy is a combination of the professionalism of who you discuss it with and the actual quote you receive. If you really have no faith in the person selling you the policy, you have to question whether they are going to provide you with the actual cover you need, or whatever limited range of covers they have available. For this reason, shop around and see what is available. Do not be afraid to barter or mention alternative quotes you have received, you may be asked to prove an alternative quote but in this day and age of instant email, it is easy to do so.

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Business insurance – what cover do I need?

Saturday, June 19th, 2010

What may seem like a simple question, can become very confusing if you spend a bit of time looking on the internet and reading up on the subject.

There are very few, legally required, forms of business insurance in the UK. The main one that every owner is aware of is employers liability insurance. In addition there is third party motor cover and, if you have hydraulic or lifting plant, you need to have engineering inspection cover, which is a form of insurance.

One sure fire way of finding out exactly what cover you need, is to speak to an expert. What we mean is actually discuss this, either face to face, or over the phone with an independent business insurance broker. What you should not do, is fill in forms and receive quotes from a quote site. Whilst you may get a good price and what looks like good cover, you are not receiving any advice regarding what your real demands, needs, wants or requirements are.

We cannot stress enough, that just taking the time out to have a chat with someone who has access to a range of insurers, is time worth spending. The bonus is, that this process is free. Most brokers are quite happy to discuss, help and advise for free, you never, every have to pay for the quote.

It may be that your current cover is insufficient or the way that it has been arranged is far too complex or is based on too many separate policies. Insurers are changing and refining their wordings all the time. Whilst you may have had to have two or three separate policies a few years ago, in 2010 it may be that a new or existing underwriter has a better, more competitive product that encompasses all of your requirements.

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Commercial building insurance – fixed glass and sanitary-ware

Friday, June 18th, 2010

Anyone who has purchased, and made a claim, on a business insurance policy will know that the actual policy wording can take a while to interpret.

Certain sections appear to exclude cover, because later in the policy wording this particular part of the cover is “bought back in”. It is not a deliberate attempt to confuse or deceive (contrary to what some might say), it is just the nature of the beast. The wording needs to be read, in conjunction with your insurance schedule, and in it’s entirety for you to fully understand what is, and is not included.

When looking at commercial property insurance, you want to make sure that you are covered for most types of claims. There are certain types of claims, such as arson by the property owner, which of course cannot be covered. But, there are differences between a basic policy wording and a more comprehensive policy.

One of the additional covers you can, and should have, is for fixed glass. If you are the property owner and you lease the premises, then under the terms of your lease your tenant will usually be responsible for insuring the shop front glass. However, this is not always the case, particularly if it is your business that occupies the building, or it is a residential let.

This post is about sanitary ware, this includes sinks, showers and toilets, effectively the fixed contents in any bathroom. Not all policies include this, whereas the cost of fixing a cracked bath, particularly if it is a difficult to obtain colour, can be very expensive.

This tends to be more of an issue with block of flats insurance, than if you own a high street premises, but you are always wise to check that you have cover in place.

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Salon insurance – lettering and signage cover

Thursday, June 17th, 2010

Walk up and down any high street in the UK and you will see some of the greatest, free, advertising space there is. Forget the bus shelters, advertising hoardings or other paid for adverts.

Every shop window is a potential advertising space and most owners make the best use of this. Sure, there are some businesses that do not help themselves by having cheap and nasty signs or none at all. But, most are sensible and savvy enough to make the best use of the space available, whilst still letting passing customers see into their shop.

There is of course, a cost involved in putting signs and lettering on your shop front glass. For hairdressers and salons, this is a great place to show your prices and services. It follows naturally that you need to make sure that your salon insurance policy provides suitable cover in the event that a shop window is smashed or damaged in some way.

Most packaged, business insurance policies do include cover for your glass. But, not all of them offer you a sensible or suitable limit in respect of your signs.

When looking at arranging your cover, you will more than likely, speak to a business insurance broker. You will then receive a quote and you need to check, amongst other limits and covers, that you have at least £1,000 for lettering (or unlimited in some cases) and secondly, that you have a reasonable excess. £100 is best, some underwriters will increase this to £250 or even £500, which is, in reality, too much. You should consider the overall cost of the quote and if there is a difference of £50 between quote a and quote b, it may be worth taking the more expensive one if the limits are higher and excesses are lower.

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Public liability insurance quote

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

Liability insurance quotes cover three main types of insurance. They are employers, products and public liability insurance policies.

To obtain a quote, you will need to approach a business insurance broker, as opposed to one that offers house, travel and car cover.

Business insurance can be a complex animal to understand. What we do not mean is that the policies are unreadable, but that there are so many different types of terms, conditions and excesses applicable.

You can obtain public liability on it’s own, for example if you are a builder, plumber, electrician etc, the reason being that this is the only type of liability cover that you actually need.

Getting employers or products liability on it’s own, or in isolation, is more difficult and there are few insurers that will offer this. They will normally need you to confirm to them why it is that you only want one out of the the three covers.

Public liability is, your responsibility (or what you could be liable for) at law for damage to third party property (ie the plumber burning down your house) or persons (ie if the same careless plumber dropped a hammer from the loft and hit you on the head). The key thing is here, you have to be legally liable. Someone is paying you to undertake a service or to do some work for them. If you damage their property or injure them, you could quite easily face a lawsuit.

It is of course rare for this to go to court, but the bigger the cost of the damage, then the more likelihood there is of a claim. They are “once in a blue moon events”, but the last thing you want to do is be faced with a bill for hundreds of thousands of pounds for re-building a property.

Get yourself protected, get adequate liability insurance now.

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Unoccupied building insurance – FLEA cover

Tuesday, June 15th, 2010

In the world of business insurance, we love to shorten phrases into mnemonics. The problem is, that we don’t appreciate how confusing this can be for people that don’t deal with policies day in and day out.

Take for example, unoccupied building insurance. Many customers, who call us to discuss and get a quote, feel that an empty building represents a much better risk than a building that is occupied. Partly this is true, there are no processes or production going on and there is nothing in the building to steal (so the fabric of the building is not damaged during a theft).

But, from an insurers point of view, the opposite can be the case. They perceive an empty building to be an Aladdin’s cave for criminals and kids wanting to play in. Smashed windows, burst water pipes, theft of non-ferrous metals (copper pipe and lead roofing) are all claims that occur for empty buildings.

You can’t blame the insurers though, they have building up their statistics over dozens and dozens of years and the result is that they know where the claims occur, and obviously do not want to pay out on them.

So, going back to the mnemonics, one you may hear is FLEA cover. What this is, is a restricted type of cover that insurers will usually only offer for empty buildings. Normally, you would get full perils (types of loss) cover including theft, malicious damage, storm, glass etc. However, FLEA restricts the cover to fire, lightning, aircraft and explosion. Alternatively, you may get FLEEA cover, which includes earthquake.

In addition, most insurers will give property owners liability. Certain insurers will give wider cover, including theft and storm. The best thing to do is to speak to a business insurance broker as they have knowledge of, and access to a wide range of insurers.

Posted in business insurance, business insurance broker, unoccupied building insurance | No Comments »

Cheap pub insurance in 2010

Monday, June 14th, 2010

The World Cup is proving to be a boost for most licensed trade premises. When none of the home nations qualify for the World Cup or Euro’s, then this can be a disastrous time.

However, we are thankfully in the position of England having qualified, so most of the pubs in the UK are setting some sort of promotion or special events on during the next month. Admittedly, living in Scotland, most of the promotions, for some reason, are so far aimed at the USA, Algeria or Slovenia. There were a few cheers heard throughout Scotland thanks to Robert Green.

Having said all of this, many pubs are still teetering on the edge of a financial abyss. The World Cup will help, but they still have to consider every cost and every penny they can save can help.

This is where a friendly, professional, independent business insurance broker can help out. There are many large costs facing public houses nowadays. One way of saving money is to look around for the financial services Holy Grail, cheap pub insurance.

It is something that is available, it is just a case of knowing where to look. It is not a needle in a haystack type of thing, most brokers will be able to help you find what you need. What you do need to do though, is consider more than just your existing provider. New business, as in a new customer, to a broker is like gold dust, they will do whatever they can to get hold of it. Whilst your existing broker may be offering you what you perceive to be a good deal, because it is only increasing by a few percent year on year, this does not mean that you can’t get a better deal elsewhere.

Make June the month that you finally decide to seek out a better quote. Mondays are traditionally quiet, so you should try and find yourself half an hour in which to sit down, with your existing policy by your side, and phone a few providers to see what they can offer you. If it is no better than your current deal, at least you can rest assured that you are paying the market rate. If it is better, then you can celebrate having saved a few quid.

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Business insurance – insuring a building I do not own.

Sunday, June 13th, 2010

One of the basic principles of business insurance, along with other types, is that you must have an insurable interest in the item, building, asset etc that is to be insured.

For example, you could not take out a commercial building insurance policy on the local supermarket and receive a payout if it suffered a fire. There are two reasons, firstly you have nothing to lose if the building is damaged, and therefore no financial relationship to it and secondly, there will be dual cover in force.

But, there are times when you can arrange a policy for a building that you do not own. This is when the landlord allows you to insure the property, but they have their financial interest, as the beneficial owner, noted on the policy. This is usually through you having a full insuring and repairing lease.

You have, through the signing of the lease, agree to arrange suitable cover. But, if the building were destroyed, then as you are not the beneficial owner, then you do not receive any financial gain.

A full insuring and repairing lease is more rare, but it is always worth checking whether you need to arrange cover.

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Professional indemnity insurance

Saturday, June 12th, 2010

If you provide advice or a service, as opposed to purely physical products, then the chances are that you will need professional indemnity insurance.

This will include numerous different types and categories of business such as accountants, solicitors, architects, computer consultants and surveyors. It is easy to sit back and see where the risks are associated with these types of business.

But what happens if you are a manufacturing business, creating bespoke products that you have designed yourself? Your standard commercial insurance policy will always, without fail, exclude professional indemnity.

You will be able to buy products liability insurance, which will cover any physical damage or loss caused by the product. But imagine a metalworker being asked to design and build railings for the local park. This may seem simple enough but if the design is not down correctly, and the railings start to rust or fall apart then this is not a products liability claim as not damage has been caused. You can bet though that the local authority will make a claim against you or your business to get them replaced.

This is where PI insurance kicks in. You have designed a product, and for whatever reason, this has not been done correctly. Damage has not been caused, but someone ie the local council, have suffered a financial loss because it is going to cost £x to remove and replace all of the railings.

Now, you mistake has to be genuine, ie the wrong type of materials used or the wrong type of paint etc and as a result of this you could have a genuine claim.

So, do not necessarily think that because you have products liability that you will be covered for all types of claims. You need to consider wider possibilities and the only way you can do this, is to speak to an insurance broker and get some advice as to the risks your business faces and whether or how they are insurable.

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