In the olden days, pre 2000, in the UK, if you were looking for a commercial insurance quote, you would usually recognise who the insurers were. The main brand names, Commercial Union, Norwich Union, General Accident, London and Edinburgh, Royal Insurance, Sun Alliance and Lloyds of London, would all be in the top ten or twenty of the companies most likely to provide you with your quote.
Nowadays though, you may find that when you get your documentation, there are names that you have never heard of. If you are buying a product or service, then you are always told not to trust an unknown quantity or company you have never heard.
However, when you are getting a business insurance quote, you are protected to a great deal. On the 15th January 2005, there was a massive change to the world for all business insurance brokers. You will of course have missed this change, because it only really affected us in the industry. What happened was that every single broker and insurer had to be authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority in order to be able to trade.
Without this authority, you could not operate. In addition, the authority means that you have to prove significant financial capabilities. Insurers are checked, double checked and triple checked through a combination of returns sent in, audit checks and un-announced visits.
So, even though you may not have heard of the insurer, you can rest safe in the knowledge that the insurer should not be a mushroom company that has grown quickly and will disappear just as fast.
As a business insurance broker, we also have to be content that the insurer we are recommending, or quoting, will be one that has good service standards and offers the widest choice of cover, for the best premium available.