Archive for July, 2010

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Why should you choose Businessinsure for salon insurance?

Saturday, July 31st, 2010

If you are looking for a salon insurance quote, you will, at some point, wonder exactly which provider you should go to. If we take a trip down memory lane, you used to only be able to find a quote after consulting a local business directory (usually coloured yellow). 

There were a few local companies that you would approach to see if they could quote, but there were not really any other options. Nowadays, you will probably receive a handful of flyer’s every year, have more directories than you can shake a stick at and also, the internet.

You are therefore faced with so much choice, it is untrue. So why, when you are faced with this much choice, should you get you business insurance from us?

This is a good question and the answer covers many points.

Firstly, whatever any of the insurers say, in 2010 insurance is sold primarily on price. We have a good selection of providers who are able to give market leading prices, compared to others. We are confident that we can offer any salon a competitive premium compared to other providers.

Secondly, the level of cover. We don’t cut corners on your protection. Even within our market leading prices, we will include treatment cover, legal expenses and accidental damage on your contents and equipment.

Thirdly, the service. Phone us at 9 am and and you can have a quote by quarter past and your policy documents 10 minutes later.

And lastly, everyone’s shop window, claims. If you have a claim, we are there for you every step of the way. Whilst insurers do not try to wriggle out of claims, they do sometimes need pushing a bit to make sure settlements are made as soon as possible.

These four reasons are why you should speak to us before going any further.

Posted in business insurance, salon insurance | Comments Off

Salon insurance – sunbeds only

Friday, July 30th, 2010

The traditional sun tanning salon has moved a long way in the past five years. Gone are the rickety beds that only offer UV tube tanning, most will now offer safer alternatives. But, with the cost of the equipment, there is still a requirement for quality salon insurance.

We receive enquiries from salons that offer all types and ranges of beauty treatments. A new, standing tan machine can you set you back around £10,000. When you think of a shop with up to a dozen machines, the replacement costs can be considerable. Even the spray tanning booths, whilst they are just simple structures, can cost many thousands of pounds.

If you have invested money in purchasing these, or you have them leased, then you will need to have a suitable business insurance policy in place that covers damage to these. You do need to watch out though, many insurers nowadays are offering quotes at a standard level of cover, which does not include accidental damage. The broker, or company quoting, will need to include this cover and some are neglecting to do so, in order to give the cheapest quote.

Here at businessinsure, we always quote AD cover, it only adds 2 or 3% to a premium but it really is essential cover in the modern day and age.

If you have a policy in force at the moment, you need to speak to your broker or provider to see what level of cover you have. If there is no accidental damage cover, our advice is that you get this added as soon as possible.

Something dropped onto a sun bed can cost a lot to repair or leaked tanning solutions can destroy the electronics. This is all related to accidental damage and you really should have this cover in force.

Posted in business insurance, salon insurance | Comments Off

How to get a suitable takeaway insurance quote.

Thursday, July 29th, 2010

If you are looking for a takeaway insurance quote and choose to do this over the internet, you will be absolutely bombarded with choice. A simple search on the most popular search engine, Google, throws up over 30,000 results in the UK alone.

The big question is, who do you actually go to for a quote? If you have a couple of spare weeks, you could approach the first three pages worth of companies on the search engines. But hey, in reality this is not really going to happen. The usual scenario is that you get your existing renewal through, which has increased, and you say to yourself you must do something about this. Then, two days before renewal you realise you haven’t done anything and then it is a mad panic to get an alternative sorted out.

To decide who to go to, you need to think of a few things. Firstly, do you need to have a local business insurance broker dealing with your cover? If so, this would surprise us as in 2010 you can deal with a broker anywhere in the country and still get a similar service. If you do need a local one, then search for the correct insurance related phrase, but put in your town as well. This should throw up the main ones operating nearby.

Secondly, do you want absolute basic cover (not recommended) or the level of protection that a professional adviser thinks you should have. If you want the latter, then you need to speak to a specialist, maybe one that can offer separate, specific, takeaway, restaurant and fish and chip shop insurance quotes. If you speak to a company that tries to offer a basic commercial policy, you should spend a bit more time looking for a more specific one. The reason being that if an insurer has a bespoke policy, then they will know and understand the market better.

Lastly, check on the instalments. You may have a competitive quote, but if you add in an excessive monthly instalment chsarge of 8, 9 or 10%, the competitive quote may cost you more money.

In summary, you need to spend as much time as you can possibly afford getting a quote. Whilst you can get one at the last minute, you should try and set aside some time before renewal to sort this out.

Posted in business insurance, fish and chip shop insurance, takeaway insurance | Comments Off

Salon insurance – beauty treatment cover

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

There are many great things about British businesses. One of the many, is that they are prepared to adapt and change as time marches on. But, as businesses change the services and products they offer, they need to ensure that their business insurance continues to provide adequate protection.

There is not a shop in the land that decides to sell a certain range of products and then sticks to that range over the years. They will do all they can to understand exactly what Joe Public want and to amend and alter the items they sell. Look up and down every single high street in the land and you will see certain types of shops. One of these is the good old fashioned hairdressers.

But, how many hairdressers do you know that have remained unchanged? There are of course a few that steadfastly stick to just offering the same service to the same clientele, but even they will adapt the style of the cut. Mullets and male perms are no longer the order of the day, so they change what they offer.

Other hairdressers, mainly ladies, will expand their service range and bring in a direct beauty employee or even sub-contract this and rent out a beauty room to a third party. This is something though that has a direct affect on the salon insurance cover that you may already have in place.

As the range of treatments gets ever wider, the number of claims for these different treatments grows. The big issue for the insurers is the invasive treatments or if you have sunbeds. General beauty, such as make up, nails or massage is fine. As soon as you branch into more elaborate treatments you need to notify your insurers of this.

The chances are that most insurers are more than happy to extend your public liability insurance to pick up additional activities, in return for a small increase in the annual premium. But, the key is that you must tell them. The last things you want for your shiny new salon is to face a claim for a many thousands of pounds from a customer who alleges that you have injured them. It is, of course, much better and preferable for you to have cover in place to support you in the event of such a claim.

The good thing about the cover is that even it is a spurious claim that has no chance of being settled, the insurers will still deal with this and notify the third party that there is no valid claim.

Posted in business insurance, public liability insurance, salon insurance | Comments Off

Business insurance brokers – check the FSA number

Tuesday, July 27th, 2010

We are an internet and telesales business insurance broker, this means that we never get to meet any of our customers. Call centres have been around for years and it is now a fact of life that you can purchase most services and many products this way.

There is a difficulty for us though, in that we have to try even harder to get a customer to accept our services because we do not have that face to face contact. We are usually competing against other brokers, because people will rightly get quotes from more than one company.

If we gove someone a business insurance quote, which is better than there existing renewal, the holding broker goes into panic alert. They realise too late that they have maybe been complacent and have to do something to keep the business. One of these steps they will take is to try to put seeds of doubt in the customers mind about how good we really are.

The question you may be asking is, how do I know that the company that have provided me with a quote are any good? You need not worry. It used to be, pre 2005, that anyone could start up as an insurance intermediary. As long as they had agencies with insurers they could effectively do what they liked. Not that this caused any real problems, it just meant that there was no overall central control of brokers.

Then in 2005, along came the Financial Services Authority and they had to authorise and regulate every single insurance broking company in the country. If you did not, or do not have, an FSA registration number then you cannot trade. It is as simple as that. So when these competing brokers try to sow the seeds, they are really barking up the wrong tree and it is just the panic setting it that they have lost another customer to the net.

Just ask your broker what their registration number is and you can check on the FSA website whether there have ever been any disciplinary problems in the past. The likelihood is that there have never been any issues and you can quite happily carry on and dealing with a company that will offer you a better price for similar or better cover.

Posted in business insurance, business insurance quote | Comments Off

Getting business insurance quotes online – how long will this take?

Monday, July 26th, 2010

When you are running your own business, time is money. You want to spend as little time as possible doing administrative tasks, such as getting business insurance quotes.

So what can you do to make this task easier and quicker? Those of us that have been in business for years can well remember the almost frustrating delays in getting a quote in the past. Insurers have been, and in some cases still are, notorious for taking their time in proving not only the terms and premiums, but also the policy documentation once you have chosen to proceed.

The last 5 or 6 years have seen a massive change in the speed with which the insurers operate. The reason for this change is the internet. Back in the dot.com boom days, the internet was put forward as the answer to buying everything from dog food to second hand aircraft. The two problems that existed then, not enough people having internet access and slow servers, have now been eliminated.

For a few hundred pounds you can get a PC that is 40 times more powerful than one that would have cost you thousands 10 years ago and broadband or fast mobile streaming is now available to the masses.

Insurers have grasped this opportunity and have made available to us, the business insurance brokers, systems that we can go into, input details and get quotes within minutes. Not only that, once we have the quote we can get policy documents in even less time.

To answer the question, you can get an online quote yourself, from the few restrictive direct insurers, within a few hours. It takes hours because you will need to visit each and every site and input all of the same details. Go to a broker though, and you only give the information once. We will then go the sites that we know want your business and we can save you the precious time and money. A basic insurance package, say for a shop or pub, will entail us asking you five minutes of questions.

Posted in business insurance, business insurance quotes | Comments Off

Mobile phones – adding to your business insurance policy

Sunday, July 25th, 2010

We have seen recent scathing reports about bank accounts that charge a monthly fee. They are supposed to offer extras such as mobile phone, travel and breakdown insurance. There are no such accounts that offer business insurance, but you never know which bank will try to do this in the future.

There have been may complaint as people try to progress claims and then realise that this “free” cover has extremely onerous exclusions and their claim is not met.

The same can be said for some mobile phone insurance covers. The question you need to consider is, should I take out this cover from the mobile supplier, or should I add this to my standard business or office insurance policy?

We would always say that this should be added to your business policy because it is nearly always cheaper and in most cases only standard exclusion apply.

There are two things you need to be aware of though. Firstly, that the excess level is acceptable. Most policies have a standard excess of £100, some higher. The policy you buy with the phone will usually have a lower, £50 or £25 excess.  Speak to your broker or insurer and see if they can quote at a £50 excess. You may pay slightly more, but it will still be competitive.

The other point is whether you need to specify the make and model. This can be a pain if your business has dozens of phones which are chopping and changing all the time. You don’t want to have to phone them up every couple of weeks to change from model ahy234567 to model ahy234567B! This can be time consuming and more than likely will not be followed up. The insurers can then say that the wrong model is insured and cover does not apply. Get your policy to be more general and cover “portable electronic equipment” which then removes the need to specify each and every item insured.

Posted in business insurance, office insurance | Comments Off

Wholesalers insurance – stock declaration

Saturday, July 24th, 2010

Most wholesalers insurance policies will cover stock belonging to the business. This stock may, or may not, be held at the insureds business premises or held at a third party location or a fulfilment house.

Many businesses have similar levels of stock throughout the year, whereas others will have their stock levels determined by the seasons. The Christmas cracker supplier will not have very high stock levels from January to June, whereas around October and November you won’t be able to move because their warehouse will be stuffed to the rafters.

We always advise people who have wildly fluctuating stock , that their business insurance policy should reflect this increased and decreased stock risk throughout the year. There is no point in paying for insurance in respect of stock that you do not have.

There are two options available. You can either take an annual stock declaration policy. In these cases, you declare at the end of the policy year what your stock levels were at the end of each of the previous 12 months. The insurers will average this out and compare to your sum insured (on the policy) and allow either a refund or charge and additional premium.

These policies are usually only provided for “bigger” firms, with stock levels in excess of £500,000. For smaller companies, you have the option of declaring your stock at given times throughout the year and your policy is endorsed, or amended, to note the changes. This can be a better option because you are aware early on (ie during the policy year) whether you are going to pay more or less. You do not want to get to the end of a good year and then get hit with £1,000’s of additional premium. It is much better to pay your premium on monthly instalments and then either pay increased or reduced premiums.

Speak to a broker about the options available but be cautious about the broker that charges an “administration” fee for each change, this is wrong and if they try to do this, move elsewhere.

Posted in business insurance, wholesalers insurance | Comments Off

Non domiciled UK business insurance companies

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

Many years ago, around 1999, with great fanfare it was announced that business insurance companies, within the EU, would be able to trade across borders freely. Theoretically we were told that a business, for example in France, could arrange a policy with a UK, German, Belgian etc insurer.

Those of us in the industry were or course sceptical that this sort of thing would not happen in practice and of course, we were right. Technically this sort of cover can be arranged, an umbrella policy, but it only applies to the largest companies that have the ability to deal with specialist brokers who arrange cross border policies.

But what about the half million pound turnover business that is looking to extend their internet retail insurance policy to cover products sold across the EU? This is slightly more difficult, but it can be arranged.

If you look into the deepest, darkest depths of your policy wording, you will more than likely find an exclusion for products sold outside of the UK. What this means is that if someone, in Italy, buys a product from you and makes a claim (due to the product causing some sort of damage) then you may not have the cover.

As a broker, one of the questions we ask all retailers, manufacturers, wholesalers and suppliers is if they sell products outside of the UK. Many will say no, but if the chance presented itself, then of course they would sell.

It is in exactly these circumstances that you need to get professional advice. You cannot get cover from a non-domiciled (ie not trading in the UK) insurer that would satisfy employment liability legislation. So you need to make sure that you have cover with a UK based insurer, which can include an overseas insurer that is authorised to trade here. But you need to make sure that any products liability claims are covered. Usually they will be but the wording will say that any action must be pursued through a UK court and subject to English or Scots law. This is acceptable, because the insurers will of course prefer to deal with the courts they are used to, ie ones based here.

As with all types of cover, whether you think you need advice or not, you should speak to an independent broker to consider all of the options to make sure your business is best protected.

Posted in business insurance, internet retailers insurance | Comments Off

Salon insurance – security levels

Thursday, July 22nd, 2010

Most business insurance policies are quite lengthy documents, which can take even a trained eye a long time to read and understand the effects of the different terms, conditions, warranties and excesses.

When you buy a house, you will normally appoint a solicitor to undertake this process for you. As part of their role, they will source and read through a number of legal documents which apply specifically to your house purchase. If there are any problems or queries it is up to the solicitor to identify these and if necessary get them amended or make you aware of the consequences.

When you are looking at your insurance protection, things are slightly different. You will not, in most cases, pay an expert to undertake a review of your policy wording. Additionally, unlike a house purchase, you will actually receive the documentation yourself and can review it (if you really want to).

To save you having to do this though, there is a much easier way of doing things. Take for example, salon insurance. You will more than likely have employees and will therefore have a legal requirement for cover. Usually this will be purchased in the form of a packaged policy. When you get your policy, it can be 60 or 70 pages long. Deep within the wording there will be certain terms about the type of intruder security that you must have at the premises.

All policies will have a condition that states the minimum security that is required. If you do not have this security in place, after a loss, your claim will not be paid. But how do you know whether the locks you have are correct or the roller shutters are of the right type.

Looking at your wording can be a bit mind-numbing and do you really have the time? The answer is, in all likelihood, no. What you do need to do is deal through a broker. The broker is there to answer all your questions. What type of alarm do you need? They will answer this for you. What British Standard do you need on your locks? They will know.

Don’t assume your policy will always pay out, get a broker to review it for you and, the good news is, they will do this for nothing.

Posted in business insurance, salon insurance | Comments Off

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