Archive for July, 2010

Pub insurance – more than one premises

Saturday, July 3rd, 2010

We all know that most suppliers will give you a discount if you buy in bulk. The question is one that you could consider for pub insurance as well as most other types of cover.

Of course, there is a difference between buying 20 tins of paint and getting a couple of business insurance policies. You have two ways of getting cover for your pubs, and both of them can offer different benefits.

The first one is to get a single policy, that covers both or more of your licensed trade premises. The good points are that you only have one policy to worry about, one premium to pay and one renewal date. The bad points are that your premium will be due once a year and unless you pay in instalments, this can take a fair chunk out of your cash profits. You also have the potential of having the whole policy premium increased, if one of the pubs has a claim.

If you have two, or more, separate policies you will need to declare to all insurers if you have had a claim or loss at any other location. But, there is less likelihood of all the policies having an increase applied.

Unless you are a serial “claimer” with an adverse history of claims, most commercial insurance companies will be more than happy to accept the fact that you have a claim or claims. After all, this is exactly why you buy the policy in the first place.

In most of our cases, we will offer individual, separate policies. The insurers will allow an additional discount of say 5 or 10% for every additional policy sold to the same customer, because as far as they are concerned, the loss likelihood is reduced across the range of policies.

Restaurant insurance – the secrets of getting the best quote

Friday, July 2nd, 2010

If you are looking for a competitive restaurant insurance quote, you may find that it is, at times, like looking for a needle in a haystack.

As with many menus in food establishments, there appears to be too much choice. The good thing is, that most of the options available will provide you with a good, wide-ranging policy. Business insurance companies have spent years and years developing and honing their policies so that you can purchase all of the covers you may need, in one policy.

You could sit down today for an hour and spend some time on the internet or the phone and at the end of that hour, you could have 3 or 4 quotes sitting in your in box to review.

If you took them all to an independent expert, most would probably give you the cover you need for your business. But, getting the best quote is a combination of three things.

Firstly, getting wide cover. Secondly, getting a good price and lastly, getting a quote from a broker that you believe would look after you in the event of a loss.

The good price is the important bit. As we have said above, you could get a whole range of quotes, but you will face shock and horror with the differences in prices. If you go to a website that appears to offer the ability to compare business insurance, you will find that their sole aim is to plug the cheapest product. The problem here is that, unless you have the time to soft through the quotes, how do you know what is best and worst?

The other issue with the prices is that some of the insurers, whilst they offer a quote, skew their premiums so that they only get the absolute best business. This would be a restaurant that has bene trading for years, is in a non-city centre location, has the owners living in and has the best security money can buy.

For all the others, you need to ensure you speak to a business insurance broker, they are the ones that can sort the wheat from the chaff for you.

Shop insurance – what stock cover can I expect to get?

Thursday, July 1st, 2010

When looking for a shop insurance quote, it is easy to think of the main types of cover, such as fire, theft, smashed windows and liabilities. Depending on which insurer you get your quote and/or policy from, you can get a wide range of other covers.

One of these covers is for your stock. Without this, 99% of shops would not survive as there is literally no business that can be transacted without people seeing, feeling and touching what you are actually selling.

You need to make sure that you have adequate cover in place, to ensure that any stock that is damaged, is replaced as soon as possible.

When we say adequate, this covers two points. The first one is to make sure that you have the correct perils insured (ie fire, storm, theft, malicious damage, flood and importantly, accidental damage). Accidental damage is very important because, if anything is knocked over and damaged, or coffee spilled on a sofa, then this is something that is covered under accidental damage.

The second point that relates to adequate, is to make sure that it is an insurer that has a good history of paying (valid) claims quickly and also who do not have onerous or excessive excesses.

There is absolutely no point in insuring £5,000 of stock, if the insurers have applied a £1,000 excess.

To get the best, and most sensibly priced, cover for your business, you need to deal with a business insurance broker. Yes, they are technically intermediaries, acting for you, in placing business with insurers. The reason for going to a broker is that you do not pay any more, most commercial insurance companies charge you the same premium direct, as you would through a broker. Dealing with your insurance this way means that you have one point of contact, who is legally obliged to act as you agent.