Archive for November, 2010

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Weight of snow – does this fall within your business insurance cover?

Tuesday, November 30th, 2010

Does a standard business insurance policy include cover for weight of snow? In a word, yes. Or at least this is what the answer should be. In the 2009/2010 winter, particularly in Scotland, we saw the highest level of weight of snow claims for many, any years.

Some farmers were saying that they had been trading for over 20 years and had never had any damage by weight of snow. Then, after days, if not weeks of persistent snow fall, the more modern metal barn roofs were collapsing every where.

This normally only affects policies where you have some form of commercial building insurance included as it is the structure that suffers the damage. But, is this covered or not. As we have said, the answer should be yes. You are obliged to take care of your own property and any policy will say that you must mitigate, or reduce future losses.

This does not mean that you have to put yourself at personal risk and start climbing on the roof shifting snow. As with any claim, insurers will ask for a claim form to be completed and they will refer to weather records for the time of the damage. If the records tie in with heavy snowfall, then they should (assuming all other points are valid) consider the claim.

If, however your insurer starts to say that it is not covered, then you need to make a formal complaint, and if not accepted take this to the ombudsman. If your policy does not define Storm, then you need to base this on one of two things. Either an agreed dictionary definition, or based on past legal precedents set.

It is unlikely that an insurer will say that weight of snow is not covered, they may try to repudiate or turn down a claim based on a building being in poor condition though.

Posted in business insurance, commercial building insurance | Comments Off

Business insurance – slips, trips and falls in the snow.

Monday, November 29th, 2010

Here in Scotland, as with most of the UK, we have been hit with some pretty heavy, persistent, snow fall.

The gritters are of course trying to do their job, but it seems to be a struggle to keep the main routes open, let alone the side roads. Homes and businesses are doing their best, but we have already had a couple of calls from people wondering how their business insurance will react if someone falls. the question is, what happens if someone blames them for not clearing pathways, or for clearing pathways and making them icy.

The answer is, if you have valid cover in place, you really should not worry. There was a representative on the radio last week from the local government association. He was effectively saying that it is bit of an urban myth that you are not allowed the clear the path in front of your house. He was pleading with the people of the UK to get out there and do what they can in the interest of community spirit.

Businesses though, are a slightly different kettle of fish. You need to make sure that you have adequate public liability insurance in place, particularly if you have car parks. Whilst you have nothing to worry about, this does not stop the spurious claims being submitted. Your liability insurance should help fend off even the most laughable of claims. Do not, whatever you do ignore any claim or try and deal with it yourself. Always, always speak to your business insurance broker for any advice, particularly if you receive a solicitors letter. If someone does fall, offer to help them if required and if possible, take photographs of the area where they alleged they fell.

If they do decide to go to a no win no fee solicitor, and you receive a letter, get this to your insurance broker as soon as possible and let them notify your insurers.  You can only really be held liable if it can be proven you have been negligent. If you are open for trade, you need to make it as safe as possible for customers to visit your premises. If this involves clearing a path and putting some salt or grit down, then you can do so. If your car park is not safe then put signs up saying the car park is not to be used. You cannot really do much more than that.

Posted in business insurance, public liability insurance | No Comments »

Contractors insurance – getting the best quote.

Sunday, November 28th, 2010

Whilst there are many different economic barometers and measures, in the world of business insurance we have two main one. Firstly, the number of business that cease to trade and secondly the number of new businesses, or business start ups, that we see who are looking for a quote.

After two years of increased business failures (and ceasing to pay insurance) and a reduction of new business enquiries, in the latter half of 2010 we are starting to see a vast improvement. We are not naive enough to say that business is not still extremely tough, just that we think a curve, not a corner, has been turned.

Construction has obviously been hit very badly, perhaps the worst of all. With the large reduction in house and commercial building, many businesses simply ceased to operate. We are now seeing more new enquiries from the construction sector than we have done for many years.

If you are just looking to take out a new contractors all risks insurance policy, where do you go? Our advice, over the years has not wavered at all. You will always get a better overall combination of service and price from a broker.

There are more commercial insurance companies nowadays offering policies for builders and tradesmens but do not be tempted to go direct. They cannot give you the choice that you need, whether it is public liability only or a full policy including employers liability and contract works, then you need a professional to advise you on the best, and most competitive type of policy to take out.

Posted in construction insurance, contract works insurance, contractors all risks insurance, employers liability insurance, public liability insurance | No Comments »

Vets surgery insurance package policies.

Saturday, November 27th, 2010

Unlike many doctors surgeries, vets tend to be privately owned and funded. As a result, they will need to arrange their own separate vet surgery insurance cover. Whilst doctors need this, you tend to find that, for example the computer equipment they use is owned, and as a result insured, by the local NHS trust.

Vets need to have their own cover for all the assets that belong to the business. This can include the buildings, all fixtures and fittings and of course office/computer equipment.

When I started out in the business insurance game many years ago, I was trained as a package underwriter. In those days, surgeries were always placed on a, slightly adapted, office insurance policy. While a business that treats cats, dogs and household pets is different to an accountants or a solicitors, as far as the insurers are concerned, they are pretty similar. The big difference is the liability risk, which is usually priced in to the premium calculation. In those early days, the only external cover required, was usually for visiting bags and equipment that a vet may take for a home or farm visit.

Nowadays though, in 2010, there is a difference in the type of equipment that is taken. Nearly everyone will have either a laptop, notebook or smart phone. The replacement costs for these can be in excess of £1,000. You have to consider whether you need this portable electronic equipment cover, usually anywhere in the UK.

Two things to consider are, the true replacement costs and whether accidental damage is included. The true replacement cost means that, for example with a smart phone the replacement cost is likely to be many hundreds of pounds, whereas you may get this free from your telecom company. When you do get a new phone, ask them to provide an estimate of the cost to replace. The other thing you really need to consider, is whether your insurer provides cover for accidental damage. The vast majority of claims are for dropped laptops, coffee spilled on laptops and, we have two for people that have shut car boots on laptops! These are all accidental damage and many insurers do not automatically provide this cover.

Check with your broker and make sure your policy has the correct cover.

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Posted in business insurance, vet surgeries insurance, vets surgery insurance | No Comments »

Commercial insurance – when should I receive my renewal terms?

Friday, November 26th, 2010

Anyone who has in force a commercial insurance policy, should receive notification of their renewal terms prior to the renewal date. This may seem quite obvious, but it worth clarifying what the legal requirements are.

There are hundreds of different types of policy. Our regulatory body (in the UK) essentially splits these into two main categories. Consumer and commercial, this is really a way of splitting between personal cover (your car, house or travel) and any other policy, whether or not this is run as a business. For example, commercial building insurance, whilst you may not “run” this as a business (ie to make a profit and have employees) is still treated as commercial. This you can understand. But, we treat residential lets the same, although it is a house, and not used for business purposes, it is potentially an asset that you can make a profit from and is owned with the (usual) intention of making a profit.

So, for everything that is commercial, when should you actually receive your renewal terms and what shoudl they be?

There is not legal timescale for when you have to receive notice of renewal, for businesses. For your home, motor and travel, the insurer or broker is obliged to confirm in writing to you at least 21 days before renewal. Commercial is slightly different and a bit vague, in that it must be within reasonable timescales. The cut off for reasonable would usually be 7 to 10 days prior to renewal. But, there are very good reasons why a renewal may be later, or take time.

Many policies are subject to annual declarations and estimates of future business activity. For example, you may not get renewal terms until you have completed a declaration form which confirms you estimate of turnover and wage roll for the next twelve months.

For many package policies though, you simply receive renewal terms and maybe an alternative quote from a different insurer, if your exisiting insurers are trying to increase the premium or apply onerous terms, conditions or excesses.

You do not need to receive full renewal terms from an insurer either. If you deal through a business insurance broker, then they can send you a letter which confirms:-

a) That renewal will be offered by your current underwriter

b) Any changes in terms, conditions, warranties or excesses

c) What the premium will be

d) An employers liability certificate (if required)

The letter can state that the full renewal documents are awaited and will be forwarded as soon as they have received from the insurer.

Posted in commercial insurance | No Comments »

Why choose commercial combined insurance?

Thursday, November 25th, 2010

Instead of you choosing to take out a commercial combined insurance policy, the chances are that this sort of policy will actually choose you. This may be a bit confusing and the explanation is as follows.

Most of the companies in the UK that provide insurance protection, will either cover consumer led business (houses, cars, travel), or commercial for all types of business, or a combination of both.

Most will have bespoke, specially designed policies for different types of trades, for example, most will have an office insurance package or one for pubs, shops, restaurants, takeaways and hotels. If you are a manufacturer, wholesaler, importer or exporter then you will most likely need to have cover under a commercial combined policy. These policies are not necessarily bespoke. They all have a certain number of possible sections of cover, from buildings, to liabilities, to money to goods in transit and many more. Essentially you pick the sections of cover that you actually need. It is ultimately you that makes the choice of what covers you need.

You will need to consider the legally required covers, the sensible and prudent covers and the covers that you may need, such as legal expenses. This can be a daunting task, particularly when you are a new business faced with costs at every angle. When you get a quote that is in excess of a few thousand pounds you may well ask yourself is it worth paying this amount up front?

The central theme to all of our posts has always been and will remain that you should always speak to a broker about getting a quotation. A brokers job is to act as you agent (legally speaking) and they can pick and choose which insurer you get a quote from. They can also advise and help you with what covers you need or do not need.

Their advice is free and it is something that you really should consider, because they can help save you a fortune.

Posted in business insurance, office insurance, office insurance quote | Comments Off

Why you should use a business insurance broker.

Wednesday, November 24th, 2010

What does a business insurance broker actually do? In this age of internet interaction, it is easy for anyone involved in a business to get a quote direct from many different insurers. The adverts on the telly for everything from betting, to holidays, to property all tell you that you should cut out the middle man, because this saves money. But does it really?

Just as the credit crunch hit and before the recession took hold, I decided to move house. Having had a mortgage with the same provider for many years I just wondered if I could get a better deal by going direct. At that time some of the providers, like Northern Rock, were just starting to rein in their lending. So, there was still plenty of choice. But, the choice was bewildering and I really could not fathom out the differences between the products myself as it was not a financial service I have ever worked in. But, I had a rough idea of the monthly cost for repayment with the required life cover. I then spoke to an adviser who was recommended and, to put it simply, he came up with a better deal than I could have got direct. The big thing though, was peace of mind. Speaking to someone who knew what they were talking about and could explain, in a way that my small brain could understand, the differences between products a, b, c, d, e and probably f, was a relief.

It is the same when you are looking around, for example, for warehouse insurance. You can probably get a few “online quotes” but how do you know the differences. Print off all of the quotes, summaries and terms of business for each quote and not only do you have a lot of paper, it is just words and after a while it is a bit difficult to understand the differences. A broker can help you with this, and also try to get you the most competitive quote. Go on, give us a try, you might be surprised by how good a deal you can get.

Posted in business insurance broker, warehouse insurance, wholesalers insurance | Comments Off

Where to get, not the cheapest, but the right business insurance quote.

Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010

Getting a cheap business insurance quote, for most types of trade, is easy. You just need to go onto one of the many websites that offer to compare commercial insurance, spend 15 or 20 minutes of your hard earned time ticking and filling in boxes. Then, if you are lucky, they will give you a quote at the end of this. Have a look at a few of these sites and the premium quoted is always in the brightest fonts, usually flashing. This is to entice you to the price. It is, unfortunately, not quite the same situation as far as the cover goes.

So, you have got your cheap quote and decide to proceed with cover. So, at what point do you find out that teh cover is not quite as good as it could be? We need to point out here that you can find a good insurance quote with good cover on the net, but you sometimes need someone with a trained eye to help you decide which quote to go for.

So, going back to the cover. As you are not being advised by a business insurance broker, it falls upon you to read through the whole policy schedule and wording to ensure that it is giving you the financial protection you are looking for. This usually means that you find out how good the cover is at exactly the point you need it to help you, when you have a claim. This is when you may find out that you either have a high excess, you have an onerous condition to comply with or worse still, you have no cover at all.

For example, many policies will allow you to have a flat felt roof, say up to 50 square feet or 10 square metres. This is usually hidden deep in the wording. But, if you have a flat roof and the area is in excess of this, even by a few percent, there is the potential of a claim being repudiated.

Speak to a broker though and when they ask about the type of construction, they will go into greater detail asking what type of materials the roof is, the size of any non-standard proportions, the age, when it was last replaced and whether you have a maintenance process in place. Based on all of these questions, they should then get you a quote that will provide cover, based on the construction details you have declared.

Posted in business insurance, business insurance broker, cheap business insurance, cheap business insurance quote | Comments Off

A salutory lesson from Eire

Monday, November 22nd, 2010

We are not going to talk about the Eire government finally accepting contingency funding from the IMF and other institutions. What is interesting, is the government appears to not believe in telling the truth. As far as business insurance is concerned, our interest started with the woes of Quinn Direct.

At that time, we were not truly aware of the problems within the Eire banking system. Not that the UK did much better, if we had ever entered the Euro, we would have beaten Eire to receiving funding. We realised then that a huge punt had been taken on Allied Irish Bank by Sean Quinn. The results of that are of course history. The share price did not go the way intended and it wasn’t a few thousand Euro’s down the pan, it was billions. We started to realise then that the problems were quite sever and however austere or strict their budget(s), it was not going to solve the crisis overnight.

So, over the past few weeks we have seen the government denying that they were even discussing a loan, then denying they were even talks and of course last night, they came out and said it. Of course, the Taoiseach Brain Cowen will say that they were only doing this to protect the markets and the economy. But, the markets are not daft, this is why 20+ billion Euro’s have flowed out of their economy, not in years, but in a few months. The mood today in Ireland is, to the government, just get your coats and go.

So what is the salutory lesson? Honesty, whether it hurts or not, is always the best policy. When we turn this around to your commercial insurance, you should always, always declare all pertinent, or material, information to both your business insurance broker and insurers. If/when you have a claim, do not think that insurers are complacent enough to check all of this information. In this digital age they can find out if you have been bankrupt, insolvent or led a company into administration. Please, for the sake of the industry (as people always blame us when claims are not paid) think of everything that can affect an insurers acceptance of your cover and ensure that they have been advised of, and are happy to accept it.

Posted in business insurance, commercial insurance | Comments Off

Internet retailers insurance

Sunday, November 21st, 2010

As we approach Christmas in 2010 (doesn’t time fly…) we are starting to see the usual reports in the press of how much business is transacted at this time of year over the Internet. As businesses become much more savvy to the benefits of not only dealing in a traditional retail way (ie from a shop front premises) there is more a requirement away from traditional shop insurance.

Business insurers will normally, if you approach them for a quote for a shop, they will insure this under a standard package policy. But, if you are a “pure” internet retailer, then you may not be ideally suited to be covered under a shop policy. The reason being, that the commercial insurance companies want to know exactly what you do. Many policies will specify that you operate or trade from a shop location for the cover to be effective. If it transpires in the event of a claim, that you trade from, say an industrial estate, office or home, then you could find an insurer starts to question whether a claim should be paid.

Why would this be? The reason is, that an insurance contract is that, a contract between you and the insurer. The contract is based on the facts that you declare to them. If the facts are incorrect, they could say that the risk was mis-represented and that they need to reconsider whether the policy remains in place.

You should therefore insist that you either have a bespoke policy, for your trade, or you have the business description specifically amended to note that you are an Internet retailer. It is only a small change, that should not cost you any extra premium, but it is an important one.

Posted in commercial insurance, internet retailers insurance | Comments Off

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