August « 2011 « BusinessInsure Blog

Archive for August, 2011

Warehouse insurance – getting a good quote, fast

Saturday, August 13th, 2011

Warehouse insurance is something that not all UK underwriters will provide cover for. In fact, there are very few insurers that you could approach for all types of cover. There are specialists in different types of cover, whether this is for oild rigs, supermarkets, professional indemnity or any one of the hundreds of other types of insurance available.

If you are looking for cover for a warehouse, you just need to find an independent business insurance broker. The broker needs to be authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority, otherwise it is illegal for them to trade in the UK.

Most should be able to provide you with a quote, but what happens if you need one very quickly? Traditional brokers may not be able to help you as they sometimes only guarantee turnarounds of two or three days.

However, the wonders of the internet have hit the world of business insurance.

If a company trades over the net, as businessinsure do, then we have to be acutely aware of one thing. Where people approach companies over the net, they expect quick service, because the internet is quick. There is no point having a website and then acting in the traditional manner and taking days and days to respond. A lot of traditional brokers, that have a web prescence, stil operate this way. However, the new breed of brokers that only operate over the net are the ones you need to find if you want a quote quickly.

We are quite proud that for most types of business, we can provide a full written emailed quote within an hour of the first telepehone contact. Of course there are some that take a bit longer but we will always let you know if something is likely to take a bit of time.

Posted in business insurance, warehouse insurance | Comments Off

A bit more than warehouse insurance.

Friday, August 12th, 2011

This was the topic of a phone call yesterday. A customer enquired for something that was, in their words, a bit more than ordinary warehouse insurance.

They had made, in my mind, a small mistake by going with an online provider that worked on fairly restricted categories. The customer had taken out a warehouse insurance policy and they had asked their exisitng provider if they could change the policy slightly. The change was that they were setting up a small retail showroom element in the premises. As with many businesses, it is a jungle out there and they were looking for ways to generate more income. One of these was to open up the business to members of the public.

But, their existing business insurance provider could not change their policy to include the retail element. They were trying to flog the customer a separate shop insurance policy. Albeit at a minimum premium of around £400, but the customer could not understand why they couldn’t simply change the description. I had to agree with them, they were not increasing their stock or tunrover as it was really just a trial to see if it worked. If it did, at renewal they would look at amending their cover.

To be honest, I could understand their frustration with their provider, but when they told me who it was I realised why they were being told to buy another policy. The provider in question only has one main insurer behind them. I would estimate that over 97% of the business place by this company goes to their one insurer.

As we have said before in many, many posts is that choice is the only way you are going to get a good policy at the right price. We have been questioned on this as we are unfairly denigrating the providers that only have one main insurer. But I am yet to find a valid argument against our stance. The problems this customer faced are testament to our argument.

Thankfully they spoke to us and we sorted something out for them very quicky and it was cheaper, with interest free instalments thrown in as well.

The moral is, if your existing company says that something cannot be done, this is not always true. Take the steps yourself and speak to an independent broker.

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

Fast track business insurance claims

Thursday, August 11th, 2011

Whilst the tragic events of the past week in London and other Englich cities have concentrated on the trouble caused, we cannot forget that this really is a tiny minority of people that caused the trouble. Of course there are opportunists who just get dragged along, but for most English people, life has to go on as normal.

It is of course a shame that certain communities will be tarnished for years. Hopefully the community spirit we have sene in the past few days will lead these areas to put this behind them very quickly.

As a business insurance broker we have had to deal with manuy many calls from custoemrs throughout the UK who have asked whether cover operates under their policies or not.

We have re-assured them and confirmed that cover does apply. But what of those customers that are looking to make a claim? What are the commercial insurers going to do? We have had some very good, confident positice messages from insurers that they are geared up and ready to deal with valid claims very quickly. For some, the only reason for the delay is that they are unable to gain access to the areas in question because the police are restricting access. As soon as they are allowed in to see the properties and speak to the customers then they can move forward to settlement.

The only bad news is that now, some customers are going to realise the value of going through a good quality broker who places the insurance cover with a company that has a reputation for paying claims very quickly. We have seen in the past few months certain fringe insurers make it very difficult for perfectly valid claims to get paid.

Unless you have a cover with restricted cover, such as unoccupied building insurance, your policy should cover you for riot, looting, theft, arson, malicious damage and fire. If you have any problems whatsoever with your insurer, you can always complain to them and then the Financial Services Authority if you have no luck.

But, this really should not be a necessary process.

Posted in business insurance, unoccupied building insurance, unoccupied buildings insurance | Comments Off

Clarification of riot cover under commercial insurance policies.

Wednesday, August 10th, 2011

It is at times of crisis that you look to your commercial insurance coverage to protect you. But, when the crisis hits, whether it is a burst pipe, fire, flooded property or your property being looted it is not always easy to put your hands on your policy wording to check if you have cover.

This is why you are always best to deal with a business insurance broker. We are of course biased but rightly so. In the past 24 hours we have dealt with dozens and dozens of phone calls and emails from customers looking for that reassurance that they are covered. If you buy your cover from a website where it is very unclear as to who you speak to for a bit of advice, you could find yourself passed from pillar to post when looking for a quick answer to a simple question.

There has been some confusion in recent days regarding what is, and what is not a riot, and whether cover applies. Technically a riot is where there are more than 12 people acting in collusion with the same goals. It does not have to be politically motivated to be a riot.

The Police have to formally declare whether it was a riot or not, purely and simply because insurers can recoup some of their losses. This does not, in any way, affect your claim on your policy.

99% of policies will include riot. The 1% are ones where this cover is excluded, such as unoccupied property insurance, where cover is restricted to fire, lightning, aircraft and explosion.

Even if your local police authority do not declare any troubles a riot, you are still covered, it is a standard peril, or event, that is covered under commercial and domestic insurance policies.

If you are in any doubt or require clarification, speak to your business insurance broker, this is what they are there for. Get them to drop you a quick email to confirm, and reassure, you that you have the cover in place.

Posted in business insurance, business insurance broker, riot insurance | Comments Off

Riot and looting – is there cover under my commercial insurance?

Tuesday, August 9th, 2011

We have seen, in London and other English cities, three nights of violence, disorder, lawlessness and general malicious activity. Those of us old enough to remember were taken back to the early 80’s when we used to get this sort of trouble in the summer months on a far too frequent basis.

This time though, it seems that things are different. Back in the 80’s it was disaffected youths fighting with the police, this time round though there appears to be more criminal damage and theft. Yes, the police are involved and there have been some serious injuries. But the focus appears to be damage to and theft from property.

The question from most of our commercial insurance policyholders based in the big cities is understandably, am I covered?

The simple answer is yes. Most policies provide cover based on perils. One of the standard perils under all package, commercial property and commercial combined insurance policies is:-

Riot, civil commotion, strikes, labour disturbances or Malicious Persons in addition, most will include Theft.

Theft cover under most policies is subject to there being forcible and violent entry to or exit from the premises. Usually riot and theft does not apply to vacant or disused buildings. In the main then, if you have a policy, for shop insurance, you will find that the standard wording wil cover you for the events of recent days.

However, with insurance you would expect there to be a but and there is one. You need to do certain things to make sure that cover applies.

You need to report any damage caused by rioting or looting (which is simply theft) to the police within 7 days for policies to operate.

If your property is damaged, you need to make sure that you keep the premises secure to prevent further damage or theft. What you do not do is risk personal injury, but if your roller shutter, for example, has been damaged your shoudl try and get it repaired as soon as possible.

The only other point to look out for is your shop front glass. This may, or may not be covered, under your policy. If you lease the building, it is better to check with your commercial landlord as the cover may fall under their block business building insurance. Under the terms of the lease though, you may be responsible for covering shop front glass. Depending on your insurer, there may be a high excess.

As ever, give your broker a call and discuss this with them to clarify any other details regarding your cover.

Posted in business buildings insurance | Comments Off

Should I use a commercial insurance broker

Monday, August 8th, 2011

As we are a commercial insurance broker, our answer is of course a resounding yes. In the interests of fairness and honesty though, we have to put down our reasons why.

In the UK, you have a number of avenues to follow when getting yourself a quote, and ultimately a policy, for your business.

Firstly, you have to understand whether you have a requirement (legally) to have cover in place. Usually in the UK, the only legal requirement you may have, apart from motor, is employers liability insurance, where you employ anyone, whether they receive a salary or not.

Any cover additional to this is usually just what a sensible and prudent business person would take out.

Once you have decided what cover you need, you can then either use a broker, maybe go to your bank, go direct to an insurer, use an appointed representative or go on the internet and use a comparison website.

If you bank with one of the larger firms, they will usually have a business insurance division. Many of these are brokers in their own right. But, they may have a deal with one insurer to use them for a particular type of policy. For example shop insurance will go to insurer A whereas commercial property owners insurance would go to insurer B. If this is the case, you are not really getting a choice. How do you know they are offering a market beating deal? The plus points are that you may get discounts on overdraft rates if you choose their insurance. But, you have to consider the whole picture. You may be over-paying on your business insurance to save 0.25% on your overdraft. over 12 months this may not make financial sense, but you have to work this out.

Going direct to an insurer simply means that you do not get choice, again. They only sell their own products, so you only get the choice of one policy.

An appointed representative, or AR, is a form of broker that does not have full authorisation and registration. Usually because they can only sell a restricted range of products. Again, you are not getting full choice.

Using one of the websites that offers to compare business insurance will give you more choice, depending on your trade. If you fit into one of their categories you may get a list of prices at the end of the quote process. These companies sell on price, this is why the premiums are usually in flashing letters, enticing you to buy. Whilst you get the choice, how do you know whether the £500 quote is offering similar cover to the £750 quote? You may buy the cheaper one but then find out you have a big excess, onerouse terms or worse still gaps in cover. You only find this out when you need it most, after a loss.

As these sites do not advise you, you cannot go back and say that they sold you the wrong policy, because you chose policy Y over policy Z.

All of this leads neatly to using an independent broker. We have access to a number of insurers, we must offer you the best quote at the best price, our service is free and best of all you have comeback if you were mis-sold a policy.

Posted in business insurance broker, employers liability insurance | Comments Off

Cancelling business insurance – mid term

Saturday, August 6th, 2011

Anyone who has tried to get out of a mobile phone contract, before it expires, will know that some agreements can be quite costly. When you are getting a free phone or some other consumer goody, this is of course, not free.

The £30 a month you pay over 18 or 24 months is £540 or £720. The handset does not cost this much and you do get charged for many things that you may have thought where in in the package. Anyway, you can see where we are coming from. Technology has come on in leaps and bounds and it does not cost the telecoms company 10p to process the text you send. More like 2 or 3p, maximum, so you can see where the profit lies.

With business insurance, you are not quite so tied in to a contract. Most policies are purchased on a an annual contact and there are times when you may wish to cancel a policy mid way through the year. Certain policies are sold on what is called a minimum and deposit basis. This means that whenever you cancel the policy (outwith the 14 day distance selling timescales) you are liable for the full years premium. Usually though this is only for liability or professional indemnity insurance.

Most other policies, as long as you have not had a claim, can be cancelled without additional cost, on a pro-rata, or day by day, basis. If you have had a claim, your insurers are understandably entitled to look for the full years premium if you try and cancel early. But, for example if you move premises, radically change your business or need cover that your current provider does not give, then you are entitled to look for an alternative.

If your policy is paid on instalments, insurers may request an additional amount, usually around 25% of the outstanding premium, if a policy is cancelled early. This where you need to review, in full, any credit agreement you sign. Any problems though, speak to your business insurance broker and ask them, straight up, what happens if I cancel early? If anything, it will put them on their toes and they will make a special effort to look after you so you do not cancel mid-term.

Posted in business insurance, professional indemnity insurance | Comments Off

Commercial Insurance – Glass Claims – Watch your limit

Friday, August 5th, 2011

One of the major sources of minor claims under commercial insurance package policies is damage to shop front glass. Although many properties are now protected by roller shutters, the number of claims for glass damage have not really reduced in recent years.

It is not only outside of business hours that businesses suffer malicious damage to their windows, but during business hours. We have seen claims for everything from childrens bikes, golf balls, stones thrown up by cars, ladders and childrens buggys falling backwards causing damage to shop front windows.

With our Health and Safety culture in the UK, you are not allowed to replace a window, below approximately waist height, unless it is at a certain strength. Therefore, a shop with a window that has been in place for 20 or 30 years will have to replace it with a better, tougher, quality one. Which is of course more expensive.

As we all know the shop window is, your shop window. Retailers want this as big as possible as it is the best form of free advertising you will ever get. As a result single shop windows can now be made of huge pieces of glass. Huge pieces of glass cost huge amounts of money to replace.

In England and Wales, and to a slightly lesser degree in Scotland, anyone renting a premises, particularly shops and/or offices will be responsible under the terms of their lease for the glass.

Although you do not legally own the glass, because it is part of the premises, if it is broken then you are responsible for the replacement. This is where you need to check two things on your shop, office or salon insurance policy.

Firstly, that you actually have fixed glass cover. Surprisingly, some insurers do not automatically include this cover. Thankfully the numbers are very small and most nowadays have it automatically in their packages.

Secondly, once you have confirmed that you have the cover, you need to check what sums insured you have. The most we have seen paid out on a glass claim, was for a furniture shop, where three of the main windows were smashed over a weekend. The culprit was seen on CCTV but it was not clear enough to arrest or convict the individual. Unfortunately this seems to be an increasing story we hear regarding council and/or police CCTV, but that is a separate point. The total claim, including the emergency boarding up, was £8,500.

I think you know where this is going. If your cheap package policy only gives you a limit of £500 or £750, or £0, as some do. Then this is woefully inadequate.

Speak to your business insurance broker and make sure that your policy has the right limit. If you didn’t by your policy from a broker, then speak to one straight away and get them to review your current insurance policy to see if it is adequate.

Posted in business insurance, salon insurance | Comments Off

Commercial property owners insurance – claims notifications

Thursday, August 4th, 2011

When we are providing people with a business insurance quote, we need to go through a standard set of questions. This is part of our fact find process, to ensure we get the right information from the potential customer.

One of the most important questions we need to ask is about previous claims or losses. For example, a customer looking for shop insurance, who has been trading for 10 years with no claims or losses is at an advantage to an identical business that has had three or four claims. It is not just the case that a business with claims will pay a higher premium, or have a higher excess. It is more than likely that an insurer will simply refuse to quote.

As a business insurance broker we have access to a number of different insurers, underwriters or providers. This is why you are better speaking to us, than going direct, because we can discuss with our providers to see if a quote can be provided. If insurers A, B and C refuse to quote, it does not mean that insurer D will do the same.

Going back to the blog though, the important point is that we ask about claims or losses. You need to declare all claims that you have submitted to your insurers, whether these were settled or not. For example, on a commercial property owners insurance, you may have submitted a claim for damage to a roof that was repudiated or turned down because it was simply wear and tear. If the insurers refused to pay, this is not a valid claim on the insurance but, it is a loss that was suffered.

We do have customers that say that they have never had a claim, but then disclose that on different occasions either their insurers refused to pay out or they did not think it was worthwhile submitting a claim.

All of these scenarios or circumstances have to be declared. Yes, it may alter the acceptance of the risk by insurers or the premium and/or terms that they apply. But, it is better to let them know at the outset to then submit a substantial claim which is then turned down because you did not declare the full information at the outset.

If you are in any doubt as to what you should declare, speak to a broker. Do not fill in an online quote and make assumptions about what you should and should not declare. Speaking to a human being and getting some good old fashioned honest advice is the best way froward.

Posted in business insurance broker, commercial property owners insurance | Comments Off

Need business insurance? How do you know what cover you should have?

Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011

If you think about a physical product, a car, clothing or computer, you can spend as little, or as much, as you want. The more you spend is usually related to how much of a status symbol the item you are buying is considered. Laptop computers are a good example. In my estimation, over 90% of people that have and regularly use a laptop could get away with a basic £250 model. But, most spend a lot more and have more add-ons than you can shake a stick at. Over 50% of the additional software that is in-built is never used, it is usually just a browser, email client and word processing package that most people use.

With business insurance, things are slightly different. There are similarities with physical products, in that the cost differences are great. Commercial insurer A may offer a policy for £500 whereas Commercial insurer B will offer a policy for £750. As a broker, we can tell, and it is our job to know, the difference between the policies. We can therefore say, with confidence that policy A is a better option, not only because it is cheaper, but because the terms, conditions, excesses and warranties are the same, or very similar to policy B.

But, we only know this because it is our job. We do this day in and day out. We deal with quotes, policies, changes, alterations and claims. We know what is good and what is bad. For you, as the customer though it is not quite so easy.

The first step is for you to decide exactly what business or commercial insurance you actually need. If you go to our site, this will give you a start to decide what types of cover you may need or must have.

If you need some genuine free advice, you can always give us a call on 08456 024 589.

Posted in business insurance, commercial insurance | Comments Off