December « 2011 « BusinessInsure Blog

Archive for December, 2011

Where can I get a business insurance quote, over the phone?

Friday, December 30th, 2011

The world wide web and the internet, I have just found out, are two different things. I won’t go into the complexities of the differences for one reason, I do not really understand them. The reason I found out, is because I was having a little look around to see how long the internet or www has been around. I use the terms interchangeably, as they mean to me the ability for one computer user to access, view and communicate other computers around the world. Later blogs may go into more depth because it is quite an interesting subject, but that is for the future when I eventually have some free time.

Anyway, back in 1979/1980 is when Tim Berners-Lee was actively setting up the network, which would become the world wide web, for allowing computer users to connect. The reason I was looking up this was to see how far we had come in the last 30+ years. Even ten years ago when businessinsure started, whilst the internet was there, accessing it was not quite so easy. The average person could only access via a dial up modem on an analogue phone line. This was the biggest problem of the tech boom in the late 1990’s. There were huge amounts of money thrown at companies that sold things via a means that most people did not have. I remember working at a large business insurance company at the time. We have 1,200 people in the building and there was one PC in the corner of one floor that accessed the internet. To get on it you had to put your name in a hard copy diary and usually book your visit at least a week in advance.

How times have changed. Last night I remembered that I wanted to buy a t shirt for one of my kids. At 11.30 at night, I could access the net on my Android phone and bought the item I wanted. This morning there is an email saying that it has been posted already.

But, there is a small downside as far as business insurance is concerned. As we can access systems and databases very easily, there has been a growth in websites that offer, we use this term in it’s loosest possible sense, to compare business insurance. If you go onto Google, and put in one of the many search terms to get quotes, you get a long list. Businessinsure appear in position 7 for the term business insurance quote. We are an independent business insurance broker. We have agencies with a number of insurers meaning that if you ask us for a quote, we go to more than one insurer. And, as the heading of this post says, we can do this over the phone. The first 6 that appear are a combination of three comparison sites where you put in the information and three direct commercial insurers, where you get a choice of one.

We cannot guarantee to beat everyone, but what we do offer is a first class, competitive, quick, friendly service from a human being on the end of a phone line.

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Unoccupied property insurance quotes

Thursday, December 29th, 2011

If you need an unoccupied property insurance quote, whether for residential, commercial or a mix of the two, then you need to go to a business insurance broker. It may seem strange as to why you would go to a business broker for an empty residential property owners insurance policy, but stick with us and we will explain why.

A fair proportion of our business is property owners. We do not differentiate at all, the only thing we cannot do is a home that you occupy yourself, this is better suited to a domestic, or personal, insurer. Even the larger commercial and business insurance companies will split their companies into two, one for the business side and one for the domestic. There is a problem though in going to a domestic insurer for an empty house that you are looking to insure. Why? Because most of them will have restrictions about insuring a property that is empty for more than 30, 45 or 60 days. Instead of applying restrictions, the cover simply ceases.

The reason for sticking with us is, that a business insurance broker will be able to get an annual unoccupied quote for you. Businessinsure can even get wider cover to include storm, flood, theft and malicious damage. You will not get cover for glass, sanitaryware, loss of rent, accidental damage or burst pipes though.

So whether it is an empty house, factory, restaurant, shop or industrial unit, we can get a quote for you. We can usually turn quotes around within an hour or so. Therefore, even if your existing provider has hit you with a massive premium increase at the last minute, come to Businessinsure and we’ll see what we can do. We are not naive, or should we say daft, enough to say that we will beat any other quote. What we will do is our best, for you. You can then rest assured in the knowledge that at least you have found out what the ball park is, price and cover wise. You can then choose whether or not you want to move insurer.

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

Taking on employees and getting employers liability insurance

Wednesday, December 28th, 2011

Given that 2011 did not really deliver any real growth changes compared to 2010, most UK businesses are looking froward to 2012 with a bit of trepidation. Whilst it is difficult to read the signs in advance, it really does not look like we are going to get a huge amount of growth for the whole of next year. There are doom mongers out there who have been predicting, some would say wishing for, a double dip recession. Of course we have come close to this, but so far not yet.

This is not to say that everything out there is doom and gloom though, there are some positives and UK plc continues to prove it is as resilient as ever. Many businesses are continuing to fight through the pain and are showing some signs of high singles and lose double digit percentage growth. But, with the growth, comes the responsibility. If you have been operating as a sole trader, you may find that the only way that you can deal with the growth is to employ someone. Going from working on your own to employing even just one person is a huge, huge step from any business. There are legal responsibilities out there, for which you can find ample advice and help on through some of the UK governments websites.

One of the things you will need to get, is employers liability insurance. It is not a nice to have, but is something that the law of the land states you must have in force or ou could face a fine. The current figure is up to £2,500 per day that you do not have valid cover. In reality, you are given the opportunity to prove this cover in the event of a Health and Safety visit. But, if you want to get the cover in place, before you are forced to do so, then you have an army at your disposal.

That army are the thousands of independent business insurance brokers, ready to provide you with a competitively priced quote and policy. If you need the cover, give us a call.

Posted in business insurance broker, employers liability insurance, employers liability insurance act 1969 | Comments Off

Commercial property owners insurance – loss of rent

Friday, December 23rd, 2011

When looking for a commercial property owners insurance quote, you tend to have two options available as far as adding loss of rental income is concerned. Certain insurers will include this cover as standard, for a percentage, usually 20, of the total sum insured. For others, you need to actually declare a loss of rental income to include this cover.

Before we discuss the differences, a quick note on exactly what loss of rental income is. If you, or a business, owns an asset in the form of a building, you are usually looking to rent this and receive income. The rental income is known as the yield, or earnings. The hope of course is that a combination of increasing value of the property and rental income exceeds the cost of any financing or loan that is taken out to purchase the property. Given that the first has almost been non-existent in the past four years, it is even more important to ensure adequate insurance cover for the latter.

If there is a fire, for example, your tenant will have to move out and more than likely cancel the tenancy agreement they have with you and take out another one. As you are unable to let the property, you are not fulfilling this side of the contract and your tenant is quite entitled to go elsewhere. Therefore, you are left with a property that you are not receiving any rent for. It needn’t just be a fire, it could be a flood, or burst pipe that causes your tenant to move out. This can take any number of months and sometimes years to resolve.

This is where you really need to speak to an independent business insurance broker to ensure that you have adequate protection in the form of rent paid. Certain policies that only offer a 12 month indemnity period, will only pay rent for the maximum period of one year. When you think about a disaster, with a property destroyed the time taken to clear the site, get architects, surveyors and local authorities involved and renewed planning permission and then get the property built – it can take over twelve months. You need to ensure you have cover for this extended period of time.

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

Public liability insurance

Tuesday, December 20th, 2011

Public liability forms part of the law of tort. This relates to civil wrongs, as opposed to criminal wrongs. Someone that suffers a tortious injury is usually entitled to claim damages for injuries suffered. This is of course just a simplification, but it’s aim is to show that public liability is governed by parts of UK law. As with most aspects of the law, judgements are based, in the main, on a mix of two things. Firstly, existing legislation and secondly precedents that have been set. We hear in the news of some law dating back to the 18th Century, for example, that is still in force. If a judgement is pursued under this law, it is up to the judge to balance on the one hand an antiquated piece of legislation and on the other, any judgements that have been made based on that law. The intention being that, on balance, the law is equally applied to one and all.

Public liability is the same. In theory, you can only be held liable if there is some proof of negligence. There are certain cases where you do not even need to be proven to be negligent, but mainly there has to be proof. Whether we all think it is for the good of the country or not, the UK was opened up to make it easier for the person in the street to pursue valid legal action. Certain solicitors have taken this just a bit too far. Again, we read in the news of some action that has been taken which 99 people out of 100 would say is just a joke but they are successful. This is why businesses need to have public liability insurance. There is no legal requirement, usually, to have this cover in force.

However, it is another one of our sensible and prudent covers to have. One of the main benefits of having this cover, is that the spurious claims can also be covered. What this means is that if you have a formal claim made against you, your insurers will deal with this and decline it on your behalf. We see the solicitors letters on a regular basis and if you are happily running your business and then receive a 28 page letter accusing of you x and asking you to prove y and respond by z, it can be very daunting and intimidating. Sometimes deliberately so. This is where you want the reassurance of having a robust policy in place. The other thing you want, and we can offer you, is a good business insurance broker that you can pass everything to and to deal with on your behalf.

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

Comparing business insurance quotes (the easy way)

Monday, December 19th, 2011

Many years ago, our European neighbours used to laugh at us because, as a nation, bartering and haggling did not come naturally to us. The only time we used to do his was on our annual foreign holidays. We used to go to the markets and shops and try and haggle the prices down. We used to feel quite good about the fact that we had knocked a few pesetas or drachmas off something that we really didn’t need.

Fast forward to 2011 and the aftermath of the recession in the UK. In 2006 everything seemed rosy, unlimited credit was available to one and all, you only had to pick up the junk mail through your letter box to get your hands on a few thousand pounds. In the back of everyone’s mind, we knew that it could not go on. The doom mongers, who are so smug nowadays, said the obvious, this is not going to go on forever. Then it stopped. You actually had to prove you had a good business model or could actually pay a mortgage before someone gave you a loan. Even Gordon Brown, remember him?, must have realised that our growth was based on accessing credit more than anything else. 2008 turned into 2009 and nothing changed, we hit recession and UK plc went through some real pain and you know, it is still there. We have a terrible headache, sore limbs, aching back and the prognosis is that we are going to have to wait at least three to five years before the pain eases.

What does this introduction have to do with business insurance quotes, I hear you ask? A sensible question of course and the answer is, that we are actually having to spend a lot more time looking around for alternatives. Haggling and bartering has been replaced by the word comparison. The beauty of it all is, that you do not actually have to do the comparisons yourself. You have two choices. You can go online and use a software comparison tool. This is fine for physical products, one pair of trainers is the same as the identical pair in the other shop, just cheaper.

But when it comes to looking to compare business insurance, do you want to sit there and do all of the work yourself? Or do you want to speak to an independent professional, whose job is to look around on your behalf? Online comparison software does work, but for an important financial service, such as insurance, you cannot always buy on price, price, price. A broker will, more than likely, save you money and probably get a better price than a comparison site. The good thing is though, that you will also be safe in the knowledge that they have sold you the right product as well. If, and it is rare, they have not, you have the full force of Financial Services Authority legislation behind you.

Posted in Business insurance comparison websites, business insurance quote, business insurance quotes, compare business insurance, compare business insurance quotes | Comments Off

Warehouse insurance – what is a stillage warranty?

Saturday, December 17th, 2011

Commercial insurance companies have made great strides over the years to make their policy wordings easier to read and understand. It may be easy to criticise parts of their policies for being long winded, but at the heart of it all is that the policy is a legal contract. Day in day, day out, these policies are relied on and referred to in courts of law up and down the land. Therefore, they have to be robust enough to be understood, fairly, by both parties. Sometimes though, you do just need a bit of help in explainin the terms.

All policies have terms, conditions, warranties and excesses. There are some things that you need to do, some that the insurers need to do, in the event of a loss.

If you have warehouse insurance, then you may find your quote or policy is subject to a stillage warranty. Without access to a good dictionary or Google, it is difficult know what this is. Stillage is an old shipping term, related to storing things on a pallet or pallet with sides.

An insurers stillage warranty should really be called a….storing stock away from the floor…..warranty. This is all it really is. In he event of a light flood, or burst pipe, even if the bottom few centimetres of stock are damaged, wet, you normally have to chuck the whole lot. A stillage warranty will not prevent a major flood from destroying your stock but it’s aim is to prevent damage by a light water damage. What it says, is that your stock must be stored on pallets or shelving at least 10cm, 15cm or some other defined height from floor level.

Please check whether this applies to your cover because insurers may turn round and repudiate, or turn down, any claim you may make for water damage.

It is funny, I have just gone through the spell check and guess what, stillage is not recognised! This is where the benefits of getting a business insurance quote from a broker shine through. If you go online and get a quote at 2am, are you really going to read through 15 or 20 pages of terms and conditions? Or, do you deal through a broker who really should point out in a summarised two or three page quote what terms, conditions, warranties and excess apply.

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Getting a business insurance quote – what options are there?

Friday, December 16th, 2011

In the early to mid 1990’s, if you were looking to get a business insurance quote, you were fairly restricted in where you could go to get your quote and also how long it took. Whilst insurers where happy to work on a direct basis for car and home cover, they were n0t so keen on doing the same for commercial.

I remember working for a large insurer in the early 90’s, many were just putting a tentative toe in the water to get car and motor policies sold direct, because Peter Wood and his Direct Line model had blown everything away with how successful it was. However, a lot of the insurers still had very strong broker relationships. Brokers were up in arms that insures had the audacity to cut into their market share. To be fair, and most brokers from the time will agree, it was always going to happen. What they did not expect was that insurers would start to deal direct with members of the public and business owners. Over the past ten years though, many insurers have tried to attack this market and guess what? They have gradually failed.

We are not trying to say that being a broker is complex, but there are differences between all of the products. For example, anyone looking for a wholesalers insurance quote is not going to find this online, via a quote engine. A quote engine is where you do all the work, put all the answers in, the system makes a whole load of quite important assumptions and then throws you up a cheap price at the end. Usually there is not much thought to the type of policy you are going to get, they flog it just on price.

If you want the right product, with a bit of free advice about the cover you get, then you really need to speak to an independent business insurance broker. This is your only real option. You do not have to deal with the broker direct, face to face. Companies such as Businessinsure act independently, but over the phone and the internet. Instead of doing the work yourself, let us do it for you.

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

Christmas special offers for business insurance?

Thursday, December 15th, 2011

There are certain industries, Christmas tree and cracker suppliers being two of the obvious ones, that are a bit busy at this time of year. Come January, they can breathe a small sigh of relief, hopefully have a bit of a holiday and then build up to 2012. Other industries, particularly financial services, tend to quieten down at this time of year. There are not many people looking for a business insurance quote at this time of year. But, this does not mean to say that there are not people out there looking.

For Businessinsure, we had rather humble beginnings back in 2001. Gradually, as we have grown we know which months are busier, for us. The least busy is December, which in a way is quite good because we can deal adequately with the weather related claims that we tend to get from December through to February/March time. But, even with this being a quieter month, we are still busy if you get my drift. With talk of exiting recessions, entering recessions, double dip recessions, flat growth, negative growth, no growth and some growth, everyone with an ounce of sense is looking to re-price every product and service they buy.

Staff are, and always will be the be all and end all of the financial services industry. As a business insurance broker, we rely on our staff. We have actually done well in the past few years, with continued year on year growth. We have read reports in the press of other brokers reducing pay for staff. This has to be the absolute last measure because, believe it or not, it is not the staffs fault that times are tough.

So, if you are following the model we have, which is to ensure that your staff are hopefully OK, then you may need to look at other areas where you can save money. If you have a business insurance renewal due in December, believe you me, now is the time to get this quoted. If you are profitable, on the insurance front, then there is a broker out there (why not try Businessinsure…..) who can get you an absolutely cracking deal. We are getting daily calls from the commercial insurance companies looking for new business as their year ends are fast approaching. Now is the time to bag yourself a bargain.

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Liability insurance – in isolation

Tuesday, December 13th, 2011

Commercial and business insurance companies will, very rarely, offer a single type of insurance on a separate contract. What normally happens is that the different types of cover are packaged together into single contracts. Think of your car policy, you do not buy a separate cover for your windscreen, for third party liability, for legal expenses or for damage to the car or it’s contents. Instead, the insurers wrap it all up and sell it as one policy.

It is the same with most types of business insurance, you can get packages for pubs, shops, hotels, restaurants, offices, salons, hairdressers and many others. But, there are some businesses that really do not want, or need, one of these packages. The package policy tends to include cover for stock and contents and goods in transit and money and business interruption and of course, many others! Some just need their basic liability covers, usually to comply with their legally required covers, such as employers liability insurance or to comply with a contract.

Nowadays, if you are supplying to, or working for, a larger firm, it is more and more likely that they will insist on you having, and indeed providing proof, of liability insurance. The reason behind this is, if there is a problem with the product that you supply to the supermarket, their product liability insurers, for example, want to be able to recoup any claims payments that they have made. Therefore, when you enter into a contract to supply, a supermarket for example, they will usually insist on you providing cover for employers, public and products liability. This is what the layman would call liability insurance on its own, the insurers call it the much more grand, combined liability insurance in isolation.

Although insurers like to package their products, you can still buy a combined liability insurance, which contains the three main covers. You have to be very careful about whether you choose liability cover on its own, or with a package. It may be tempting to take out the cheaper cover, especially in this day and age. But think about the last two winters and the destruction caused by burst pipes. Plenty of businesses lost all their stock and were very thankful that they had bought decent insurance cover. The common theme through all of the Businessinsure blogs continues, always, always speak to an independent business insurance broker about whether or not you need, or should have, basic or more comprehensive cover.

Posted in business insurance, business insurance broker | Comments Off