Archive for December, 2011

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Insurance for business

Monday, December 12th, 2011

Anyone who caught the second part of the BBC’s Robert Preston series, How the West Went Bust, may be forgiven for thinking that UK plc is well and truly finished. I do accept that unless a journalist can put up a story that is quite controversial or hard-hitting, they will usually not get any air play. The programme was, thankfully, apolitical, it didn’t seek to blame either of the political parties, it simply said that the 15 or so years of growth up to 2006-2007 where fuelled by borrowed money and credit, in the main. What I disagreed with, was the part about UK being effectively a worldwide nonentity, Germany and China are streets ahead and we are just followers. This was the controversial part, if he had said that the UK is a bit wounded after 15 years of lack of investment from the government in the smaller manufacturing firms instead of allowing the banks to grow, grow, grow, then I would have been a little happier. Instead, the UK was accused of having no manufacturing, no exports, no income and just being a bigger version of Greece.

We are mortally wounded, that is true, but we will recover and it is the entrepreneurs of today that will grow the UK. The problem is that the programme was made, deliberately, at a bad time economically for the UK. The cynics amongst us would ask that if he is being so smug now, why where there no similar programmes in 2004-2007 from the BBC about the countries debt problems?

If you are an entrepreneur and starting up, you will be in need of insurance for business. This blog is not only to say that Businessinsure, can, and probably will help you, but to show that new young firms can thrive and survive. At the top of the business insurance broker tree, there are a few companies that have borrowed, heavily and at high cost, to grow, grow, grow. They are getting the best deals from the insurers, the best commissions, and their debt mountains are huge. But, even with this huge power, they are still not as nimble and quick as the smaller, more agile firms. By all means go to them for a quote, but come to us afterwards and see what we can do.

We are not a defunct country, we certainly have a lot to learn about the resilience and growth of China and Germany, but the learning needs to start at central government. On the ground, we know what we need to do and we do it.

Posted in business insurance, insurance for business | Comments Off

Office insurance – declaring “manual” work away

Friday, December 9th, 2011

Office insurance, like pubs, restaurants, hotels, shops and salons, is something that most of the main UK commercial insurers have designed a package policy for. Rather than speaking to an insurer and saying that you need cover for contents and computers and business interruption and employers liability and public liability etc etc, insurers have package products which contain the normal covers that the particular trade would require.

For offices, the policies will include, or have the option of including, buildings, contents, stock, business computers, employers, public and products liability, money, goods in transit, portable equipment away from the premises (ie smartphones/laptops) and business interruption. This blog is concerned with public liability insurance, as part of an office package.

Public liability insurance covers your business for any accident, illness, disease or damage, caused to third party persons or property. Therefore, if someone comes to see you and trips over a loose cable, this is public liability, if you visit someone and knock a PC off a desk, this is public liability.

Now, the astute amongst you will notice that these are fairly far fetched claims and really unlikely to ever happen. But, these claims do occur, day in and day out and the cover is required. The more common cause of claims under public liability, is where there is an element of what the insurers describe as “manual work away”. Now, your definition of manual work and the insurers definition of manual work will probably differ. To add to the confusion, some insurers have different definitions of what is manual and what is clerical.

We have learned that the best thing to do is to advise the insurers of all activities to make sure you are covered correctly. In the main this will affect those office insurance policies for computer related trades. For example, we had a quote request for a computer hardware re-seller. When I asked about work away, they said they may do the odd installation. What is involved in the installation? Cabling, plugging in hardware and potentially work in a computer room. Now,. we have at least half a dozen insurers that would quote for the office package. Half of them will consider this manual work and the others will not. You are better to ensure that all of your business activities are declared. Please do not assume that your broker or insurer has a full understanding of what you do and more importantly that you are covered.

Posted in office insurance, office insurance quote, public liability insurance | Comments Off

Property owners insurance – full knowledge of the construction materials

Thursday, December 8th, 2011

With all the emphasis given to the Financial Services Authority and the pressure on business insurance brokers to act professionally and treat customers fairly, we are still amazed at how many businesses approach us for quotations without full details of the insurance they require.

As the owner of the property, it is their responsibility to provide us with a current rebuild cost for the property, as opposed to basing the quote on last years renewal premium and sums insured when looking for a property owners insurance quote. You would think, but it is not always the case, that a property owner would know the age of the property and also the type of the construction of the walls, floors and roofs.

A commercial insurance company, when providing a quote, will need to know if there is any element of flat concrete or flat felt on timber roof. Where there are flat roofs, terms and conditions will apply to claims and/or losses relating to the roof. These include annual inspection clauses and repairs and many will exclude storm or water damage arising from flat roofs, don’t get caught out. When you approach us for a property or business insurance quote with buildings, we will need to know if there is any element of flat roof. Even if this is just 10% of the overall roof area. We will always aim to obtain a range of property owners quotations to ensure the best terms are found for our clients.

Another point that insurers will need to be fully aware of is whether there are any composite panels in the building. This usually only applies to food processing and cold storage plant. However, modern buildings are now more likely to include pre-formed panels with insulation built in to try and reduce the heating costs. You need to know what the material is, whether polystyrene, Rockwool or similar or some other material. Every insurance policy is based on the principle of utmost good faith, you must declare the full facts of the risk to insurers. If you fail to declare composite panelling, which can represent a higher risk of fire, then your insurance policy may not pay out in the event of a claim for fire.

You should always speak to an independent business insurance broker who will go through steps to gain the required information from you, to present to a range of insurers to get you the best terms at the best price.

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

Office insurance – trade all risks

Monday, December 5th, 2011

As the business insurance market continues to be tough, we are seeing a slightly worrying trend with the way alternative quotes are being provided. There are some people who think that a broker does not add sufficient “service” to warrant the commission that we receive. As an alternative, some people are going to the websites that “offer” to compare business insurance.

We are brokers for a lot of offices. Offices are ideally suited to dealing with their insurance, remotely, through a broker such as businessinsure. Over the 1o years we have been trading, a double digit percentage of our client base has been office package insurance. We have found that the competition for this part of our business is getting tougher and tougher. We are thankfully holding our own, but when an existing client goes on the net to look for their existing insurance renewal premium to be bettered, some of the websites do not offer like for like cover. We are faced with the phone call along the lines of “you have quoted me £x but I have a quote online for £y”. When we ask the customer to allow us the opportunity of looking at their alternative, we find out that it is not on the same basis. 

The biggest difference is that many of the alternative quotes do not include the all risks items. These are the electronic pieces of equipment that you take with you out and about and the same pieces of equipment that people drop, crack, spill coffee on and get stolen. They are the biggest source of claims. But, you would be amazed at the amount of quotes that do not include this. Whatever type of cover you have, you are more than likely going to need this type of cover. Particularly office insurance. Yes, you may be able to get a cheaper quote but you really do need to check that it is on a like for like basis. We have even had a claim for an ipad that was dropped in the bath, paid within four days by the insurers. Now, does your policy provide for that sort of cover?

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

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