Archive for the ‘commercial combined insurance’ Category

Restaurant insurance – EL is vital

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

You have two choices when purchasing restaurant insurance, you either get a packaged policy or you get a bespoke policy inlcuding the sections of cover you specifically require.

Nine times out of ten, you will find that if you deal through a business insurance broker, you will be sold an off the shelf, package policy. This is the simplest, most economic way of arranging the cover.

However, in certain cases your broker may decide that the best way for you to cover, or protect, your business, is to have a special policy built just for your needs. For example, if you have restaurant, with a shop and guest house, then this is not usually suitable for the package concept. You will need to have what is called a commercial combined insurance policy. Your broker will declare all the business activities that you undertake. The policy will have a section for the business description to be declared. 

The insurer will include certain sections of cover as requested. If you have employees, even if it is just family members that “help out”, then you must have employers liability insurance. It is the brokers job to recommend to you the cover that you need. As part of this job, the broker will recommend that you have employers liability cover in force.

As with every legal document though, you are obliged to look through the wording and to read and understand what cover is provided. Do not assume that the broker has not made any errors. Whilst the likelihood is very, very low that an error is made, you should always check that you have employers liability or EL, and that you have a certificate of employers liability.

Posted in commercial combined insurance, employers liability insurance | No Comments »

Comprehensive office insurance – are employees covered whilst working from home?

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

With business insurance, you really only have two choices. You can either buy a packaged product, designed specifically for your industry or business activities, or a bespoke, more specialist product where you pick and choose the sections of cover.

Look around most high streets in the land and the types of businesses you see (retail, licensed trade, restaurants etc) will usually be suited to a package product. Then go to an industrial estate or commercial area and most of the businesses will probably be covered under a commercial combined insurance (or bespoke contract).

Office insurance is no different and you can get a competitively priced policy from most brokers or insurers. You do need to exercise some care though, the cheaper the package and there is more potential for restrictive terms to apply.

Here in Scotland, in February 2010 it is snowing yet again. What this means is that many employees of businesses are working from home, utilising modern technology to keep in touch. You need to make sure that the employers liability section of your policy specifically covers those who choose to work from their home address. In addition, if they are using a business laptop or Blackberry style device, is this covered if it is lost or damaged away from the main office premises? You should never assume something is covered, it is always worth checking.

Posted in commercial combined insurance, office insurance | No Comments »

Traders or commercial combined insurance?

Monday, February 15th, 2010

Every business likes to think they are unique and in a way, by virtue of their name only they are all different.

Following on from this, different companies call what are essentially the same products by different names. This is just one of the things that happens over time, particularly with brand names. Think of MP3 and MP4 players and you will know what we mean.

As far as commercial insurance is concerned, it can be confusing. Each insurer calls their own products by different names. In reality, the products really are much the same. If you have a policy that covers your business, depending on your insurer, the policy could be described as a commercial combined insurance policy. What this is, is a policy that “combines” all of the covers that you could potentially need. They are not automatically included, you need to pick which covers you need from a menu.

The difficulty is, that another insurer, selling exactly the same cover, will call this a traders combined insurance. Don’t worry if a broker tells you to move from a commercial, to a traders or to an umbrella policy. The brokers job is to sell you the best policy they can for the best price, forget about the name – the policy should be the best you need.

Posted in commercial combined insurance, traders combined insurance | No Comments »

Small business insurance – easy payment terms

Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010

The last decade will go down in history as the one where UK consumers really learned how to pile up the debt. Despite all the doom and gloom, house prices between 2000 and 2010 increased by over 25%, across the country. This is even taking into account the huge hit taken in 08 and 09.

During the decade, debt was easy, debt was fine and worst of all for many, debt was something that you didn’t worry about. But, the cost and availability of debt is now much higher and harder. No longer can you self cert yourself into a £300k mortgage.

But, for other areas of life and business it depends on what type of debt you are taking on. If you have spent most of you adult life working for someone else, the new decade (as yet un-named) may lead you to branch out on your own and start a new venture.

As part of this process, you will more than likely search for, and purchase, small business insurance. The reason for saying small, is that you will look for the most competitive policy you can for the cheapest premium.

For this reason you would not necessarily look for an all singing, all dancing, commercial combined insurance quote, just a basic policy.

You will find, when starting out, that any money you have disappears at warp speed. So, you will be pleased to know that all UK insurers offer some form of credit. Either, 6, 10 or 12 months. You need to look out for the interest free deal. This is the best kind of dent to take on, where someone else pays for it!

Posted in commercial combined insurance, small business insurance | No Comments »

Commercial combined insurance – what is it?

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

When receiving a new business insurance quote request from a customer, the first thing we ascertain is whether it is a new venture or an existing business.

Where a business is already trading then, in all likelihood, they will have an existing policy is force.

For many types of trade, such as shops, hotels or restaurants, a simple package policy will suffice. For more complex risks, it is more than likely that a commercial combined insurance policy will be in force.

But what exactly is included in such a policy and why are they used? The whole point about these policies is that they are bespoke. You, in conjunction with your brokers professional advice, can effectively pick and choose the sections of cover you need.

For example, a package policy may automatically include cover for goods in transit. If you only send through a 3rd party and they have suitable cover, why pay twice?

A word of warning though, if you are looking for one of these types of policies. Speak to two different advisors and get them to recommend the right policy. One of them may miss out on a few small details which could prove vital in later years.

Posted in business insurance, business insurance quote, commercial combined insurance, commercial insurance | No Comments »

Commercial liability insurance – whats included

Friday, January 29th, 2010

As a business insurance broker, we get calls from people that either have a policy in force, and are looking for an alternative, or others who are just starting out and looking for a bit of advice.

The good thing is, if you’ve got the time, our advice is free. As part of a business planning process, most people nowadays will use some form of software package (most of the banks provide these). One of the questions asked, is how much you will expect to pay for business or commercial liability insurance.

This is a good question, and the answer has to start with what it actually includes. A standard commercial combined insurance policy has the option of including three types of liability, these are more commonly called commercial or combined liability. Later blogs will cover each of these individually but the three types are:-

Employers liability (legally required if you employ anyone)

Public liability (not a legal requirement but a prudent cover to have in place)

Products liability (again, not required under statute but with the potential for most businesses of a significant claim, it is a sensible coverage to arrange)

Posted in business insurance broker, commercial combined insurance, commercial liability insurance | No Comments »