Following on from our previous posts about the sites that offer to compare business insurance, we thought we would say what you should expect.

In the olden days (pre 1990) if you were looking for a comparable quote at renewal for your business, you really only had one option. You would speak to a local broker and they would offer to come and see you. As part of their visit they would ask to see all of your existing documents and then come back to you with two things. Firstly, a straight comparison with what you had, and secondly, offers of additional insurance cover.

Any broker would always say that another provider was not really giving exactly what they should do as far as cover is concerned.

Here at businessinsure, we like to do things slightly differently. If you were to phone us up to discuss an alternative to your renewal, we would look to gain as much information about you, your business and what your plans are for the next twelve months. There is no point in sticking with the same sums insured etc, if your business is to grow or change substantially in the next twelve months.

We would then offer a comparable quote to the cover you have at present. It may well be that we offer slightly different excesses and terms, usually for the better. But, until we see a copy of your existing insurance, there is not really that much that we can do to check what cover, terms, warranties, conditions and excesses you have.

Then, if we felt that you were missing out on cover, for example a licensed premises without loss of licence insurance, we would let you know. Hopefully, you would then be sitting there with your existing business insurance renewal and a comparison quote to consider.

We are seeing, across the board, premiums increasing for all classes of business insurance. Whilst some of our customers say that this is unfair of the insurers to increase costs, we have to point out that this is on the back of approximately 8 years of either static, or reducing premiums. We have many customers paying less now, for essentially the same risk, than they were 5 years ago. Of course, no claims discounts help, but in recent years insurers have not been increasing prices, apart from index-linking.

As there have been a number of years of inadequate pricing (from the insurers point of view), they are now starting to amend the pricing to make up for the past few years losses. They have three choices, in reality, pull out of a class of business, increase their prices or remain the same. Most are erring on the side of caution and increasing their prices.

This leaves most customers in a bit of a quandary, what do they do when they are faced with an increased premium? Many will instantly hit the internet to find an alternative. No longer do you have to visit, or be visited, by a broker, you can use the net.

This is where the difficulty occurs, there are so many sites now that compare business insurance. But, the question is, do they really compare the cover, or do they compare the prices? It tends to be the prices in the main and the cover is secondary.

What you really want is a human being that will methodically and correctly, compare the products and recommend the best product at the best price. The easy way to do this, is to speak to a broker that is independent. If they are, they can pick and choose who they quote (subject to them having agencies with the underwriters), if they are not independent, their level of choice is limited to one.

Speaking to a broker, instead of using a comparison site, is the ext way because you can chat through what you do, and do not, want. The broker can suggest areas where there are gaps and help you ascertain exactly what you need, should and are legally obliged to insure.