In the UK, all business insurance have their favoured categories of insurance. To use the time worn phrase, there are some that are cash cows and others that do not produce as much profit and others that are a drain on resources and cash.
One of the main categories that has, year on year, posted positive returns for most companies is office insurance. Offices tend to be run well, they are low risk, and in these modern technological times, have significant values of business contents, particularly IT.
So, you would think that as insurers make money on offices that they will always offer the best prices. Wrong! If you start in business today and look around for a quote, you will get a very competitive premium. But, over the years the insurers rely on the fact that there is always a distinct lack of inertia as far as looking around for alternatives at renewal time. Your premium will steadily creep up and up, as your claims ratio (ie the amount and cost of claims) gets better and better.
We are of course simplifying things here, not every insurer does things this way. The more forward thinking and pro-active ones are quote realistic on the prices. Usually though you need to have a switched on business insurance broker dealing with your renewal. What this means is that they are fully aware of the market price and if the insurers try to hike the figure to high, they will look for a cheaper, comparable, alternative for you.
We dislike the word cheap, competitive is a much more preferable option. Cheap tends to denote something that will ultimately not provide the financial protection you are looking for. If your insurer or broker have been steadily increasing your premium, and you have not had claims or losses, then you need to take a stand and look elsewhere.