Archive for the ‘shop insurance’ Category

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Shop front glass cover under a business insurance package

Friday, January 20th, 2012

One of the basic principles we all learn about when we start our business insurance careers and/or examinations is insurable interest. You can only insure something in which, or to which, you have an insurable interest. There are reams and reams of learning and study material on this. It is often mis-interpreted though with people thinking that this means that you can only insure something you own. This is not the case though as insurable interest can apply in many, many ways. For example a mortgaged property is owned by you, but another party has a legal charge against this property. Although it is yours to sell as you wish, if you decide not to pay the mortgage, in can be repossessed because you do not have full title. The deeds are held by the mortgage company until you have paid the debt owed.

This long introduction is purely to show that insurable interest can apply to physical property that you do not own. The same applies to shop insurance. You can insure, on your shop insurance policy, parts of the building that you do not own. You will find, in the over-whelming majority of cases that you will be responsible for the shop front and the glass. If you have a full insuring and repairing lease, then you may be responsible for the buildings insurance as well. In the main though, you will need to insure the shop front glass.

Your commercial landlord will have a policy in place for the bricks and mortar, but not necessarily for the shop front glass. Shop front glass claims are numerous and you will find that the commercial building insurance policy may either not cover the glass or have a high excess. Also, if you have your own sign writing or lettering on the glass, then this is not the landlords responsibility. It is down to you to ensure that your shop policy provides you with a) adequate cover and b) a sensible excess.

By adequate cover, we mean the sum insured must be sufficient, you should either have an unlimited sum insured (which, whilst available, is rare) or a sum insured that is sufficient to replace all of the glass in the premises.

As always, if you do not have this cover speak to an independent business insurance broker. If you are through a broker and do not have this cover, change your broker!

Posted in business insurance, shop insurance, shop insurance quote | Comments Off

Reasons for business insurance premium increases – part 2

Thursday, January 12th, 2012

We blogged yesterday about business insurance renewal premium increases and the effects of index-linking. This tends to take account of, in 2012, around 2.5 to 3.0% of any renewal increase. This is the only part of a renewal premium increase that you can either take or leave. It is applied by insurers to your sums insured to ensure that, over the years, they do not become inadequate. A small percentage change, year on year, makes all the difference as time progresses.

The second potential reason for an increase in your renewal is changes to your sums insured during the policy year. Let say that you are starting a new business, for example retail, and take out a brand new shop insurance policy. Being sensible, you are going to start out the policy with as little premium as possible, the potential is that you will start with a small amount of stock and this will grow over time, assuming your business starts to grow as well. When your sums insured are likely to be inadequate, you should speak to the business insurance broker that arranged your policy to get the amounts you are covered for increased. This is standard practice across any business. We have seen many businesses going the other way in recent years. As they start to tighten their belts a little, they decide to reduce the amounts of stock they are holding, because usually this means that cash is unnecessarily tied up.

But, as the businesses start to grow and grow again, they are goign to come back and increase their sums insured. All of this means that, during any one 12 month period of insurance, you may have sums insured for contents, buildings and stock that will fluctuate. Amazingly, we stil have some customers that increase their stock during the year and then complain when the renewal premium goes up.

The problem is that whenever a sum insured is increased during the year, it is only ever charged (or should only ever be charged) on a pro-rata basis. Therefore if your policy runs from 1st Jan to 31st Dec, you should only get charged 6 months worth of premium for cover increased on, or around, the 1st July. But, when it comes to the renewal, this will include twelve months worth of premium.

Whilst the index linking of around 2.5/3%, is something you have to accept, for mid term increases you can usually agree some sort of reduction at renewal. As with all business insurance quotes, renewals and changes, you need to deal with a broker who you can access quickly and easily over the phone to discuss any alterations or changes. Then, when the renewal comes around you can speak to the same person to discuss and agree your renewal premium.

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

Do not rely solely on your business insurance for winter.

Tuesday, October 11th, 2011

Just read another report this morning about the potential of another harsh winter in the UK. I have all but given up hope that certain organisations have the ability to accurately predict the UK weather more than ten minutes in advance. We have now had two potential “barbecue” summers in 2010 and 2011 and to be honest, they have not exactly lived up to expectations.

I am not sure why they feel they can predict the winter weather better than the summer, but they have said that 2011/2012 will be number three in five consecutive bad winters. Whilst the UK retail industry look to the summer forecasts to see firstly what to stock their shelves with and secondly, whether they will make any money, in the world of business insurance, we look to the winter forecast in more detail.

Being of a certain age, I know that the UK is in that zone where we do have bad winters, we do get on with things and life really does not have come to a grinding halt. Where the weather forecasters predict something similar to last year, we need to plan on two sides. Firstly, as a business issue, being a Scottish based, but UK wide, business we have staffing concerns to be aware of. Whilst we say that the country should not grind to a halt we need to think about staff. If it is not safe for staff to come to work then we have to manage that. Living locally myself there is always going to be an element of cover here. The second point we need to be aware of is that there may be a large influx of burst pipe claims.

Whilst we are preparing and considering the effects of the winter weather, it is worth pointing out that all types of business need to consider what can happen to them. We have blogged long and hard about the need for a god quality policy but you cannot rely solely on your policy. We saw a lot of shop insurance claims last year, where the businesses were shut for a number of days following defrosting, burst, pipes flooding the business premises. Whilst their policies paid out, this does not help you with lost customers that do not come back.

A few simple steps can make all the difference to a business suffering either no claim or a small claim. It is worth making the effort, if possible to visit the business as many times as possible over the weekends and when the thaw kicks in. It may well be that the forecasters are just hedging their bets and saying it will be a bad winter. But, it is always better to be prepared.

Posted in business insurance, retail insurance, shop insurance | Comments Off

Shop insurance – you can still save money

Wednesday, August 17th, 2011

After nearly ten years of gradual reduction in commercial insurance premiums, we are starting to see an overall increase from most of the insurers we deal with.

In real terms, premiums have decreased since 2002 across the board. The decreases are not huge, but when you add in the effects that inflation should have had, you can maybe see why insurers are starting to see their balance sheets not looking so rosy. Basic economics comes into play and if the insurers are paying out more than they can afford then it stands to reason that they need to do one of, or a combination of two things. They need to increase their premiums, to cover their losses, and consider exiting markets where they have not been able to make money.

I used to work for one of the largest UK insurers that has since been swallowed up into the Aviva brand. They used to be one of the biggest insurers of coaches. It brought in many millions of pounds very year but the claims cost were more than the premiums and they were increasing. When the senior management decided to withdraw from the market entirely, on profitability terms, there was uproar from some of the managers. They saw a chunk of their branch income disappear. What they didn’t realise was that the overall profitability of the group was going to improve and in time, this would allow them to enter newer, more profitable markets. It was shortsighted but at the time insurers had branch networks which were more powerful than the executive team. Eventually they towed the line but it was a hard task.

We are seeing this with some of our underwriters in relation to shop insurance. Many have tried to grow market share by offering too cheap premiums and picking up un-profitable risks. Now they are getting to the stage of either exiting markets or pushing premiums up by double digit increases.

There is light at the end of the tunnel though, if you are profitable, as far as the insurance risk is concerned, a good quality business insurance broker will be able to find you an alternative, if your current provider is looking to apply a broad brush approach to all their customers renewal premiums.

Posted in shop insurance | Comments Off

Internet retailers insurance

Tuesday, August 16th, 2011

You may be surprised to know that there is not a commercial insurance company in the UK that has a bespoke, suitable, product for internet retailers.

Most of them will either cover this on a retail or shop policy, or a commercial combined insurance package. There are even some main stream, big brand, insurers that do not even provide cover for internet retailers. They are not even able to give one concrete, solid reason for why they do not want to provide cover. Some of their staff think that it poses an increased business interruption risk and others tell us that the stock is at an increased risk of theft.

As things stand, as we go through the second half of 2011, we have to work with the tools we have available. We can provide cover for you, but we ask and work with insurers to get these risks quoted on their retail or shop package policies. The reason being that these policies are packages and contain various covers which are suited to different trades. Therefore you can get cover for stock, contents, portable equipment ie laptops and smartphones, business interruption, goods in transit and the various liability covers.

We just need to make sure that the insurer is fully aware of all aspects of the trade that you are undertaking. One of the key points to consider for internet retail insurance is that your stock is more than likely to be held elsewhere, instead of at your home address.

Many businesses start from home and grow, as they grow they run out of space and it is now the norm to take a small storage unit at a different address. You need to make sure that your policy covers you at not only your home, but also your secondary business address, if there is one.

The best way to get this type of policy, and be confident that it provides you with what you need as far as cover is concerned, is to speak to a business insurance broker. Please do not try to get this sorted out online because the chances are that you will not get a confirmed quote as soon as you declare there are two different risk addresses and neither of them is a shop.

Posted in business insurance, internet retailers insurance, shop insurance, shop insurance quote | Comments Off

Shop front glass cover under your business insurance policy.

Friday, June 3rd, 2011

We have just had a long standing shop insurance customer notify us of their first glass claim. It is a single location shop, in an open precinct, with two large windows and a door in the middle.

One of the windows has cracked, it was noticed Wednesday morning and we worked on the basis that it was either accidentally or maliciously damaged, and notified insurers accordingly. Now, anyone who has had to replace a small piece of glass at home, could possibly have done this for £50 or £60 (not double glazed). The shop front window in question is going to cost £1,500 to replace and that is before the sign writing is taken into account. This is the cheapest of 3 quotes they have obtained.

They have a business insurance policy from one of the larger insurers in the UK. The good thing is that their policy is unlimited on glass and has a £1,000 limit for sign writing. Their excess is only £100 so, it is not going to be too painful for them.

We have another insurer that has a range of products. Their shop policies, whicj we do not use, have a limit of £500 for glass, including sign writing and the excess is £250. You can see why we do not use them for this product.

The problem is, that many brokers when faced with a quote request are asked to get the best price possible. This can mean going to the insurers with the most basic cover. It can be difficult for a broker to try and offer the bets service to a customer (ie the best cover), knowing full well that they will go to another broker, or direct, and get a cheap as chips policy that will not deliver in the event of a claim.

We ask you therefore just to double check whether you have sufficient and suitable glass cover in place. Your windows may not cost quite so much to replace, singly, but it is not unheard of to have more than one window smashed.

Posted in business insurance, shop insurance | No Comments »

Business insurance quotes over the weekend?

Saturday, April 30th, 2011

We have previously posted about the number of Bank Holidays we are going through at the moment. Just like buses, we have got five in as many weeks.

Most people now know not to try and phone many different businesses during the Bank Holiday period, because they are likely to be shut. But what happens at normal weekends if you are looking for a business insurance quote? At Businessinsure, we have been running for over ten years, we have tried, at different times, different methods to try and deal with the customers who need a quote outside of normal hours.

We have also commented before that we find the websites that offer to compare business insurance, a bit confusing. yes they may be “open” 24 hours a day, but the problem is that if you do fit into their distinct categories, you are less likely to get yourself a quote. Then, what do you do? What you really should do is to speak to someone first of all. Very, very rarely, if you are on the ball, do you need to get yourself a quote at the weekend. If you try and plan what you need, and when you need it, you should be able to get everything you need during business hours.

If you do need to get a quote and simply cannot phone to discuss in business hours, drop us an email to quotes@businessinsure.co.uk, give us as much information as you can and we will then use that to decide what type of quote is required. We will then drop you an email and ask you some further questions (if necessary). Then we can turn it round for you and get you a business insurance quote. We email every single quote and can post or fax to anywhere in the world. The beauty of the modern world is that you can be sitting on a beach in Australia, playing on a smart phone, sorting out your shop insurance requirements.

We have grwon up with internet and email, we understand that the phone is not always the preferred method. Whichever way you want to communicate, try us and see what we can do for you.

Posted in business insurance, compare business insurance, compare business insurance quotes, shop insurance | Comments Off

Product liability – exports to US and Canada

Saturday, April 16th, 2011

Nowadays there are many thousands of high street retailers, who also operate a retail website. This does not mean they are neglecting their main business, just looking for an extra way of earning income.

If they have a standard shop insurance policy, then it is worth making the insurers, or the broker, aware of this additional activity. The standard, package type, policy will no doubt have a specific exclusion. You will find that most business insurance policies, where there is product liability cover have the following type of exclusion:-

Product Liability

Cover is excluded in respect of liability for products knowingly supplied or exported to the United States of America and/or Canada.

If a shop is selling products and they know that there are customers in North America, which in this day and age is very easy, then they need to make sure they have the right cover. It is not enough to say, “it’ll never happen to me” “I’ll never get a claim” or anything similar. Claims do occur, with increasing frequency, and you should always seek advice about the best type of policy.

It may well be that if you declare that only a small proportion of your turnover, usually less than 5%, is in respect of exports, and, importantly, you are not manufacturing, then your policy will give you cover. But, the policy will state that any actions brought against you must be in a UK court of law (as this is cheaper for insurers). Therefore, if you do have the relevant cover and you receive notification of a potential claim, then you must do nothing except speak to your business insurance broker in the first instance. Do not react to any notifications you receive without seeking some sort of advice from your broker.

One poitn to mention is where the exclusions say “knowingly”. If you sell a product to Mr A , who sells to Miss B who then sells to a customer in America, you cannot control that supply chain and cover shoudl apply. But, you need to watch out as some policies will simple exclude ALL products liability in respect of US/Canada exports, whether you are aware or not.

Posted in business insurance, product liability insurance, products liability insurance, shop insurance | Comments Off

Office insurance – stock holding

Tuesday, April 12th, 2011

Online retail insurance policies prevent a bit of a difficult choice for some insurers. In the olden days, they had shop policies that were designed for high street premises or locations with a “shop front”. As the internet continues to grow, we are seeing more and more growth in the online retail area. We are not in any way saying it is easy to trade in this manner, but if you want to set up a website to trade online, for less than £100 and a few hours work, you could technically be up and running.

If you trade from home, you can usually get a home business insurance policy that covers your stock and liabilities. However, many internet retail businesses now operate from small office premises. Whether this is a sign of the recession (in that there are more office premises up for rental) or not, we can’t tell. But we are getting more and more quote requests for businesses that run a retail website, trade from an office and keep thousands of pounds worth of stock in that office.

So, do we quote it under a shop or office insurance policy? It all depends on the nature of the stock, the security and how much stock is stored. We need to be careful that you not only have cover for the stock itself (ie theft, fire, flood etc) but in addition you get the required liability cover.

We had just such an enquiry where the customer was selling fancy goods, glassware and trinkets. They said that there was no liability risk, but if we did not at leats recommend that thye took out products liability cover (which they did) then we are failing in our service to them.

Most insurers are happy to cover these types of risks under both retail and office contracts. If you are looking for a quote, please call us to discuss.

Posted in business insurance, internet retailers insurance, office insurance, office insurance quote, online business insurance quote, shop insurance | Comments Off

Flat roofs – the importance of declaring this to your commercial insurance company

Tuesday, March 15th, 2011

Back in the 1970’s, it became very popular to put extensions on residential properties. These were usually single storey, at the rear of the property and done fairly cheaply. If the property had a slate or tiled roof, planning permission (back then) did not insist on the extension having the same roofing materials.

As a result, flat felt roof extensions became very popular. Now, anyone that has had an extension or work on their house will know that it is usually such an improvement, that it looks fantastic when first completed. But as time goes on the flat roof starts to suffer the effects of the UK weather, sun, rain, frost and snow. A typical flat felt roof, will last around 10 years before it needs either some serious repairs or, more usually, a complete replacement.

Now, lets think about how this affects commercial insurance policies. In the home, if your roof starts to leak, you are usually aware of this very quickly and will try and do some sort of repair or speak to your insurer.

The effects on, for example, a shop insurance policy can be more devastating. Leaks usually occur in areas where you do not always see it, overnight or worse still over the weekend. If you have a flat roof, a small tear can soon be a gaping hole and a magnet for rain. There is another issue though and that is the ease with which criminals can break in. If you were breaking into a property, would you rather go through the door, roller shutter or window (in full view) or climb on the roof, cut the felt and the prize up a few wooden boards?

If you do have a flat felt roof, there are two things you must do. Firstly, declare this to your business insurance broker, they then need to decide whether this is declared to your insurer or not. Secondly, check if you have any conditions or warranties. You will probably find that you have to get an independent contractor to check it every year or two and to rectify any damage. Some insurers will completely exclude losses from a flat roof over ten years old, which could cost you a pretty penny.

Posted in business insurance, business insurance broker, flat felt roofs, shop insurance | Comments Off

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