A long time ago, commercial insurance policies could either have an excess or a franchise applied.

The level of excess is important as you, the insured, have to pay this for each and every claim. If you have an excess level of £250, at the simplest level a claim of £251, will result in you getting a cheque for £1 and a claim for £251,000 will result in a cheque for £250,750. The excess does not increase depending on the level of the claim. It is there to discourage minor claims being submitted which, quite simply, are not cost effective for the insurers to deal with.

A franchise is a level, or amount, below which you the insured agree to bear the cost of all losses.  A franchise operating, can be distinguished from an excess as for all losses up to the amount of the franchise, they operate in the same way as an excess. You pay the £250 using the above scenario.

If your claim exceeds the amount of the franchise, then the insurer pays the whole amount. They used to be common for many types of business insurance, and where usually for a higher amount. The insured became and was happy to be, their own insurer for all claims up to a certain amount. For example, £1,000 or £2,500 would be more realistic. The insured would get a discount, but not quite as much as if the excess levels were this amount.

You still find franchises used, instead of excesses, but for larger cases and marine insurance.

We have been asked to quote for a number of warehouse insurance type policies in the last few weeks and we have noticed that one of the UK’s major insurers have increased their standard excess levels from the normal £250 to £350-£500. Now, that may not seem much but for some businesses that have a few claims having to foot the bill for £500 of each and every loss can be tough.

If your policy is due for renewal and you have an increased excess your broker must tell you this. If they haven’t managed to get an alternative, give Businessinsure a call and see what we can do for you.

Warehouse insurance is something that not all UK underwriters will provide cover for. In fact, there are very few insurers that you could approach for all types of cover. There are specialists in different types of cover, whether this is for oild rigs, supermarkets, professional indemnity or any one of the hundreds of other types of insurance available.

If you are looking for cover for a warehouse, you just need to find an independent business insurance broker. The broker needs to be authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority, otherwise it is illegal for them to trade in the UK.

Most should be able to provide you with a quote, but what happens if you need one very quickly? Traditional brokers may not be able to help you as they sometimes only guarantee turnarounds of two or three days.

However, the wonders of the internet have hit the world of business insurance.

If a company trades over the net, as businessinsure do, then we have to be acutely aware of one thing. Where people approach companies over the net, they expect quick service, because the internet is quick. There is no point having a website and then acting in the traditional manner and taking days and days to respond. A lot of traditional brokers, that have a web prescence, stil operate this way. However, the new breed of brokers that only operate over the net are the ones you need to find if you want a quote quickly.

We are quite proud that for most types of business, we can provide a full written emailed quote within an hour of the first telepehone contact. Of course there are some that take a bit longer but we will always let you know if something is likely to take a bit of time.

After a few years of recession, 2011 seems to be the year of price increases. Forgetting fuel, everything is on the up from food, to travel, to clothing and your business insurance.

But, there is a slight problem in that certain insurers are still operating a double pricing philosophy. This means that they price to get new business in and subsidise this by increasing the premiums on their existing customers. We, as brokers, can see this so clearly it must be embarassing for the insurers.

Customer A, has a warehouse insurance policy with us. We arrange it via an online provider and this year, they tried to increase the premium by 8%. Now, a 1 or 2% increase is quite acceptable, particularly as insurance premium tax has gone up 1% and most of the sums insured were inde-linked by a few percent. But, to try and increase the premium by one twelfth was a bit too far. We already had a more competitive alternative, as we test the market for every renewal, but wanted to see what the insurer in question would do.

They would not budge and said it was the market rate for that piece of business. So, we just went onto their website, input all the details under a different name for the same postcode and lo and behold came up with a price that was cheaper, just, than last year.

We have moved the business, and the customer remained happy, to a new insurer. But it is frustrating that insurers think they can act this way. We are happy enouhg to increase premiums as long as it is fair, across the market. In theory, we could have offered the 8% and they could have got a quote from another broker cheaper than us. This would have made us look foolish and goes against the grain of everything we have built up over the years.

As the whole of the UK starts to freeze this means that we will be facing similar problems to early 2010, burst pipes, when the thaw starts to arrive. If you are sensible, you will have adequate warehouse insurance in place, to protect your stock and other business assets. One thing you really must check is whether you have any conditions or warranties that concern your stock storage height levels.

In simple terms, if a pipe bursts due to expanding ice, when it thaws the water may start to leak. This means that your warehouse will start to flood. As we all know, gravity will take the water to the lowest point, the floor, and it will build up from there. Most businesses will store their stock at this lowest point.

Business insurance policies will contain what is called a stillage warranty. This means that your stock, if cover is to apply, must be stored on pallets or shelves a certain height from floor level. This can be 10cm, 15cm or even up to 50cm, depending on the insurer, your location, the age of your building and your claims experience.

If your stock is damaged by water from a burst pipe, then it may not be covered for “wet perils” unless it is stored correctly. It may be a simple case of keeping your stock on either single pallets or pallets stored on top of one another.

A single burst pipe, leaking for a whole weekend can wreak a huge amount of havoc, please make sure that you comply with any cover requirements you may have.