Commercial Insurance
Commercial Insurance
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Commercial Insurance (business insurance) is designed to cover the risks that come with running a business. This can include insuring commercial property, providing public and employers liability, professional indemnity and key man cover. In other words, insurance that will protect your property, the public and any members of your company.
Virtually all commercial insurance falls into five categories, which are: property insurance; liability insurance; material damage insurance; motor / fleet insurance and; personal insurance (key man cover).
Commercial Property Insurance
- Commercial Property Insurance – this type of insurance covers commercial buildings such as shops, offices, restaurants, factories and industrial units. It can cover the buildings and contents against fire, theft, natural disasters and subsidence as well as fittings, fixtures and loss of rent. Find out more
- Residential Landlord Insurance (Buy to Let Insurance) – this type of insurance covers a residential landlord from financial losses connected with rental property. This can include the building(s), contents, landlords liability and even rent guarantee. Find out more
Liability Insurance
- Employers Liability Insurance – this type of insurance enables businesses to meet the costs of damages and legal fees for employees who are injured or made ill at work through the fault of the employer. By law, an employer must have employers liability insurance and be insured for at least £5 million. Find out more
- Public Liability Insurance – this would cover loss to third parties which can include damage to property, injury or dealth. It can be taken out by limited companies, partnerships and sole traders and is most often taken out by contractors. Find out more
- Professional Indemnity Insurance (P.I.) – this type of insurance helps to protect professonal advice and service providing individuals against potential claims of negligence. Many professions are required to have P.I. insurance cover as a regulatory requirement or as part of their professional authorisation. This includes solicitors, accountants, architects, mortgage intermediaries, insurance brokers and financial advisers. Find out more
Material Damage Insurance
- This can cover stock and contents, goods in transit and money
Personal Insurance
- Key Man Cover Insurance – this type of insurance covers the loss of a key person in a company such as a director or technical person who’s loss through illness, injury or death could cause a significant loss of business. Find out more
Things to Consider When Taking Out Commercial Insurance
- Insurance is about protecting a potential loss – make a list of things in your business that would be disruptive if you lost. An obvious starting list would be property, stock, motor, employers and public liability and professional indemnity insurance. Obviously, your list will be dependent on the type of the business that you’re involved with. If you’re not sure, speak to a commercial insurance specialist who can advise you
- As with all insurance – answer questions that the insurance company / broker is asking. Failure to do so may result in a policy not paying out on a claim – and what’s the point of paying for insurance if it won’t pay out on a claim
- Again as with all insurance, shop around or use a good commercial insurance broker who can do this for you
- Make sure you’re aware of any exclusions, especially if your situation requires a non-standard policy. An example could be if your property has suffered from subsidence in the past, any future subsidence claims may be excluded, or an employers liability policy for construction workers that may exclude any accidents that occur over a certain height
- Think about your voluntary excess – choosing a high excess will reduce your premium, but remember that will mean you pay more when you come to making a claim
- Keep up to date with current health & safety regulations, issues and updates through the HSE website – failure to do so may potentially nullify a claim, especially with public and employers liability insurance. Regular risk assessments should help to mitigate potential problems
- Notify your insurance company / brokers of any changes to your business that occur in between policy renewal dates e.g. taking on more staff, changes to property etc.
- Remember that prevention is always better than cure. Site surveys can be arranged with many insurers to advise you on risk management, the benefits of this being twofold. Firstly, with expert advice, the likelihood of a disaster can be avoided in the first place, and secondly this diligence can be rewarded by significantly lower premiums