So what is Commercial Insurance?
Put very simply, Commercial Insurance is protection for your business. From new start businesses to those well established; an unexpected event could destroy your business if adequate cover isn’t in place.
With so many insurance products and providers, it would be easy to think Commercial Insurance was a complicated matter. It doesn’t however need to be this way. Commercial Insurance can easily be broken down into 3 keys areas:
- Keep it legal
- Protection
- How to buy
Keep it legal
Certain types of cover are required by law. Employers Liability insurance, which covers claims from employees for accidents and sickness they may suffer as a result of working for your business, is one type of cover that must be purchased. You will also need to purchase at least third-party motor insurance for all motor vehicles used by the company.
Protection
Ensuring you have the right cover and protection is vital so time should be taken to ensure you find a policy (or policies) that give you exactly the level of cover you require. This again need not be a complicated task if you break down your requirements:
Insure your people – many firms are often dependent on the people they employ. Insurance is available which will protect the business in the event of employees being unable to work. Types of cover available include Keyman insurance, income protection, directors & officers insurance and private health & critical illness cover.
Insure the common risks – certain risks are common to all businesses. These include fire, theft and equipment failure. It is worth investigating (or getting someone to investigate for you) whether common risks such as buildings and contents insurance, cover for money and goods in transit and business interruption insurance can be covered under an all-risks type policy. This may save your business time as well as money.
Specialist cover – depending on your industry and requirements, policies can often be packaged together with some even being industry specific with packages tailored to cover specialist sectors like engineering or manufacturing. Other specialist cover available includes public and product liability and professional indemnity cover.
How to buy
Commercial Insurance is more often than not purchased using an Insurance Broker. The benefit of using a Broker is that they are insurance professionals who can recommend policies to you whilst searching the market to find you the best possible deal.
A good Broker will offer a personalized service and will understand your needs and that of your business. When looking for an insurance provider it is often worth checking to see if they are well established, have schemes with the leading insurance companies and whether they offer a local and personalized service.
If you follow these simple tips then the chances are you and your business wil get the right cover, protection and peace of mind.