What Insurance Do I Need?
Business insurance is essential for almost all businesses.
They are lots of different types of insurance cover which you may need including:
- employee liability - your liability to employees in relation to injury etc
- buildings
- contents
- third party claims e.g. if one of your products injures a customer
- car insurance
- travel insurance
- key person cover
- medical insurance
Key things to check in relation to insurance include:
Does Your Insurance Cover Your Key Risks?
Around 10 years ago a number of specialist insurance packages were offered to owners of health and fitness clubs. The only snag was that some of them excluded cover if a gym instructor offered negligent advice about exercise to a member and that member was injured as a result. There are lots of potential problems which could occur in a gym but negligent advice from an instructor has to be one of the risks which most health club owners would like to see covered. Make sure that your policy does not exclude risks relevant to your business.
Is the Amount of the Insurance Cover Appropriate?
Always hard to assess but the cost of extra cover may be small. The price of being underinsured could be that your business becomes insolvent. Without suggesting that any business should be massively over-insured, it may be prudent to err on the side of over-insurance rather than under-insurance
What are the Conditions of Your Insurance?
Failure to comply with any of the conditions of your insurance could invalidate your cover. As an example, if it is a condition of your policy that you always lock the windows in your building, you may find that you have no cover even if a burglar enters through the door. Check on the conditions and then make sure that you comply with them.
Is Your Insurance Up-To-Date?
Remember to tell your insurer if things change e.g. your business expands and you have more employees or you diversify and start offering new types of products.
Make sure that renewal dates are in your diary.
