Top Tips - on commercial insurance if you work from home
Save time and money on commercial insurance if you work from home. Our top tips guide you through what to do.Skip now to tips on
Insuring all aspects of what you do
What cover do you need?
Impact on your home insurance
Impact on your car insurance
Do you need new insurance?
1. Insuring all aspects of your activities
People working from home often get involved in various activities. So think carefully about all the aspects of your business and make sure that every one is covered by your commercial insurance.
2. What commercial insurance cover do you need if you work from home?
Check that you have all the types of commercial insurance that you could need.
Listing of the commercial insurance covers you're likely to need
3. Check your commercial insurance policy . . .
. . . in particular to see if it is subject to any conditions that you cannot comply with. If you find there is a condition that you are not currently complying with, raise this with your broker or insurer. Otherwise there is a risk that your insurance may be invalidated.
4. Check the amounts which are insured
- Property needs to be insured for the full cost of replacing it. Even if the figure selected was realistic once, it needs to be regularly reviewed. It's ideal if the insurer does this automatically, so the amount insured keeps pace with inflation - but you still need to start off with an adequate figure, and you need to increase the current figure if you acquire any additional property.
- Public Liability insurance covers your legal liability (except as mentioned below) for injury caused to other people or for damage to other people’s property. The insurance is subject to a monetary limit any one event (e.g. £1,000,000) – so it is important to make sure this limit is high enough to cater for the most serious accident that you can envisage.
- Employers' Liability insurance covers your legal liability to the people who work for you that arise as a result of their employment. The insurance is subject to a monetary limit any one incident. This is generally £10,000,000, but if the most serious incident you can envisage would amount to more than this, you should ask for a higher limit.
- Products Liability insurance covers your legal liability to other people for injuries or disease caused by goods that your business has supplied. The insurance is subject to a monetary limit (e.g. £1,000,000) that applies to both any one incident and to the total of all incidents during any one year of insurance.
More info on how much commercial insurance you need . . .
5. Check excesses
Check any excesses that your commercial insurance may be subject to. In the event of a claim, are you sure you could afford to pay for the excess?
Or perhaps you would be able to pay for a higher excess? This is worth thinking about because business insurers often allow a discount off the premium in return for a higher excess.
6. Impact on your home insurance
If you haven’t already done so, you must inform your home insurer that you’re conducting your business at home. This will avoid the risk of invalidating the insurance you already have on your home and contents. However, it is most likely that this cover will not extend to your business equipment and a separate cover is still needed for this.
7. Impact on your car insurance
If you use your private car for any business purposes – however infrequently you do it – you must inform your car insurer. Your cover can then be changed to include business use. If your insurer is unaware of the position, you run the risk that your car insurance could be invalidated. This means you are then driving without insurance and this is a criminal offence.
8. Lost your insurance details - and need new commercial insurance?
If you have mislaid your policy or lost touch with your broker or insurer, we can send you a list of contacts who can help you take out new commercial Insurance. Just complete the form in the top right corner of this screen and we'll do the rest.
9. Maintain an audit trail
Keep copies of all your correspondence about insurance, and make notes of any conversations and meetings. This may prove very useful if you need to make a claim, or if a dispute arises about what’s been agreed.
What next . . .
Renewing or amending your commercial insurance - the steps you need to take
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