The fast track -
take out new Business insurance for your company
Our step-by-step guide helps you take out new Business insurance
Get yourself prepared
1. What types of new Business insurance do you need to take out?
Click here for our new Business insurance prompt list
2. How much Business insurance do you need?
Insurance companies place limits on how much they’ll pay out in the event of a claim. These are called limits of indemnity or sums insured. They need to be high enough to make sure your claims can be met in full.
Click here for more info on how much cover you need when you take out business insurance
Get several Business insurance quotes
3. Get at least three quotes - ask your broker or go direct to each insurance company.
Click here for where to go to buy new Business insurance
4. What you should say to your broker or insurance company
You must answer all questions as accurately and honestly as you can. You must also disclose any information – good or bad – that could affect the insurance. If some fact came to light later, your insurer could be entitled to raise your premium, or refuse to pay your claim, or declare your insurance has been invalid from the time you took it out. And the knock-on effect would be that it would become much more difficult to get insurance in future.
Click here to make sure your broker or insurer knows why your business is a better risk
5. What you should get from your broker or insurance company with their Business insurance quote
Click here for our Business insurance quote checklist
6. Now compare insurance companies –
What you need to find out to see which one is offering you best value for money:
- the premiums each insurer has quoted you
- the cover each insurer is offering
- any conditions an insurer imposes (and the cost to you of complying with these conditions - which may outweigh the value of a lower premium)
Remember it’s no good choosing the cheapest premium if that means you lose cover that you need. Or if that insurer requires you to make some expensive changes to your premises or your working practice.
Your broker (if you are using a broker) will be able to help you here. Or they may make the comparison themselves and then simply recommend one insurer to you.
Decide which insurer you’re going with
7. Now check if the quote was "subject to ..."
What you should do if your Business insurance quote was "subject to ..."
8. When it comes to paying for your new Business insurance . . .
see what options you have. These may include:
- monthly (or quarterly) instalments by direct debit (there is sometimes a charge for this)
- paying a single amount each year.
9. Employers' Liability
Click here for more info on types of Business insurance
If the insurance you have bought includes Employers’ Liability – and it normally will - it is vital that you receive an Employers’ Liability certificate of insurance within 30 days from when the insurance began. This is because you’re required by law to display the certificate at your place of work. So if you still haven’t received the certificate after two or three weeks, tell the broker or insurer you need it urgently.
10. Statements of fact and Proposal forms
If you're asked to sign one of these, make sure it's correct.
Click here for advice on what to do if you then disclose something that causes the insurer to change the premium or conditions that they originally quoted.
Surveys and Risk Improvements
11. "Risk Improvements"
An insurer may insist on certain security (or risk improvement) requirements at your premises, such as new locks that conform to a particular standard that they specify.
Click here and we'll guide you through this
12. What to expect if the insurance company wishes to survey your premises
- The insurer’s surveyor should arrange an appointment with you.
- Make sure the surveyor contacts you promptly after you’ve accepted the quote.
- When the insurance surveyor arrives at your premises, ask to see their proof of identiy and keep his business card so you know the contact details of the person who visited you.
- The surveyor should inspect your premises in a friendly and professional way, and provide you with constructive advice for improving risks in your business.
13. What you should do when the insurance surveyor visits
Click here for our checklist
Receiving all the right documents
14. You should receive an insurance policy from your broker or insurer
It’s best to get this as soon as possible, as it will clarify exactly what cover you have if you need to make a claim. You can always remind your insurer or broker that it has a responsibility to get the policy to you in a reasonable timescale.
Make sure the policy includes a complaints procedure, and you understand what to do if you need to complain.
And remember that, even if you wait a while for the insurance policy, you must receive the Employers’ Liability certificate within 30 days of cover!
15. Renewing your Business insurance
Make a diary note of when your insurance comes up for annual renewal . . . just in case -
- you don’t receive a renewal notice! (Remember that insurance companies are not infallible.)
- or you may have changed your postal address and forgotten to inform them.
More info . . .
if you have no Business insurance at present – and would like to know where to start
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