Commercial insurance - what is covered under contents?
Commercial insurance - what is covered under contents
?If you are in business, or looking to start a new venture, then you will be well aware of the importance of a decent, quality, commercial insurance policy. But, as with everything in life not only do you get what you pay for, if you do not pay the right price you could be hit with serious financial hole in your accounts when you find that you are not covered for what you thought.
An insurance policy is a legally binding agreement between you, the business insurance purchasing customer, and the insurers or underwriters of the policy. The aim of the document is to set out what the insurers will do in the event of an insured loss and what you will do to comply with the policy wording.
The key phrase here is "insured loss". If your policy does what you want it to, it will provide financial recompense, or it will replace assets or stock, in the event of the business suffering a physical loss, or being sued for injury, illness, disease or damage that you have caused to third parties (including employees) or property.
As far as your business contents are concerned, you will find your policy has a list of perils or events that are covered. There are standard perils, which you would normally have on every policy, such as fire, storm, flood, burst pipes, theft, malicious damage and impact (ie by a car). In addition to the standard perils, you can choose, or opt for, additional perils. In the main there are two, accidental damage and subsidence, heave and landslip.
We would always, without fail, recommend that you take out accidental damage cover. It will add approximately one to two per cent to your annual premium. Whilst it does not mean that you are covered for everything (ie wear and tear is always excluded) it does mean that if you drop something, knock it over or spill coffee inside it (for example) then you have the cover in place.
Subsidence is where the ground shrinks, due to lack of water. Heave is the, less frequent but still as costly, opposite, where land swells up due to increased water and landslip is literally that, where land slides, usually due to excessive rainfall on hillsides. These covers would normally only be needed where you have a commercial building insurance policy in force. But, if you have tenants improvements cover, you may be better off with subsidence cover as well.
This is where you may find that your "insured loss" is not actually covered. This happens in the main with accidental damage. It is such a small difference to the premium that we, as business insurance brokers, always bang the drum to insurers that they should include it as standard, and then give the customer the option to exclude the cover. But, in the interests off market economics they always exclude it and you have to choose to add it, which is the wrong way round.
The other point where we find there is debate in the event of claims, is in the amounts that people insure for. You should always, always make sure that the sums insured are adequate to replace all of your business contents. Imagine the worst case scenario and there is a fire overnight, all of your stock, buildings and contents are destroyed. You have to think, in 2011, what would it cost to put yourself in the same position as you were, before the loss. Now, you may have some equipment and stock that you have had for a while, but you have to always think what it would cost to replace in the current business market place. Why do we need insurance quotes? Practical tips on insurance money saving Strategies for lowering insurance costs For great insurance deals, use an online comparison website Groundworker Insurance – The Basics Is Van Insurance Changing? Wellbeing Insurance coverage in Germany Watch Auburn Tigers Game Coverage Online high quality Well being Insurance in Germany Watch Minnesota Wild vs Vancouver Canucks Online Game Coverage What's The task Associated with Insurance coverage Agents? Chevrolet Colorado Insurance Chevrolet Corvette Insurance