It’s no secret a Google search for business insurance can leave you feeling confused with all the many options and packages of insurance all the different companies provide.

And then there’s the question of whether you really need business insurance; does it do much and should you spend time and money getting insured in the first place.

To answer at least one question we’ll help you by mentioning that some types of business insurance are mandatory.

Furthermore, having business insurance is a safety net to fall back on when unexpected costs arise, which can be the case in a number of different scenarios, such as:

• You own a café or restaurant and one of your employees, a waitress, falls and breaks her leg on a slippery floor, where you may have forgotten to put a clear ‘Wet Floor’ sign

• You are a hair dresser and accidentally give a client a chemical burn, when colouring their hair and the client decides to sue

• The chances of a flood, a fire breaking out or theft taking place at your business premises when you are’nt there, may seem low, but can cause a huge disruption to your business activities. Ranging from having to take time out of your daily routine to deal with the situation, to no longer having your tools or equipment needed to run your business.

We’ll break it down further by explaining the main types of business insurance:

• Business Insurance  – protects the company from risks and  losses that can easily occur during the daily operations of running a business. This is usually a package you build up to reflect your business needs, with policies that include some of the following: Product Liability Insurance (protection if a faulty product causes an injury or death), Property damage insurance and Employee risk related insurance.

• Public Liability Insurance – this covers claims made by members of the public, or your customers, for incidents that occur in connection with your business activities, such as if they injure themselves on your business premises or you organise an event offsite, which members of the public attend and happen to get injured or hurt themselves.

• Employers Liability Insurance – you are required by law to take out this insurance to protect your employees in case they fall ill or are injured in the work place.  You can be fined of up to £2,500 per day if your business doesn’t have the required amount of cover of this insurance.

• Professional Indemnity – is the type of cover that protects a freelance consultant, small agency or larger organisation from claims made by clients for loss or damage due to negligent advice or services. This includes providing an inadequate service, or making a major mistake and not providing the type of service you committed to providing.

• Commercial Motor Insurance – if you use vehicles for business you are legally obligated to have this insurance for each employee that uses a vehicle to carry out the work, or if your employees use their own vehicles for work you should ensure they have at least the minimum cover required. Specialist motor insurance policies are available from Regency Insurance if using vehicles is a core part of the business, such as running a taxi service

Depending on the type of business you run, you will need to research and identify the key policies out of the vast insurance pool to put together into a package that brings your business the best and most effective cover. There are also different levels of cover, from basic to full packages based on how much risk you would like to avoid, here’s where we lend a helping hand:

“A good broker will always take the time to sit down with you, understand your business activities and research your options on your behalf before making recommendations. It is important that you understand the choices to be made so you can make informed decisions from the solutions we come up with”

“It certainly isn’t all about price, but we can help make sure that you have all the policies you need and pay the best rates for any additional cover you decide to take out. You might even get a cup of tea thrown in for free as well!”

Andrew Dartford MD Regency Insurance Services

The type of insurance cover you will need and your monthly insurance bill will depend on:

• the nature of your business
• your annual turnover
• the number of people you employ
• your insurance claims history
• Your trading status i.e. Ltd company or sole trader

Regency Insurance can help to tailor your individual business insurance package and specialises in Business, Professional Indemnity,  Product Liability, Public Liability and Taxi Insurance.

We’d be happy to discuss your needs, just call us on 020 8690 8667