Insuring your business is crucial. Otherwise, if an employee or member of the public brings a claim against your company and wins a hefty payout, the cost to your business could be debilitating. It could even sink the entire company. Furthermore, there are particular circumstances where not holding certain types of insurance is actually illegal.
Nonetheless, you should still be careful not to rush in your efforts to take out corporate insurance. After all, there are key questions that you should ask a business insurance provider if you want to discern which policy – or policies – should be the most worthwhile for your specific firm.
Are you an insurer or broker?
“Business insurance provider” is a broad term and can include both insurers and brokers. What is the difference between those two? Basically, that an insurer directly provides insurance, while a broker instead works with insurers to find the most suitable policies for customers.
If you are serious about finding business insurance that meets all of your crucial needs while remaining as inexpensive as possible, a broker can help you streamline your search. When you request a quote, they can take just a few minutes to look at various insurers’ policies before offering you the most suitable. Doing the same search yourself could be much more time-consuming.
A good example of a broker that specialises in offering business insurance is the Hampshire-based Be Wiser Business Insurance. The forms of insurance that can be sourced from this company include employers’ liability insurance and public liability insurance.
Which person will look after my policy?
Will this person be the same one you initially speak to upon getting on the phone to the broker to request a quote? Whoever you speak to over the phone could, on the contrary, simply have the job of closing the sale – and so their motivation could be suspect, Start Up Donut cautions.
If, however, that person will actually be looking after the policy they sell to you, they will be incentivised to ensure that this policy really is the right one for your company. Furthermore, they will be sufficiently knowledgeable about your business to help you continue making appropriate choices with corporate insurance as the firm develops and its needs change.
The most suitable insurance policy for you could depend, for example, on the number of your employees and what assets must be protected, as the Money Advice Service observes.
Are you regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority?
If the broker is indeed regulated in this way, it will be as either an “advised” or “non-advised” broker. The former will have knowledge enabling them to select a fitting policy from a range of insurance options. They will also be regulated to provide advice and answer questions regarding insurance.
Meanwhile, a non-advised broker is likely to offer just one product and not be capable of giving advice or answering any of your unanswered questions about insurance. An FCA-regulated broker will probably advertise itself as such, so watch out for this.
