Business Insurance Brokers – Choose the right one to avoid a nasty surprise!

I was recently asked to help a large manufacturing company with their Business Insurance.

Unfortunately they had found themselves in a rather unpleasant situation where a large injury claim was being made against them and when processing the paperwork for the claim, it came to light that the Directors of the company had been involved in businesses in the past that had been put into liquidation (through no fault of their own).

Insurance companies, to protect themselves against taking on companies whose Directors have been ”doing things they shouldn’t”, take extra caution when quoting, by asking questions relating to the Directors’ backgrounds.

The main problem was that the Insurance Broker that had looked after the Insurances until now (and had for many years), had not advised the Insurance company of the previous liquidations when obtaining quotes for them, despite knowing all about it!

When the client asked me to get involved, the Insurance company had threatened to refuse to pay the (very large) claim and not offer renewal terms. In fact the best price the client could get was in the region of £54,000, compared to last year’s £19,000.

As a Business Insurance Broker, I am often approached by companies of all shapes and sizes for help with their Insurance, and in this case I was able to use my experience and good relationships with various Insurers to get a much better quote than the £54,000 quote that was on the table, whilst also making sure everything had been done properly, thoroughly and all relevant information declared to the Insurers.

There are two morals to this story; always be 100% open and honest in negotiations regarding your Business Insurance, and always use an experienced and thorough Business Insurance Broker who will ask pertinent questions and work with you closely to ensure you get a robust Insurance policy for a competitive price – with no nasty surprises!!

Dan