The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is an example of how disaster can strike at any time and highlights the importance of protecting a business where possible. There are many reasons why we encourage you not to cancel your insurance policies in order to protect yourselves and prevent possible further loss of income.
Before cancelling any insurance policies, you should consider the following:
- Do you currently have buildings and sites left unoccupied? Are you protected in the event of injury to others, damage or theft?
- Are your tools, plant or vehicles being stored at your sites? Is your project nearing completion and therefore items such as white goods, boilers and new kitchen and bathroom suites are left in the property? Are you protected in the event of theft? Should you experience a flood, fire, malicious damage or theft, is your building covered and are you protected for loss of income?
FMB Insurance offers a range of policies that provide extra protection in the event of problems occurring:
Liability Insurance – This protects you as a business, your employees and the public. Cover includes protecting you if a third party enters your site and injures themselves and if they carry out malicious damage, theft or vandalism. This could be during the workday or when the site is unoccupied, and claims could be made against you for negligence both now and in the future.
Tools and vehicles – We offer a range of policies to protect your vehicles and tools from accidents and theft. Items are particularly at risk when sites are unoccupied.
Unoccupied Building Insurance – If your site is left vacant during renovations or while you’re waiting to sell the property, for example, this policy can protect the building in the instance of theft, fire, flood, water leaks, malicious damage and even subsidence and civil commotion.
Business Interruption Insurance – Should your business have to temporarily close due to something out of your control, this policy will cover the loss of income suffered as a result of the interruption, such as material damage, covering loss of revenue, rental income and additional staff and running costs. The policy is designed to keep you in the same financial position that you would have been in prior to the event and ensures your business keeps running smoothly. For example, should you have to move to a temporary site while repair work is taking place to your existing property, your policy can extend to cover the expenses of moving to and working from a temporary location. Perils could include a storm, fire, earthquake, flood and even malicious damage or events such as a plane crash.
During times of uncertainty, you may not require the same levels of cover you have in place while working. The FMB Insurance team will be happy to talk you through the available options if you need to temporarily reduce cover while projects are suspended. We can also offer guidance to make sure your business is protected and help with payments if you pay for your insurance on a finance basis.
A monthly fee to keep up your cover, protects you against a potential bigger loss that could occur due to theft or damage while your property is vacant, and is worth the peace of mind. We recommend you contact your insurer to discuss details of your insurance schedule.
