How to avoid under-insurance

Our top tips

We'll start off our series on under-insurance looking at some of the key steps you can take to protect yourself. These tips will help ensure that you've got everything you need covered. And nothing you don't. Making sure you get the best terms, without paying over the odds.

When you’re planning your insurance policy, you should take insight from people around you who have the expertise to make sure you’re protected. We’ve been looking after businesses and individuals for over 22 years, so know where to look for exposure. And more importantly, what to do about it. So our first suggestion is, talk to us. We’ll go through a confidential review of your current insurance arrangements, and your business operations. This will let us see where you’re exposed, and tailor insurance around you.

But in the meantime, take a look at some steps you can take in the meantime:

  • Valuation: Use a professional valuation service to make sure your sums insured figure is accurate. We can help you with this, and make sure your sums insured is always up to date as your business evolves over time.
  • Get it right from the start: Make sure that your sums insured is right from day one. Because this means that any future changes will have a less dramatic effect, and avoid any inadequate sums insured in the future.
  • Building valuation: Buildings sums insured should always include the cost of rebuilding – not just the market value of the building. Particularly if you have specialist features, your rebuild cost may be more than the market value.
  • Business interruption: Remember that accountancy and insurance policy definitions of gross profit are different. Make sure your assessment of your gross profit matches the one on your insurance policy. Also make sure that you cover an accurate period of time that it will take you to recover. Most businesses need at least 24 months to fully recover your trading level and customer base.
  • Evolving risks: As time goes on, new risks can rear their heads. Make sure that as your business evolves, so does your insurance.
  • Check, check and check again: When you have your policy. Check every detail. Make sure that all the information is correct. Because if you miss something now, it may spell disaster if something goes wrong and you’re not properly covered.

Confident that you're properly covered?

If you have any doubt at all. Don’t chance it. Talk to us for a completely confidential review and we’ll help point you in the right direction. And stay tuned for the next installment on under-insurance later this week.