Reviewing your trade insurance
If you already have some trade insurance in place that is fantastic, but it shouldn’t be treated as set-and-forget.
It’s important to review your cover periodically to ensure that your cover is still appropriate, as things can change with your business as well as your coverage.
A great time to review your insurance is at renewal time, but if you haven’t reviewed it for a few years then it might be a good idea to do as soon as possible.
Reviewing your business
The first step is to review the activities that you and your business are undertaking.
If anything has changed since you took out your original cover then you could find that your insurance is no longer suitable for you, and may even be leaving you exposed.
Here are a couple of areas to look at:
- Your revenue has increased or decreased
- Your staff numbers have increased or decreased
- You have commenced or ceased working in hazardous locations
- You have commenced or ceased undertaking high risk work
Things are always changing when it comes to business, and it would be unusual for a tradesman to have not gone through one of the changes listed above over a couple of years.
Reviewing your policy
Once you’ve reviewed your own business activities the next step is to review the policies that you already have in place.
Here are a few of the important areas to check:
- Does the policy cover all of your business activities?
- Does the policy exclude any of your business activities?
- Is the amount of cover sufficient?
Another important area to look at when reviewing your policy is the cost, as we all want to save a few dollars on our trade insurance.
Your existing insurance company may have provided great value when you took out the policy, but insurers do change their pricing from time to time.
Consequences
The consequences for a tradesman not reviewing their insurance can be very serious.
If your policy is not suitable for your business, or excludes some of the activities you undertake or locations you work at, then you could have a claim denied on the policy.
For example if you have started working in a hazardous area such as a quarry, but your policy excludes quarries, then any claim relating to your work in quarries will be denied.
With some claims stretching to hundreds of thousands of dollars, having your claim denied could be financially devastating to you, your business and even your family.
There’s are also potential savings to be made from reviewing your trade insurance.
For example if you had higher staff numbers or revenue when you took out your policy compared to now, by updating your details you could find that your premium reduces.
Need a hand?
It is possible to review your insurance on your own, however to do so properly takes a lot of time and research.
A better option may be to use a broker who specialises in tradesman insurance. Not only will they get the job done quicker, but you’ll also be able to rely on their experience and knowledge.
We can help to put in touch with a suitable broker who can review your insurance for you. Simply visit our contact page and get in touch with us.
