BUSINESS & INSURANCE TIPS by Tony Bourke

Business and Insurance Tips June 2011 News by Tony Bourke

Welcome to business and insurance tips news.

Our AIIB Insurance Brokers Winter 2011 Newsletter is now available.

It contains some valuable articles for your business including:

• Pressure on premiums as disaster bill passes $5 billion
• Scrutiny of insurance heralds sweeping changes to flood cover
• What policy holders and brokers think

You can read the newsletter by clicking here

To Your Business Success!

Regards

 

Tony Bourke

AIIB Insurance Brokers

PO Box 4693 Lake Haven NSW 2263

www.tonybourke.com.au

www.aiib.com.au

Purchase Tony's Books click here

Tony's Number 1 Sales Tip click here

Tony's goal setting tips click here

Business and Insurance Tips April 2011 News by Tony Bourke

Welcome to business and insurance tips news.

Our AIIB Insurance Brokers Autumn Newsletter is now available.

It contains some valuable articles for your business including:

• Disasters lead to scrutiny of insurance
• What to do before a disaster strikes
• Cleaning up can be complicated
• Bad weather adds to premium pressure

You can read the newsletter by clicking here

Until next time I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my clients, readers and subscribers a very happy and safe Easter Break.

To Your Business Success!

Regards

Tony Bourke

AIIB Insurance Brokers

PO Box 4693 Lake Haven NSW 2263

www.tonybourke.com.au

www.aiib.com.au

Purchase Tony's Books click here

Tony's Number 1 Sales Tip click here

Tony's goal setting tips click here

Business and Insurance Tips December 2010 News by Tony Bourke

Welcome to business and insurance tips news.

Our AIIB Insurance Brokers Summer Newsletter is now available.

It contains some valuable articles for your business including:

• Weather causes a climate of concern
• Beware of too much Christmas cheer
• Jump in claims makes the right Directors &Officers Liability cover essential
• Business Warned to be on the alert for fraud

You can read the newsletter by clicking here

Until next time I would like to take this opportunity to wish all my clients, readers and subscribers a very Merry Christmas and a safe an happy new year.

See you all in 2011!

Regards

Tony Bourke

www.tonybourke.com.au

www.aiib.com.au

Tony's Number 1 Sales Tip click here

Tony's goal setting tips click here

Purchase Tony's Books click here

Always make sure your full business description is noted on your insurance policies

As a business owner your business activities can change quite regularly.

It is a common occurrence for a business to add new products, start new services, start importing or exporting products etc.

It is extremely important that when you do make changes to your business activities that you notify your insurers immediately.

Failure to advise your insurance company of a new activity, product or service that you are undertaking could lead to a claim being denied, delayed or only part paid.

All Insurers have a list of business occupations that they will not provide insurance cover for and if your new activity or product falls in to that list you will not have cover in the event of a claim.

A good insurance adviser will assist you to ensure that all your activities are protected.

The key is to always notify your insurer or insurance adviser at the time you start your new product or activity or if possible prior to your commencement of the new activity to make sure that your insurance will properly cover your business.

Always make sure that the business description mentioned on your insurance policies is the full description of your business activity.

Failure to do so could lead to significant financial loss to your business and its reputation.

If you have any queries regarding this article or need further information or assistance please contact me via email by clicking the following link tbourke@aiib.com.au   

Thank you

Tony Bourke
"Insurance Advice, not just a price"

Feel free to share this article with other business owners who could benefit from this information.

   

Alarms & Deadlocks - If you have told your Insurer you have them make sure you use them!

2 out of the many questions any Insurance company will ask you when you take out your insurance are:

• What sort of Fire protection do you have? e.g Fire Alarm, Smoke Detectors, Fire Extinguishers.

• What sort of security do you have? e.g burglar alarm, deadlocks on doors and windows etc.

Once you advise the insurer of the types of these items you have on your property it becomes a condition of your policy that these items be activated and secured and in good working order at all times e.g if you leave the premises unattended you must ensure that you have activated your alarms, deadlocked your doors etc.

If you fail to do this you are actually breaching the conditions of your policy.

Insurers have the right to refuse to pay claims if the owner or occupier of the property failed to engage the security and fire protection the insurer was advised that the property had.

The reason for this is that in most circumstances you have received a premium discount for having the security and fire protection you advised the insurer and therefore the insurer has the right to ensure that you therefor activate all those items in return for the premium discount.

So always ensure that you activate and use the fire and security protection devices you have advised your insurer you have and if for some reason these items are not currently working at your premises notify your insurer immediately.

By following these rules you will ensure that any claims you have for fire or burglary will be dealt with as in a more positive manner. 

    

Insurance for Unfair Dismissal and other Employment Law Breaches

With proposed changes to federal employment laws business owners and managers should consider cover for Employment Practices liability.

The policy provides cover for claims made against the business for:

• Unfair Dismissal
• Discrimination
• Harassment at the workplace
• Wrongful demotion
• Failure to promote
• Wrongful deprivation of a career opportunity
• Wrongful discipline
• Wrongful refusal to employ a potential employee
• Breach of an implied term of an oral or written employment contract

You may think a claim is baseless however it will still cost you time and money to defend it successfully.

The policy also covers legal costs including defence costs.

If you would like more information regarding this type of insurance cover including examples of claims please contact me via email tbourke@aiib.com.au

 

Don't forget to cover Portable Equipment & tools whilst away from your premises!

The majority of business policies will not automatically cover theft, loss or damage for tools or portable equipment where the loss occurs away from your business premises e.g stolen from a vehicle.

You need to make sure you extend the policy if you require this type of cover.

The cover is usually provided under a section of the policy called General Property or Portable Property.

The types of item you should consider covering are things such as Laptops, Palms or Handheld Computers, Mobile Phones and Tools of Trade.   

The items can be covered for events including accidental loss or damage including theft from a locked vehicle or premises. 

The policy usually covers the items anywhere in Australia and can also be extended to cover items worldwide.

Have you considered cover for you portable equipment or tools?   

Business Should Budget for Insurance Premium Increases in 2008

Business owners should be prepared to pay more for their business insurance in 2008.

The recent storms in NSW and Victoria, together with the corrections to the share market will more than likely have an impact on premiums.

This will mainly effect property insurance premiums for buildings, contents and stock.

The Newcastle and Central Coast Storms are on track to be more costly in terms of claims paid than the Newcastle Earthquake. The storms in Victoria on the back of this will see Insurers loss ratios increase dramatically for property insurance.

With these disasters occurring locally added to the worldwide natural disasters that have occurred recently such as the floods in the U.K  Insurers costs will increase.

As costs to Insurers increase pressure will be on insurers to improve their results by increasing premiums.

Add the recent uncertainty of the share market to the mix and pressure on insurers to maintain their returns will more than likely lead to premium increases.

Taking all of the above into account it is suggested that business owners budget for an increase in their Business Insurance premiums in 2008 of a minimum of 10 to 15%.

Do you think your Business Insurance Premiums will increase in 2008?

 

Proof Of Ownership - Make sure you have it before a claim occurs!

The recent storms in Newcastle and The Central Coast again provided a reminder to business owners regarding proof of ownership when claiming on insurance for items lost, destroyed, damaged or stolen.

Insurance companies require documentary evidence that the business owned the item in order to pay a claim.

The following are some helpful tips for ways a business can prove ownership and make sure their claim runs smoothly and with minimal delays:

• Keep an up to date asset register that records descriptions, serial numbers, purchase price, where purchased and date purchased.
• Take photos of older or unusual items and store them on a computer disk off site.
• Keep copies of receipts, purchase invoices, credit card statements etc.
• Get valuations for works of art, antiques or curios that are part of your business contents.

If you follow the above guidelines your claim should run smoothly.

Under Insurance - Finally some Insurers are providing solutions to the problem!

The Insurance industry has traditionally made business owners responsible to ensure that their Sums Insured for Fire and Business Interruption were adequate.

The penalties for under insurance contained within insurance policies are severe and in some cases have lead to an affected business having to close it's doors for good!

Fortunately times are changing and I am happy to report that there is now an easy way for a business to avoid the huge financial cost of getting Sums Insured wrong.

One Insurer has now decided to provide assistance to it's customers to make sure they insure for the correct amounts.

For a small inspection fee (on average approx $450) the insurer will have a qualified Insurance Adjusting firm conduct a pre loss assessment of a business premises to determine correct Insurable values for:

• Property - Buildings, contents and stock/work in progress
• Business Income

A written report will be provided showing the calculated values. If you accept the calculated values your insurance policy will then be arranged on these values and most importantly:

• The Insurer will remove the under insurance clause from your policy!

For the first time the industry has made positive steps to assist their clients with this important area and I would suggest that the fee payable is a small price to pay to allow you the peace of mind of knowing your business is adequately protected.

If you would like further information regarding this important area of insurance please contact me via email.

Do you see this service as a valuable step forward for the insurance industry?