You have a fantastic business idea and are ready to leap into action. Whilst you are completely aware that you need public liability insurance until you start to get quotes, you have no idea just how expensive it can be. Hopefully the explanation below will help you understand why it’s so valuable and give you some tips on how to keep the costs down.
Public Liability insurance is essentially protection for you and your livelihood. It covers any costs incurred through damages given to a member of the public because of an injury or damage to their property caused by you or your business. It also covers any related legal fees, costs, expenses or medical treatment.
To understand the value of this insurance we have listed some examples of when you might need to claim:
- You are a plumber. When visiting a customer, you install a hot water valve improperly and a child is burned by hot water. Perhaps you leave a tool behind and someone trips on it and breaks their arm. In both cases, bodily injury claims insurance would cover you against any claims the individual may make.
- You are a restaurant owner. A family comes for a nice meal and two of them suffer from food poisoning from accidental use of out of date ingredients. If found responsible you may have to compensate your customer, but the business is in its first year of profit and you really cannot afford to do so. Again you will be covered if you have public liability insurance.
- Obtaining a business insurance quote is vitally important, especially if you own a painting and decorating business. Your employee drops a tin of paint onto the customer’s carpet. The insurance will cover the cost of replacing the carpet should a claim be made.
Cover does not always have to be expensive and can actually start from as little as £40 a year. You can make significant savings by shopping around and tailoring a package to suit your business needs. The amount of cover you need will vary according to your business type and several other factors, so it is best to speak to an advisor to see what suits you best. You can usually save money by using a previous no claims record to get costs down.
Public liability insurance isn’t compulsory, but will give you, as a business owner peace of mind. You can sleep soundly knowing that a small incident or mishap will not end up causing you thousands of pounds to put right. In today’s ‘no win, no fee’ claims culture it pays to be safe rather than sorry, as there are too many eager ambulance chasers who will try to profit from even the smallest mishap.