For businesses looking to purchase public liability insurance, it is good practice to compare quotes to get the best deal.
There are three methods to compare public liability insurance – via direct insurers by phone or website, contacting a broker or using an online comparison engine to generate multiple offers.
Regardless of the method you use to get your offers, once you have a number of quotes in hand you’ll need to compare them on price and other metrics. While premium is the most obvious way to compare policies, it’s important to look beyond this at the features. Most insurance providers have a range of policies that have varying premiums, excesses, and specific exclusions or stipulations.
Other considerations may be important too, like having the ability to contact the claims department 24 hours a day. Or maybe having unrestricted access to customer service is important for your business.
Using a comparison engine can save you time in comparing the premium, excess and limit of insurance easily. Online comparison sites may allow users to quickly change certain features like the coverage limit and excess to see how monthly premiums rise or fall as a result.
But whether you use a comparison site or not, you may need to dig deeper to understand how policies will compare in terms of customer service and the claims experience.
How to get public liability insurance
Finding a public liability insurance policy for your business can be accomplished in several ways. Engaging the services of your existing insurance agent, or contacting a new broker is a simple and direct method of acquiring coverage. Insurance companies can be contacted individually to request quotes and purchase a policy, often via their websites, or policies can be bought in person and over the phone.
A popular method is to purchase insurance online using a financial comparison site. This allows quotes to be viewed side by side and helps businesses identify the best deal. Coverage amounts and add-ons like professional indemnity or product insurance can be easily included to display differences in policy premiums. This gives buyers the ability to assess important information at a glance.
Whichever method you select, some factors will need to be taken into consideration to ensure the correct level of coverage is purchased for your business. While the size of the company is not paramount, risk exposure will be an important factor in determining correct coverage levels. The higher the perceived risk, the higher the policy limits will need to be to ensure adequate protection. The limits can be affected greatly by the nature of the business and the amount of risk involved.
Public liability policies typically range from £1 million to £10 million and the amount needed to protect your company will have to be carefully assessed. Many small companies that have a limited risk factor can acquire a policy at a reasonable monthly premium, but the cost will go up with increased exposure to potential claims. Large companies will require much higher coverage limits to provide the protection they need.
Public liability insurance quotes
Insurance brokers can obtain information from multiple providers to provide a selection of quotes, or quotes can be found online. According to NimbleFins, a handful of public liability insurance companies sell their policies directly to the customer and quotes can be sourced from each one. Exclusions and excess amounts will need to be checked carefully for each policy as details can vary. Reviewing each insurance company’s claims process and checking the small print is also recommended to be fully aware of any special conditions.
Direct insurance providers include:
Quotes can be sourced from multiple providers by using a comparison engine. This fast and easy way of comparing quotes means that all policies can be assessed with quote prices visible for all participating providers.
Is public liability insurance a legal requirement?
Unlike other insurances that are a legal requirement, public liability is not required by law. Acquiring a policy is completely optional at the discretion of the business. However, your business should have a public liability insurance policy if you deal with members of the public, either in your location, on their property or other locations. If your company has no public interaction then this type of coverage will generally not be required as there is no risk of physical incidents.
Even though public liability insurance is not essential legally speaking, there are occasions in which it will still be needed. A client may request that you have coverage in place before performing any work on their property to ensure they are protected from any incidents.
Likewise, local authorities and government offices frequently insist that public liability insurance is provided, requesting a certificate of insurance as proof. If work is performed regularly for these entities, annual checks can be performed to ensure that the policy is still active.
