March 28th, 2011 
Bowen Family 
There are a number of very important concepts that you must understand when purchasing insurance. If these aspects of insurance are ignored, YOU will not simply be wasting your money; you will be exposing yourself to even greater risk.
First and foremost, the greatest danger by far is not taking out any insurance at all.
The rule of thumb is that if you can easily afford to replace an item of property, then insurance is unnecessary. It is however where the cost of replacing a property item such as a motor vehicle is massive, that insurance becomes critical for most consumers.
Insurance is primarily a risk sharing contractual relationship between the insurer and the insured. The insurance relationship assumes that the contractual partners manage the risk by taking all reasonable precautions to protect the insured property against loss.
For example, if you don’t keep your motor vehicle in good repair, such as having worn tires, the insurer will be entitled to refute a claim on the basis that you contributed to the loss in the event of a car accident. Another example would be having an accident while driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
The next problem is when consumers do not insure their property adequately and end up being under-insured.
The danger here is that at claim time when the value that is insured is less than the value of the loss experienced. Should you be found to be under-insured, the insurer will apply a formula that will reduce the amount paid out in the case of a claim by the percentage that you are underinsured.
There are many ways to save money on insurance premiums without cutting corners. The few cents you save today could cost you thousands of Rands in the future.
Another aspect of your insurance policy is the amount of risk you carry in terms of the excess payable in the event of a claim. The greater the excess, the more risk you carry.
Another common problem is not checking that your policy premium has been paid. The fact that the debit did not go through at the end of the month on your bank account, because of some unrelated reason, is not the problem of the insurer, it is YOUR problem. Although a short grace period is normal, most policies will lapse after this grace period and insurers will decline to pay claims filed after this.
Another issue is the timeframe you have in which to file claims. Most insurance policies insist that claims are filed very soon after an accident or loss, at least within a month. For example, in some cases such as with insurance on heavy haulage trucks, the claim has to be filed within 24-48 hours. This is so that the insurer can attempt to minimize the loss by instituting own recovery processes and deploying recovery experts.
A neglected aspect is the fact that most insurance claims require that you report a loss in the event of criminal acts to the police. Without a police report, most insurers will not pay out.
And talking of criminal acts, don’t dare make the mistake of lodging a fraudulent claim, you will be found out.
Insurers are very experienced in investigating insurance claims and sifting out the legitimate from the fraud. Not only will you end up with a criminal record, your ability to purchase insurance in future will be severely restricted if not impossible.
Don’t make the mistake of not understanding the terms of your policy. Although, you should insist on the terms and conditions being explained to you, the insurer has no further obligation in this regard. And you must understand the policy before signing on the dotted line.
Incredibly important here are terms that people often overlook. An example is when the policy requires a burglar alarm in working order and switched on. Neglecting these conditions would make for an extremely unpleasant surprise in the event of an insurance claim. Make sure that you comply with all the conditions of your insurance policy.
A regular review of your insurance is essential. This is very important if you are making changes to your lifestyle such as buying a new home, moving home, changing careers or getting divorced.
Couples staying together will need to make sure their joint assets are properly insured.
Ask in whose name the insurance policy has been issued? Whether people are cohabiting or sharing a house, it is important that the policy is issued in the joint names of the partners, or at least that the interest of the partners is acknowledged on the policy document. This must not be confused with the standard contract wordings whereby most family members are included on the insured’s policy, because this assumes a marriage contract or a civil union.
When it comes to the issue of underinsurance a partner’s additional contents in the household will obviously increase the joint value of the assets significantly. The sums insured on the policy must be adjusted to avoid reducing claims payments due to underinsurance.
Consider the question of ‘insurable interest’. This may have implications in the event of an insurance claim, even if the level of cover is adequate. Establish and agree on the extent of the insurance company’s liability.
Consumers should take cognizance of any possible increase in risk created by the arrival of additional household contents; examples include expensive jewellery, firearms, or artworks.
Many of the above issues and more may be affected by the principles of disclosure. It is the duty of the insured to disclose material information to the insurance underwriter to allow the risk to be assessed correctly.
“While insurers are generally relaxed in issuing policies in joint names, it remains the duty of the client to disclose this change in the risk profile, and to ensure cover is increased adequately.
Many of the above problems could be avoided if full honest disclosure is made from the beginning.
Many negative perceptions about insurance stem from disappointments at claim stage, because consumers were less than candid about their insurance requirements with their broker.
Sure there are instances where brokers and insurers can be held liable for not acting professionally and fairly, and we are lucky to have consumer protection institutions in South Africa such as the FAIS and Short Term Ombudsmen, but non-disclosure of material facts that could influence the purchase of the insurance product are the main reason why insurers do refute claims.
Not insured, or not sure if you are insured correctly? Then get an insurance quote now.
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I pay $27 monthly for $1,000,000 coverage – product liability etc.
The best idea is to get several – at least three – quotes before making a choice.
In the event of a lawsuit the insurance company would undertake your defense and pay the associated legal fees as well as paying for legal counsel. The insurance company has complete legal control in the litigation process, they choose whether to settle or contest the issue in a court of law. In the real world it is rare that an insurance company would actually go to court. In most cases they would seek a settlement.
This of course assumes that the incident is covered by your policy. A lawsuit may contain several complaints. The insurance company is obligated to provide a defense for you if any of the claims could be covered, but the company may not be obligated to pay the damages for certain types of claims. Liability policies, for instance, typically do not provide coverage for damages which you cause intentionally.
Does selling businesses, closing factories etc make a good economy?
Because unless you’re retarded, you’ll know thats what the tories did last time they were in power.
Of course it makes sense. It’s been my personal opinion that company tax needs to be reduced in times of recession to allow companies to be able to continue to do business at the same rates, whilst still employing the same or more people. Allowing companies to expand is what ultimately makes for a good economy. Labour are all about tax and spend – useless. Let’s bring in the real leaders please.
This makes no sense.
You'll get the insurance through a local agent that can work with you to decide what coverage you need. Start with your car and home agent; if they can't help they can probably refer you to someone who can.
How much it will cost will depend upon the type of business, the type of coverage and how much coverage you need. There is no way to give you even a ballpark figure closer than it should be a range of anywhere between $1000 and $250,000 per year.
Yes, insurance for any company dealing with the public is always needed. You never know who will try to screw you over, always cover your butt!
Where in the world do you get the idea that male owned businesses cost insurers 60% more? I haven't seen anything AT ALL to support that information. Or rather, I've never seen any indicator that gender of majority stockholder has ANY bearing on future claims.
MOST businesses are set up as corporations or LLC's. A fair amount of contractor businesses, are set up under the name of the spouse, for "shell" reasons. Corporations are genderless.
Your statistics cannot be verified . . . because I think you made them up. I've been working in commercial insurance for over 20 years, and line of business and SIC codes are a much more accurate predictor of future loss. I've never, EVER seen, for example, any evidence that a roofing business owned by a woman, has fewer or smaller claims than a roofing business owned by a man.
Since you just started the business the insurance will be a bit higher for the first 3 years now there is a way around that if you have more than 3 years experience in the field, also depends on your income and if you'd like to insure your business property or just your liability, now to start with I would suggest, $1mil per occurrence and $2mil total, (aggregated) what this means is you have $1mil in General Liability per occurrence and $2mil per year or life of the policy depending on the company you use, also because of the nature of the business you are considered to be an artisan contractor because you work for yourself providing a service at your clients property, this makes it a bit more expensive, it can run you without employees anywhere from $700 to $1000 a year depending on where you are located. if your in california I can help
OK, I've written business insurance on businesses owned by felons. It's not a deal breaker, but for a NEW business, you're likely going to be in the surplus lines market. You need to go to an independent agent, give them details on the type of business it is, and get quotes for the business insurance.
If you're only buying health insurance for one or two employees, it's going to be INDIVIDUAL coverage, not a group plan, in most states. It gets underwritten and priced based on the age, the health, and the coverages. If the agent doing the business insurance isn't licensed for health insurance, ask them for a referral.
**caveat – any illegal acts committed by an owner of the business are NOT COVERED anyway – just want to make sure you know that. If the partner runs off with the stock, it's your loss.**
Right. Your supplier probably gets LOTS of these requests, to add the retailer as additional insured – vendor. MOST if not ALL of the businesses he sells to, will be requiring this.
You are buying the product and reselling. If the product is defective, and there is a product liability lawsuit involved, you want cover under the supplier's policy, not yours.
Most insurance companies will REFUSE to give you product liability coverage, if your supplier doesn't have any product liability coverage, or won't add you to their policy.
As a wholesaler, you WOULD be named in any lawsuit for a product liability case.