Flying Felix

As we all marvel at the death defying jump made last week by Felix Baumgartner, have you ever considered  covering your own “high flying” staff in event of absenteeism through accident or
sickness?  The loss of a member of your team for even a short period can have consequences not just to your business  operations but also to your company profit as the wages for those affected still
need to be paid. 
At Castlemead Insurance Brokers in Bristol we have insurance solutions to cover your business. 

A Personal Accident policy can be arranged to provide payments to you to cover the more ordinary accidents which can befall your staff which can include payments to your business to cover;

• Death
• Permanent Total Disablement  
• Permanent Disabling injuries 
• Temporary Total Disablement 

Additional benefits to cover sickness can also be included. 
These covers can be purchased easily and inexpensively – please contact us for further information.

Conference Cover

As the political conference season nears its end, have you ever considered the costs of having to cancel, postpone or abandon your own company conference?  Additionally, have you considered the costs involved as a consequence of damage or destruction to equipment you may hire for the event?

 Whether arranged as an AGM or a fund raising event the costs involved can be substantial for any business.

 

Cancellation cover can be purchased to cover a multiple of risks, which can include;

• Costs of cancellation or abandonment, which can include the failure of key speakers to appear at the conference
• The Liability for you as an employers and your liability for injury to third parties visiting your conference. Cover will also include any damage you may cause to the venue
•  The costs of any equipment your hire in, such as specialist lighting or microphones

Please contact us about arranging insurance for your next conference.

 

 

Kidnap and Ransom insurance cover

With many of Castlemead's clients expanding their operations into new territories, we have been increasingly talking about the need for kidnap and ransom insurance.

The policies indemnify the insured for: -
• ransom monies paid from kidnapping or extortion
• Loss of ransom monies whilst in transit/delivery
• Expenses involved including travel and accommodation costs
• Medical services and hospitalisation
• Business Interruption losses
• Consultants costs

Helpline numbers and access to International Crisis Response teams are provided as part of the arrangements.The quotation process also involves a review of the travel plans and security arrangements, highlighting and addressing areas of weakness.

We have recently placed cover for companies travelling to countries including Somaliland and Puntland so, if you need someone experienced to look into this area of business insurance for you, get in touch with us....

Are your gold medals covered?

Would your valuables be covered to their full value in the event of a theft at your property? When did you last review your household contents sum insured?

At Castlemead Insurance Brokers, we review the sums insured with all of our private clients to ensure the standard policy limits are amended where applicable and claims are paid in full. Common areas of review include: -

Jewellery, watches and valuables whilst away from the home

• Standard overall limit of £3,000
• Individual limit of £1,500
  Items over this limit to be specified and valuations obtained

Paintings, antiques and works of art

• Standard overall limit of £10,000
• Individual limit of £2,000
  Items over this limit to be specified and valuations obtained

Sports Equipment

• Standard overall limit of £1,500
• Replacement set of golf clubs normally exceed this limit

Rebuilding sum insured for your property

• Must be accurate to avoid deductions in the event of a claim
• Castlemead can help you in this valuation

Increasing Motor Fleet Premiums

Motor insurers are attempting to apply rate increases to their motor fleet premiums to combat the rising costs of personal injury claims and fraud. At Castlemead Insurance Brokers in Bristol, we look after clients in the haulage, retail, manufacturing and service industries, many of whom run large vehicle fleets. Keeping premiums to a minimum and reducing claim costs ensures our clients remain competitive in their particular field, this done through: -

• Maintaining a independent broking philosophy using over 15 motor insurers
• Providing an in house claims service ensuring non fault claims are dealt with by the negligent parties insurers
• Analysing claims costs
• Targeting specific drivers and/or divisions
• Calculating optimum excesses
• Implementing risk management measures
• Discounts available for cameras
• Driver licence checking
• Driver training
• Vehicle reversing sensors
• Plant and vehicle security

Castlemead are here to help with your motor fleet insurance needs.

International Insurance

Castlemead Insurance in Bristol recently won a client who had chosen to relocate their business to a country outside the UK. The insurances we placed had to be robust enough to cope with: -

Local Legislation in the country of domicile

• Most countries have their own regulations which dictate the types of insurance which are compulsory to purchase in that region
• Minimum limits must be purchased locally, but top up insurance can be bought in the UK to match the other group companies cover

Different perils available

• Buying insurance locally in the country of domicile can leave gaps compared to wider cover available in the UK market. Care needs to be taken when combining the two portfolios

Cover requirements for the individuals based abroad

• Special arrangements need to be made to cater for the Travel and Healthcare insurance requirements for those wishing to come back to the UK for treatment and/or for extended stays
• Insurance cover for employees residential property in the UK may need to be amended to cope with periods of unoccupancy

Different contractual requirements

• Establishing which division trades with each customer and the contractual terms in force is essential
• The Territorial Limits and Jurisdiction provisions within the policies purchased must reflect the potential liabilities

  Imports / Exports

• Marine cover needs to include all countries between which goods travel at the required limits

We were able to ensure all the above points were included within the insurance arrangements placed within our new clients’ insurance budget.

Getting Fire Claims paid

Castlemead Insurance Brokers recently took a weekend phone call from a client who had the misfortune to be the victim of an arson attack. Once the fire brigade had departed, we calculated an anticipated loss of £150,000, with a requirement for an interim payment to keep the cash flow in order.

The insurer concerned issued the required cheque within the required timescales as at the loss adjuster meeting which we attended we were able to prove: 

Sums insured were adequate and had been recently reviewed

Policy conditions had been complied with including: -

• Waste warranty
• Claim reporting condition
• Perimeter security in line with facts disclosed
• Proposal form declarations were accurate
• Business description matched the clients activities
• Business Interruption declaration supplied within the specified timescales
• Estimated Gross Profit figure therefore up to date

Had the fire occurred at your premises, are you confident you would have achieved the same result with your broker?

Product Recall

We have all heard about the problems suffered by Toyota resulting in the recall of thousands of vehicles and of course a huge cost to the Company. But this does not just affect Toyota and other large manufacturers. The European Union’s General Product Safety Directive enacted in the UK in 2005 increases the need for businesses to be able to identify and, if necessary on safety grounds, recall their products from the market. Many manufacturers may think they are covered for such an eventuality through their traditional products liability insurance but generally this only covers the consequences of injury or damage caused by the products and will not insure against the cost of any necessary product recall.

The rate of recalls is rising. In the EU during 2009 notifications of recalls rose by 53% and therefore anyone involved in manufacturing needs to have plans in place. The most effective method of reducing the negative impact of a product recall is to be well aware of how your business may be affected and be prepared.

At Castlemead Insurance Brokers, we are experts in providing the individual level of cover your business needs and we can also help you prepare for the unexpected.

Warranties are on the increase

At Castlemead Insurance Brokers in Bristol, we like to keep a close eye on what is happening in the insurance industry so that we can be sure our customers are adequately covered for any eventuality.

Sometimes businesses can get caught out when making a claim simply because they have not read or fully understood the terms and conditions or small print attached to their policy.

We have become very aware in recent times that insurers are becoming ever more stringent in applying the various warranties contained therein. These warranties, largely health and safety or security based can invalidate cover even if they have no direct relationship to the claim being made.

For instance, we have learned of a claim being rejected because the insurer had stated that Kite marked 5 lever locks must be fitted to all doors. 5 lever locks had been fitted but they were not Kite marked. The break in to which the claim related was not even through a door!

Had their insurance broker pointed this out when arranging the cover the outcome would have been very different?

Need help with your business insurance? Get in touch with Castlemead.

Managing risk in a downturn

The current economic climate has taken its toll on many businesses, with survival requiring careful examination of all costs in the business: Insurance should not be exempt from this process. Insurance rates are currently static, but there will be pressure for rates to rise over the coming months.

So how does a business control spending with these pressures?

The obvious measures are those that should be considered as part of your regular renewal review.

Ensure figures on which the premium is based reflect your projected level of business activity. Consider 90% estimates if unsure. Many premiums are now ‘minimum and deposit’ – remember to budget for declarations if you do well.

Understand the cover you are paying for. If unsure Castlemead Insurance Brokers in Bristol, can review and check it reflects the needs of your business.

Understand how much each part of your Combined insurance costs by obtaining a premium split per section for :-

• Liability
• Material Damage
• Business Interruption

Castlemead Insurance Brokers will go the extra mile

• We will ‘find a way or make one’ by devising alternative methods of buying cover that can offer savings.
• Consider higher levels of self insurance. We can help calculate how big a loss your business can sustain as a one off and in attritional damage over the year.
• Avoid making small claims as these are always catered for in the premiums charged. Take an excess and enjoy the saving (In Insurance Premium tax alone).
• Ask for a list of insurers that your Broker has approached this year – this should represent a spread of the market including specialist underwriters and London markets, as well as ‘household names’.

If in doubt Castlemead are here to help.

Flood insurance argument could leave millions high and dry

Following the recent weather in the UK, Castlemead Insurance Brokers thought that this post would be topical as recent figures suggest that 200,000 homes in England and Wales could be left without cover as agreement between insurers and government ends.

About 5m homes are at risk from flooding across Britain, according to the ABI, with up to 200,000 homes in England and Wales being warned they will struggle to obtain adequate flood insurance after June 2013, when the insurance industry's voluntary flood agreement with the government ends.

The current flood insurance statement of principles agreement with the government, agreed in 2000 as a short-term measure, ends in June 2013. It states that insurers must include flood cover as standard for properties built before 1 January 2009, where the risk of flooding is low; and, crucially, insurers must allow at-risk households who already have flood cover to automatically renew cover with the same insurer, as long as flood defences are planned to be in place within five years.

The ABI's director general, Otto Thoresen, said this "grossly distorts the market" because people in lower risk flood areas pay more to subsidise those at higher risk. "Customers in high risk areas are tied to their existing insurer, and those insurers covered by it have ended up with a disproportionate number of high flood risk properties."

Commercial Properties are also being affected with insurers using flood mapping systems to identify buildings in high risk areas. Increased premiums and excesses are being imposed with cover being withdrawn for flood in certain areas.

If you need help with your insurance, please get in touch with us and we will be happy to assist.

New client for Castlemead Insurance Brokers

Castlemead Insurance Brokers have picked up another new client this week and we thought it be worth summarising exactly why as we appreciate that choosing an insurance broker can be a tricky thing to do.

In a nutshell, the client in questions' insurances have been arranged with a consolidated broker for a number of years and, after our research, it became very clear that the problems could be split into 3 definite categories.

1. Poor service

• Renewal terms e-mail to them by broker 5 days before renewal
• No visit to the premises despite premiums in excess of £15,000
• No confirmation of cover provided, nor motor / employers liability certificates issued

2. Poor advice

• Did not include stock cover in the open – valued at £70,000
• Did not include subsidence cover on the Buildings – valued at over £500,000
• Financial estimates on Liability and Business Interruption inaccurate
• Money limits too low
• No advice around insurances not arranged including Directors and Officers insurance

3. Overcharging

• Premiums had increased with no explanation
• No claims review nor rating breakdown
• Alternative quotations had not been sought
• Charges included policy fees in addition to taking commission
• Premiums were being financed through an outsourced provider at a rate of 6.25% (17.8% APR) payable over 10 months
• Not only well in excess of the standard market rate for outsourced finance, but also more expensive than the 12 month payment option with the insurance company

The end result was that Castlemead Insurance Brokers visited the client within 24 hours of the phone call, put right the cover and provided more competitive rates.

If you need help with your insurance, please get in touch with us and we will be happy to assist.

Adequacy of sum insured

Ensuring your sum insured stands at a realistic figure is an area all businesses should be concerned with, particularly relating to the replacement of machinery. Machinery can be rendered useless through a variety of risks, fire, flood and theft being the most obvious so it needs to be properly protected.

Castlemead knows that the cost of replacing machinery has gone up substantially due to currency fluctuations and that the previously healthy second hand market for many machines that enabled replacement costs to be reduced is no longer what it used to be as, due to the high prices of scrap metal, most have been “recycled”!.

Castlemead Insurance Brokers visited a company recently where their total sum insured stood at £1.7 million. 

Having carried out an inventory, the true replacement cost of their machinery alone was a little over £6 million. Had they suffered a fire or flood, the damage would have been far more than an interruption to their business.

Increasing the sum insured may not be as costly as you might think and at Castlemead we provide a breakdown of how your insurance premium is made up so that you can see at a glance what effect an increase would have. As part of our annual review we also monitor the sums insured to ensure that you are adequately covered this year and every year.

If you would like help, please get in touch with Castlemead.

Insurance fraud costs the insurance industry £2bn a year

Demonstrating the new tougher Court Action for Fraudsters, six week sentences have been handed down to two fraudsters who invented a car accident to claim over £5,000 in whiplash compensation. Insurers had set aside a further £75,000 for other expected claims relating to the incident.

The court heard that Samina Bashir and her partner admitted making the bogus claim which also involved her parents, who received a suspended sentence for their part in the fraud.

Organised motor fraud was responsible for approximately 30,000 “crash-for-cash” related incidents in 2011 costing the industry millions of pounds. The insurance fraud bureau (IFB) has been established to clamp down on these criminal gangs. The IFB are currently co-ordinating 26 live cases valued in excess of £60,000,000.

Insurance fraud is rumoured to add an average of £44 to every UK policyholders annual bill so the emphasis placed on having the right insurance broker is even more important now than it ever has been. 

Raring to go!

 It's not all work, work, work at Castlemead Insurance Brokers in Bristol as Richard Ingleby has entered this fine specimen into the ASWMC Hill Climb Championship and Sprint competitions.

For more information, please see either of the below links -
http://www.aswmc.org.uk/sprint.htm
http://www.aswmc.org.uk/hilclimb.htm


A "customised" car ready for action. Best go and fire up the Quattro!

Welcome to the Castlemead IB Blog

Castlemead Insurance Brokers in Bristol have set up this Blog to run in tandem with our new website so we can keep you up to date with trends in the insurance industry as well as provide you with helpful tips and hints to get the best from your insurance broker.

If you need help with your commercial business insurance or even a free audit of your policy, please get in touch with Castlemead.