Accidental damage – This cover allows you to claim for damages not caused by any other policy features such as fire, theft, flood etc. It doesn’t always come as standard though so if you want accidental cover to be included in your policy make sure you let your adviser know early on to help them source you the best policy.
As with any insurance policy there will be some exclusions. Make sure you read your policy documents thoroughly to understand what you are responsible for and what is the responsibility of your insurance company. Insurers want to protect themselves from claims for things that are inevitable such as wear and tear but you must also be happy they are agreeing to cover the things that are important for you.
Theft by violent/forced entry – This is an optional cover that protects against theft and break-ins via a forced entry. Insurers generally won’t cover you for a theft that occurs through an unlocked door and will stipulate what security measures you need to have in place before you can be covered. This will extended to public entrances, back doors, windows, out buildings, delivery hatches and service entrances. Make sure you are aware of what the security requirements are for your policy.
Manual work away exclusion – An office is defined as a business based out of a specific type of commercial premises – your office. A policy is usually designed to cover you for the business you do there and extended to cover you for collection and delivery outside this property.
Take for example a hotel bookings service company. The business is run from a normal office but some of the profit and business may come from installation and training on booking software on the customer’s property. The manual work away exclusion states that this type of business needs extra cover, simply because it faces a different type of risk. If the balance tips towards the external work you may even be advised to switch to a ‘commercial combined’ insurance policy which is better suited your business model. An experienced adviser can talk through this with you and explain the benefits of both.