Insurance for a shop

You work hard to give your customers a good service but, no matter how careful you are, accidents can happen sometimes whether you run a small corner shop or a major store. This is where the right shop insurance policy can make all the difference between a happy ending and a disaster.

If you employ staff you will of course have no option about whether or not to have insurance, because Employers Liability Insurance is almost certainly a legal requirement for you. You may also wish, however, to protect your stock, fixtures and fittings against damage caused by fire or other accidents; be covered in the event of a member of the public having an accident on or near your premises; protect yourself against claims from people who say they have been been injured by products they have bought from you; and be indemnified against loss of money if you were forced to close for a while as a result of an accident or other event. All these possibilities can usually be covered by one insurance package.

There are two ways in which you can buy insurance to protect your shop; you can get a ready-made package, or you can have one designed for you. Both have advantages and disadvantages.

One of the advantages of a ready-made package is it's simplicity; you can usually obtain quotes and buy these online, with cover coming into effect immediately if you wish. The package may not suit your unique requirements however; and if your business does not fall into one of the insurer's categories you may not be able to get a quote from them at all. It is however well worthwhile trying for a quotation, it only takes a short while and it could save you a great deal of time and money.

Having a shop insurance package designed for you is certainly more involved since you will need to chat to a broker who specialises in your type of business but since this is usually done either by telephone or e-mail the time it takes should be kept to a minimum. The great advantage of getting a quotation in this way is that, since your business is almost certainly different in at least some ways to any other business in the country, you can have the policy designed for your exact requirements.

What we suggest is; get both an online price and also talk to a specialised broker about insurance for your shop. You can then compare the benefits and costs of both options.