Ensuring Your Van and Tools are Covered, British Drivers Hit with a Penalty Every 2.5 Seconds, Plus More

Welcome to West Craven's November newsletter.

In this edition, we discuss what type of insurance your office needs, we share some advice on how to ensure your business' van and tools are covered, British drivers are hit with a penalty charge every 2.5 seconds and we take a look at what product liability insurance is and what it covers.

What type of insurance does an Office need?

 

 

Offices are the hub of the vast majority of UK businesses, with important documents, customer details and data, finances, equipment and furniture all stored in one building. This represents a large risk to their owners.

Do I need office insurance?
Whilst not a legal requirement, like employer’s liability insurance, you still might need an office insurance policy. It will come down to whether or not you can afford to operate without the protection and peace of mind that comes with an all-encompassing insurance policy. You should also consider whether you can afford to continue operating should a disaster befall your office space.

OK, so what’s covered?
A standard office insurance policy will include contents insurance for protecting your furniture and equipment in the event of theft, fire or flood and other forms of loss. From there many of the policies can be tailored depending on your needs.

For example, some policies will assist with the cost of paying for business continuity. This will allow you to temporarily relocate your business, hire equipment and furniture so that you can continue to trade, should your current premises and equipment be rendered unusable or unavailable due to a loss or damage. Some policies can be tailored to point that they cover your windows against accidental or malicious damage.

If you handle or store cash on site, it is also possible to gain protection for your cash whilst it is on your premises, and in some cases, even when it is being transported to the bank by an employee.

Is there anything that won’t be protected?
That’s the best part! Office insurance is usually made up of bolt-on policies rather than unchangeable core policies. You can tailor the policy to protect your business against the risks specific to your sector.

Whilst most businesses will buy a contents insurance policy for their premises, it never hurts to have a policy that is specifically tailored to your work environment. Whilst every office is different depending on the type of business, an office insurance policy can be specifically tailored to the needs of your business whilst being all-encompassing.

Ensuring Your Van and Tools are Covered

 

 

For many businesses, vans are the vital component that allows them to operate on a daily basis. So it won’t come as a surprise that the theft of a van and/or its contents can be a devastating blow to any business – one that can, in some cases cripple a business and temporarily prevent the owner from trading.

In some cases commercial vans may contain thousands of pounds worth of goods, equipment and tools, which can leave a business seriously out of pocket should the worst happen.

According to a report compiled by BBC Radio 5 earlier this year, a van is broken into and it’s contents stolen every 23 minutes. In previous Police Crime Survey’s less than 40% of victims saw their contents returned.

So how can you protect your van and its contents?
Well, other than taking all the necessary security precautions (e.g. alarms, locks, parking in a secure area etc.), a van and tool insurance policy can provide financial protection and peace of mind.

A van insurance provider will consider your situation in the same way they would a car insurance policy. You will need to provide a range of information such as the value of your van, annual mileage and where you live. Similarly to car insurance, your van will be assigned an insurance group based on its size, power and average repair costs and you will have various different types of insurance (third party, comprehensive etc.) to choose from.

However, most van insurance policies do not cover the contents too. That means if you have an accident and your tools are damaged, or if they are stolen, your van insurance will not cover the cost of repair or replacement. This could have a devastating effect on your business, which could possibly cripple your ability to operate your business.

There are insurance policies available to protect your van’s contents against damage caused by an accident or theft of your tools and equipment. It’s worth keeping in mind that some policies only provide cover as long as your tools aren’t left in your van overnight, so if you would prefer to avoid the inconvenience of removing everything from your van every night and replacing it every morning, it might be better to pay more for overnight cover.

Considering the amount of money collectively claimed for stolen tools and damaged vans jumped from &1.9m in 2015 to &2.8m in 2016, the issue is only likely to get worse. If you are in need of assistance with finding the right insurance for your business gets in touch with West Craven Insurance.

British Drivers Hit with a Penalty Charge Every 2.5 Seconds

 

According to a new study conducted by the Liverpool Hope University, a third of drivers in Britain is given a penalty notice each year.

It was revealed that there are 12 million penalties handed out to UK motorists annually, meaning on average a penalty is given every 2.5 seconds, which racks up to approximately &840 million in fines every year.

This study was conducted for the motoring research charity the RAC Foundation and was carried out by Criminology Lecturer at Liverpool Hope University, Adam Snow.

The most common fines by some distance were parking penalties, as it found that 8 million of the 12 million total offences were due to drivers overstaying or parking in the wrong place.

It was also found that a huge 2.5 million fines were for local authority bus lane and box junction penalties, which were closely followed by 1 million speeding and red-light penalties.

The remaining half of a million penalties to take the total to 12 million, were due to drivers late licensing and insurance penalties.

Dr Snow’s report suggests that the high number of penalties and fines is related to a growing reliance on cameras from the police force due to budget cuts. While cameras can make the process of recording motor offences much more efficient, they are unable to use discretion or common sense, so a minor or borderline offence will be viewed the same as any other.

This opinion is shared by the RAC Foundation Director, Steve Gooding; “To maintain its legitimacy, automatic enforcement must be viewed by the public as proportionate.

“While wrongdoing should be punished and not excused, a decline in front-line policing risks an imbalanced approach to enforcement. Millions of motorists are being caught by a camera, often for arguably minor misdemeanours, whilst more serious and harmful behaviour goes undetected.”

Product Liability: What Does it Cover?

 

If you’re a business that manufactures, designs or supplies a physical product, then you can be held responsible should your product injure a member of the public or their property. You could find yourself paying millions in damages and legal fees.

A Product Liability policy offers protection against this scenario. In the case of an injury or damage claim being made against you, your product liability policy will cover the cost of legal fee and compensation claims for:

• Death or personal injuries caused by your product;
• Loss of or damage to property caused by your product; and
• Unforeseeable circumstances, such as product faults that your quality control system could not identify.

However, you should not view product liability as an unbreakable safety net. If there was a fault with the product due to bad workmanship or design, the policy will not protect you.

If a product injures someone or damages something, it mainly falls to the manufacturer to take responsibility. However, even if you did not manufacture the product, there are still some circumstances that could see you being held responsible. For example, if the products bare your name and branding, or if the manufacturer has gone out of business or cannot be traced, you will be forced to take responsibility.

In 1997, Owens-Corning Fiberglas Corporation acquired Fibreboard Corporation, a manufacturer who used a great deal of Asbestos, a mineral that is now known to cause lung issues, in former products. By 2000, Owens-Corning filed for Bankruptcy following a massive settlement of 243,000 asbestos-related claims, despite not being the original manufacturer.

Compensation payments can cover anything from lost income due to injury, or repair or replacement of goods in the case of property damage, meaning the cost can be incredibly high. A product liability policy can cover the cost of a claim, whilst ensuring your business can continue to operate.

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