When you are driving your truck, lorry or other heavy goods vehicle on the road, any accident or disaster could occur, and you don’t want to be the one left footing the bill.

So what are the most important requirements when thinking about truck insurance?

Cost

HGV insurance costs an average of £2,110 for 6 months. It’s possible to get cheaper deals and, of course, more expensive ones.

But make sure you don’t just go for the cheapest deal – you need to assess all the factors and work out what you’ll be missing out on if you take the budget option.

You can get cheaper deals in the following ways:

• Look at cheaper online only deals - save money over telephone deals
• low cost payment plan – some of these are interest-free, subject to conditions
• Spread out payments – do this in instalments to reduce the amount you pay each month

Nitty gritty

Your quote me today truck insurance can cover several areas. The most important for your business are:

• Motor insurance - like any other driver you need to make sure you have third party insurance, but for your valuable machine you’ll require the fully comprehensive version if your business is to be protected.
• Goods in transit - you’ll be carrying some valuable commodities, so if there’s an accident, your customers stand to lose out. If you’re carrying their paid-for goods, then you’re responsible for them. Make sure these potentially high-risk commodities are fully insured while in your care.
• Public liability - any commercial vehicle on the road should be protected against being sued by a member of the public, so make sure you are fully insured against this risk.
• Other liabilities - personal accident, legal cover, breakdown, loss of licence, engineering and employers liability are all important factors to consider.

Perks

Many truck insurance firms have special offers to attract you to the insurance deals they have on offer.

Insurance companies know that once a truck driver starts up their business they will be loyal to the first company they choose – as long as they get a good service at a reasonable cost.

This means they have special offers aimed at truck drivers just starting out, such as the following:

• Driver training discounts – this means you’ll save money when setting up your business
• Free risk management advice - makes you aware of what risks to look out for before you launch you business
• Free dashcam – these forward-facing cameras take the doubt out of accident liability

Ensure you take advantage of all the offers available to you when starting your business.

Sarah-Jane Heber-Hall from telecommunications specialist ComputerTel comments: “Our study also showed that 14% of people do not understand why their calls are recorded, which suggests that either some companies are failing to advise their customers – breaching the Telecommunications Act of 1984 – or are doing so in such a way that they are not understood.

“As responsible providers of telecoms solutions, including call recording software, we are surprised that some businesses appear to be failing to comply with regulations, and are leaving customers feeling worried and vulnerable when calling a contact centre.”

The survey also revealed that:

• customers in the 50-59 age group are the most concerned about having their calls recorded;
• 22% of those questioned said that when they were advised that their phone call was being recorded, they put the phone down and tried another communication method, such as email;
• male callers were 10% more likely to end a call if they know it is being recorded, compared to female callers;
• 6% of respondents said they have had to have a recording used, following a complaint or other issue.

Ms. Heber-Hall adds: “Having a call recorded should give a customer comfort in the knowledge that if, further down the line there are any concerns over what had been said, the call can be listened to. Not only that, call recording helps with training purposes, giving the customer an overall better experience.

“Companies who use call recording software need to make sure that their callers know that they are being recorded and that they understand why.”

ComputerTel have produced a White Paper entitled: Call Recording Law in the UK, which is designed to help businesses make call recording more customer friendly. It is available, free of charge by visiting this link: http://www.computertel.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Call-Recording-Law-in-the-UK-updated-2013.pdf

*Independent research carried out on behalf of ComputerTel May 2013 by Usurv

The full extent to which the UK’s compensation culture has led to an epidemic in whiplash claims set out in the ABI’s submission to the Transport Select Committee inquiry into whiplash. This highlights that:

• In the UK 78% of personal injury claims following road accidents are for whiplash, twice the average percentage of whiplash claims across Europe. It compares to 30% in France and Denmark, 31% in Spain, 35% in the Netherlands and 68% in Italy.
• Despite the 20% fall in injuries reported to the police between 2006 and 2011, the number of personal injury claims made by third parties has jumped by.40%*.
• Whiplash claims now cost over £2.2billion a year, adding an extra £90 to the average annual motor insurance premium.

James Dalton, the ABI’s Head of Motor and Liability, said:

“Insurers remain fully committed to ensuring access to justice for genuine claimants. But the harsh reality is that the UK remains the ‘whiplash capital of Europe’, with our ‘have a go’ compensation culture making whiplash the fraud of choice for many. With an annual whiplash bill of £2 billion adding an extra £90 a year to the average motor premium tough action is needed to tackle this problem.”

The ABI’s proposals for tackling the UK’s whiplash epidemic are:

• Medical assessment of personal injury claims by independent, accredited doctors with the latest training in soft tissue neck injuries.
• Ensuring a simple and speedy way of settling low -value claims by increasing the Small Claims Track Threshold from £1,000 to £5,000.
• Setting out a fair and transparent method for calculating compensation for minor whiplash injuries, which is set independently.

James Dalton added:

“Our proposals will ensure that genuine claimants receive access to justice at a proportionate cost, while driving out fraudulent and exaggerated whiplash claims that increase the cost of car insurance for honest motorists”.

- Ends -

Notes
Notes for Editors

1. Enquiries to:
Adeola Ajayi 020 7 216 7521 Mobile: 07725 245 284
Kelly Ostler-Coyle 020 7216 7375 Mobile: 07968 364 302
Linsey White 020 7216 7415 Mobile: 07885 998 011
Malcolm Tarling 020 7216 7410 Mobile: 07776 147 667

2. * Faculty of Institute of Actuaries, October 2012
3. The ABI is the voice of the UK’s insurance, investment and long-term savings industry. It has over 300 members, which together account for around 90% of premiums in the UK domestic market.
The ABI’s role is to:
- Be the voice of the UK insurance industry, leading debate and speaking up for insurers.
- Represent the UK insurance industry to government, regulators and policy makers in the UK, EU and internationally, driving effective public policy and regulation.
- Advocate high standards of customer service within the industry and provide useful information to the public about insurance.
- Promote the benefits of insurance to the government, regulators, policy makers and the public.

The UK insurance industry is the third largest in the world and the largest in Europe. It is a vital part of the UK economy, managing investments amounting to 26% of the UK’s net worth and contributing the fourth highest corporation tax of any sector. Employing over 290,000 people in the UK alone, the insurance industry is also one of this country’s major exporters, with 28% of its net premium income coming from overseas business.
Insurance and businesses protect themselves against the everyday risks they face, enabling people to own their own homes, travel overseas, provide for a financially secure future and run businesses. Insurance underpins a healthy and prosperous society, enabling businesses and individuals to thrive, safe in the knowledge that problems can be handled and risks carefully managed. Every day, our members pay out £147 million in benefits to pensioners and long-term savers as well as £60 million in general insurance claims.

4. An ISDN line is available for broadcasts.

5. More news and information from the ABI is available on our web site, www.abi.org.uk.

Home or away?

First of all, what sort of business will you be running? If it something where people won’t generally need to visit you (for example, you provide an internet marketing business or a virtual assistant service), you may wish to weigh up the pros and cons of working from home.

If you have a spare room at home and know you’ll be disciplined in treating that room as your “office” and going there every day, this may be an option for you.
Also note that if you do work from home, there may be tax implications (good and bad), so do speak to an accountant for further advice.

If your business is to be one where people visit – whether it is an insurance brokers or hairdressers or fast food restaurant – then choose your location very carefully.
While this will be initially driven by any budget you have allocated, location is key. So, a hairdressers on a high street or near a railway station where getting to it is easy may do better than one where it is a drive away, from other shops. Also, take in to account the “treat” factor – if your premises is somewhere where there is lots of footfall, you are likely to get more people just walk in off the street to “treat” themselves, whether it is to a new haircut or something to eat.

Grants

Once you have narrowed down the location, talk to other shop owners in the vicinity to see if any properties are due to come up for rent /sale or whether there are any special government assisted grants available. Ask if there are any rumours about the local area (for example, if you are thinking about opening a coffee shop, make sure there are no plans afoot for a Costa Coffee or Starbucks to open up nearby). The less competition you will have, the better.

Here are some top tips …

1. Open a bank account in your business name even before the money has started coming in. This will make it easier for accounting purposes;
2. Take advantage of any free courses in start-ups – some of the banks offer online courses. See if your local governments offer any schemes. Even if you only pick up one bit of advice, it will be worth it;
3. If you are setting up a home business, do have a separate telephone line for work calls. If you don’t, when the phone rings, you never know whether it is a business call or a parent or friend “ringing for a chat as I know you are at home”;
4. Make sure you meet all legal requirements – for example, if you are employing people, then you’ll need employer’s liability insurance;
5. Find a trusted accountant – ideally someone recommended to you. It is all very well trying to save costs and getting a friend or friend to do it “who knows about book keeping” – a qualified accountant will help you make the most of your business income, such as telling you about tax breaks or grants;
6. Make sure you have adequate business insurance for your particular trade. In some cases, professional indemnity insurance may also be required if you are giving advice or certain services.

These tips are just the tip of the iceberg of what you need to think about when starting up a new business. They are very important, however, and getting them right first time will enable you to concentrate on building your business – rather than dealing with irate tax officials / customers etc!

So, what does business insurance actually cover?

As with all insurance policies, you need to fully read the policy wording to ensure that you get the cover that is most appropriate for your circumstances.  No one policy is the same as any other. There will be differences, and not just in the price, but in the terms, policy features and benefits, and exclusions.

Generally, however, a typical insurance for business policy may offer the ability to cover some of the following (note, we say “the ability to cover” – this is because some elements of cover will need to be specified and a separate premium and policy may apply):

• the premises  – so buildings, potentially any signage, the shop front, etc;
• the contents – if you opted for business contents cover;
• employers’ liability – protecting you financially and your staff should they suffer an illness or injury as a direct result of their role;
• public liability insurance – to protect you against financial claims made by people who say they have suffered an injury or loss on your premises;
• loss of licence – for example, for hotels, B & Bs and pubs;
• business interruption  – for when your business is unable to operate due to insured circumstances (eg a flood or fire);
• legal expenses cover – for example, when you are in a legal dispute with someone, this assists towards your legal bills (up to a set limit);
• stock insurance – depending on the type of business you run, if you have a lot of a stock (you may be a pub or a shop for example), then having stock insurance may be a necessity;
• professional indemnity insurance – this is cover that is usually issued and bought as a standalone policy – and covers any legal costs should you do something that has a negative effect on one of your clients. If you were an accountant, for example, who gave negligent advice that was proved in court to be very detrimental to the client, then the insurance would help cover any legal costs plus any compensation awarded (up to set limits). This particular element of cover is a legal requirement in some trades.

This is by no means a comprehensive list of the cover offered by business insurance policies – and again, some of the elements of protection mentioned above will need to be bought as a standalone product.

It does highlight, however the often very complex nature of business insurance cover, so making sure you get the most suitable cover for you and your business is important.

Tort Law and Business Negligence

The most common tort that will affect businesses is negligence. Of course, negligence is not always intentional. When legal action follows an incident of perceived negligence, a business can be caught off guard and will require the help of an experience legal professional. Negligence can occur in any civil situation, including restaurants, hospitals, schools, car manufacturing companies, and more. Negligence is usually followed by legal action because it breaks the duty of care one person must give to another.

For example, a sushi restaurant is keeping fish in their kitchen that is past its expiration date. The business has spent lots of money on the fish, and will serve it anyway. Customers who get food poisoning as a result of this business serving expired fish can legally seek compensation. While the restaurant did not do this maliciously, they will still suffer from legal costs, perhaps time in court, and a tainted reputation.

Tort Law and Nuisance or Defamation

Businesses can also end up dealing with a legal tort if customers seek damage for nuisance or defamation. Nuisance is when an activity is irritating or even harmful to customers. Nuisance might legally affect a business that does not strictly adhere to health and safety regulations; a business that has heaping garbage or bad smells could result in neighbors filing this type of law suit. Additionally, bad or indecent behavior by a salesman could result in a lawsuit. Neither of these examples is criminal, which is why businesses need to be careful that they are not acting in a way that could result in harm – be it physical, emotional or reputational – to any customer.

Defamation of character is when a business negatively affects someone’s reputation. This might occur if two similar businesses are in competition with each other. Thoughtless advertising could harm the business that doesn’t think of the implications of slandering their competitor. Written defamation is referred to as libel, while spoken defamation is called slander. Both are civil offences, and both can result in a lawsuit.

If tort law has affected your business, you will want to seek legal assistance as soon as possible. An experienced lawyer can advise you on how to proceed in a way that won’t harm your business and that won’t leave you bankrupt. Often, the result of business torts is monetary compensation. A lawyer will aid a businessman to ensure that the monetary damage was properly calculated. Ideally, a lawyer will help the business avoid paying any monetary assistance, and agree that they will cease the irritating or negligent behavior. This is a possible outcome if no one was harmed from the business’ actions.

A great way to remember what was said in a meeting is to simply record it. Now you can either record video so you can remember who it was that said certain things, but it most examples a voice recorder would suffice.

The USB Voice Recorder is perfect for recording the audio of your meetings, without taking too much room on the desk and too much money from the business account. The Voice Recorder can record up to 40 hours of high quality audio, which can then be transferred to a PC by plugging it straight into the USB port.

Its compact size makes it great for those conversations in the corridors that you weren’t expecting, as it’s small enough to fit in your shirt pocket so you can quickly turn it on in case you don’t have any paper to write notes on.

The study* found that when contacting businesses for help and support, 84% of people prefer to call a local or 0845 number rather than a mobile. Reasons cited for this preference included:

• landlines are cheaper to call and do not cut out;
• a landline is connected to a business and information is more likely to be to hand;
• it shows the company has a real location;
• it feels more legitimate.

Lisa Settle, Director at Telcare, says: “Our study highlights just how important having a landline for your business is. It gives people more confidence that they are dealing with a real, professional, company.

“This may be particularly relevant to start-ups, who often pour lots of thought and money in to designing a company logo and getting business cards printed up etc, while not thinking about the most important part of their business – their business telephone.

“If you have a company but are not winning new clients, it might be because you are trying to run a business from a mobile phone. As our survey shows, this is not a good perception of your business and does not send out the right message.”

The study also asked which method of communication (telephone or email) people prefer to use, both professionally and personally, when requiring help and information from a business.

50% said they prefer to use the telephone because:

• the call is often recorded, so you have an audit trail;
• it is quicker than waiting for an email reply and easier;
• you can generally get the answer to your question right away.

42% said they prefer to use email because:

• you have a written record;
• it is in writing, so you can be confident the message will not be relayed incorrectly;
• it is easier to say what you need to say in an email, without getting all tongue tied.

Also, on the subject of telephoning versus emailing, men are nearly twice as likely to telephone (60%) compared to women (33%).

*Carried out in March 2013 on behalf of Telcare by Usurv.com

• The online quote and buy system is designed for advisers with clients who want to insure between 10 and 150 employees for Group Life Assurance and/or Group Income Protection benefit.

• Advisers will be able to get Group Life Assurance quotes for customers where employees are on long term absence due to back pain, stress, anxiety or musculoskeletal problems. They will also be able to put schemes with up to two claims in the previous five years on risk through the online system.

• A dedicated customer services team at Legal & General’s Group Protection will be available on the telephone to support the online quote and buy system.

• Legal & General Group Protection customers can also benefit from a free telephone based employee assistance programme (EAP) for all insured and uninsured employees. In addition, Group Life policies come with enhanced face to face bereavement counselling support for families of insured employees and Group Income Protection customers will benefit from free face to face counselling for their insured employees.

• Legal & General Group Protection customers will also have access to Legal & General’s new Healthy Living tool for their employees. This innovative and online tool will enable employees to assess their health and take advantage of a range of e-tools to help improve their personal health.

Phil Kennedy, Business Development Director at Legal & General’s Group Protection, says:

“We’ve designed our new Group Protection online quote and buy system to be simple, easy and quick to use and to help save advisers time when they are working with SME businesses. We want to make it easier for advisers to do business with us through this online system. We’ll be working with advisers to develop this system further and add more functionality to support them grow their business”

Policies can be arranged through the new online system to cover between 10 and 150 lives and can include schemes with up to four companies. To further help with administration and save time, up to four categories can be included.

For IFAs, the new online system will also produce scheme quotations where companies have had up to two previous claims within five years, it provides generous switching terms and, importantly, the free cover limit is the same online as offline, with the potential to save medical underwriting time.

Linda Baker, Market Development Director, Group Protection, says:

“We’ve worked with advisers to make sure that the online system is designed around their needs. Advisers can get quotes in 15 minutes and we’ve built in helpful features that advisers have asked for which cut down re-keying time. We have built in online lookup of Companies House data, automatic job title matching to occupation categories and other features that reduce the need for manual data input. To save more time, comparison quotes on different benefit basis can be produced instantly and all of the policy documents an adviser needs for their client can be downloaded immediately.”

Jim Islam, Managing Director of Legal & General Group Protection, says:

“We want to work with IFAs to bring our award winning products to the SME market. We have listened to SME companies and we’re committed to helping them to address sickness and absence with free EAP for all our customers’ employees whether insured or not, plus our new online health and wellbeing support tool Healthy Living is available as part of our award winning Group Income Protection and Group Life products. We’ve invested in new technology and staff to provide an efficient, high quality service for our IFAs to support their SME businesses.”