COVERPOINT – FEBRUARY 2016
COVERPOINT – FEBRUARY 2016
Welcome to the first edition of Coverpoint for 2016. For most people, this early part of the year is all about making plans for the months ahead, and our focus is going to be on how we can help you from a risk management perspective.
There’s an old saying that goes something like “man makes plans, and God laughs”. The point is that, with the best of intentions, all our plans are subject to the vagaries of accidents, bad weather, financial problems, political events and many other unforeseen happenings. All these can put your goals in jeopardy, not to mention your livelihood, prosperity and even your life.
If it wasn’t for unpredictable catastrophe, of course, none of us would need insurance, which is designed to reimburse you for misfortune from a pot into which we all contribute. Just look at the main perils you’ll be insured against under any property insurance policy:
Fire, Theft, Storm, Flood, Escape of Water, Riot, Malicious Damage, Impact by Road Vehicles or Aircraft
I’m sure you can all think of well-known instances of these occurring in recent years, but let me give you a few examples as a reminder.
Great Fire of London
Great Train Robbery
Great storm of 1987
Floods of December and January this last year
Riots in London 2010
Plane crash on the A27 last Autumn
All of these were terrible human tragedies, with loss of lives and horrendous financial consequences…and all of them involved the insurance industry helping people to recover from disaster. You may think it’ll never happen to you, but, statistically, every year it happens to somebody.
The AA may be the “4th emergency service”, but the insurance industry is the 5th, and thankfully has improved it’s response to disaster a great deal in recent years, with much more help available, to make things better, than just getting you to fill in a claim form and send it off.
If things go wrong for you, I know you’ll be happier if you have first class insurance cover to come to your rescue. Please feel free to contact me if you’d like to know more.
SPOTLIGHT ON DIRECTORS & OFFICERS LIABILITY
If you run your own company, you might believe that your personal liability is limited to the value of your shareholding – this was the founding principle of “limited liability” companies hundreds of years ago.
Sadly, this is no longer the case, and in the present day business environment there are many organisations that can step round limited liability, to sue you personally for wrongdoing caused by your company. As a director or senior employee, you can be exposed:
Financially – you can be personally liable to potential claimants such as employees, creditors, customers, regulators and HMRC.
Criminally – your liberty could be at stake, and the financial costs of defence may be high, often reaching six figures.
Through investigations – by regulators or trade bodies. This is a major area of risk for directors.
To your own employees – for instance, allegations of sexual, racial or disability discrimination could see you defending your actions (or inactions) at employment tribunals, as well as in the media.
Not just in the past, but in the future as well. Responsibility and liability for your actions remains with directors long after they have left the company, even into retirement.
If you’re a business owner, you’ve almost certainly taken a substantial personal risk already for the privilege, perhaps using your home as collateral for business finance. Do you really want to expose your own personal wealth to the risk of court action for negligence ?
The answer lies with Directors and Officers Liability Insurance, which provides protection and peace of mind at a fairly modest cost. If you’d like to know more, please call me on 01483 548662 or 07792 576551, or e-mail me at nigel@cliffordlane.co.uk
HOME INSURANCE – ARE YOU WITH A BANK OR FINANCIAL INSTITUTION ?
If you are, the sad truth is that you’re probably paying far more than you need to for Buildings and Contents cover.
There are two reasons for this:
Firstly, the banks don’t generally offer a wide choice of insurers, unlike insurance brokers, who have access to the whole market. Banks prefer to offer their own in-house product.
Secondly, banks have tended to offer cover that purports to be “Unlimited” for buildings and possessions. Sounds good, but in practice, if you have a claim, you’re still going to be dealt with on the basis of the accurate Replacement cost. The downside is that these policies are often very expensive.
As brokers, we seek the best value for you from more than 30 choices, and on many occasions, I’ve had new clients with a renewal premium of £1,000 or more for a relatively modest 3 bedroom house, where I’ve been able to offer comparable cover at around half that the cost.
Remember, we love saving you money – that’s the reason we’re here. As a special incentive, call me before 15 March with your quotation request, and we’ll give you an extra 10% discount.
AND FINALLY…
A lawyer and an engineer were fishing in the Caribbean. The lawyer said “I’m here because my house burned down, and everything I owned was destroyed by the fire. The insurance company paid for everything.”
“That’s quite a coincidence,” said the engineer. “I’m here because my house and all my belongings were destroyed by a flood, and my insurance company also paid for everything.”
The lawyer thought for a moment, but was puzzled. Finally he asked the engineer, “How do you start a flood ?”