Archive January 2011

What should a broker do for you?

27/01/2011 in Business, Insurance Industry News, Private Clients

So what does an insurance broker do? How do we earn our income, regardless of whether it’s a fee or commission or perhaps, both?

Your broker is your professional contact throughout the entire process. From the initial stages through to the renewal review the following year. Below are the key services you should be receiving from a broker:

• Understanding you and/or your business – what risks do you face?
• Establishing your fears or concerns?
• Agreeing a realistic budget to work within
• Establishing how the broker will be renumerated?
• Discussing which insurers the broker will be approaching? Is it a full or partial market review?
• Following the review, expect your broker to present their findings and explain why they are recommending a certain insurer or product
• Your broker will clearly set out the premium breakdown and the payment options available
• If you proceed with cover, expect your broker to handle the administration; most policies can be arranged electronically
• Once the policy is in force, your broker should handle any adjustments or queries mid-term; some may make a small administration charge for doing so
• Should you be unfortunate enough to suffer a loss, speak to your broker and expect a very personal and professional service. There should be no need for you to talk to the insurance company unless there are exceptional circumstances
• Approximately 4 weeks before your renewal, expect a call from your broker to discuss any changes to your risk
• Your broker should carry out a review of the market and put forward their recommendation for the next period of insurance
• The whole process then starts again!

As one of a small number of Chartered Insurance Brokers in the UK, Macbeth is an elite broking firm. If you’ve not used a broker before, or if you’re broker isn’t providing you with the above services, then why not complete an enquiry form to try a professional broking experience?

How to Safeguard your Art & Reduce Insurance Premiums

25/01/2011 in Fine Art and Antiques, High Value Homes

Specialist art valuers and auctioneers Lyon & Turnbull have kindly agreed to us posting their 7 top tips for safeguarding art.

Don’t advertise what you own, or how it is situated and protected in your home. Unlike opportunist house-breakers, art thieves rarely attempt a theft unless they know what’s there and what defences they will be up against.

Keep detailed photographic records of your art, including photographs of the art out of the frame, with close-ups of any distinctive markings or inscriptions. If a stolen object such a map or print is recovered, you will need to prove that it is your copy. Lyon & Turnbull is the second largest provider of independent valuations in the UK, and our valuation documents provide police with the detailed images and descriptions they need to locate possessions and verify them as yours.

Keep records and documents relating to your art and its provenance in a separate place nowhere near your art, preferably in a bank deposit box. Not only is this your proof of ownership, handing these to a thief will make the work much easier to sell on. We can help – our valuations are archived in a secure location and can be quickly made available to the authorities if the worst happens.

Remember a high-tech security system is only as effective as the response it triggers. More effective are ID tags which can be embedded in artworks and can function as part of an alarm system or as GPS-locators. They are also difficult to remove quickly without damaging the art.

There is no reason to be wary of loaning objects from your collection for public exhibitions. Major museum thefts make headlines, but they are rare. Check that the museum will take legal responsibility for the work on loan, and instruct them whether or not you wish to be identified as the lender.

An astonishing number of art thefts are not reported. If something is stolen, go to the police immediately. They will disseminate the information straight away, including photographs of the missing work.

For added security you can list your possessions on the Art Loss Register, preferably before they go missing in order to ensure you have accurately recorded any distinguishing marks. While the police should report the loss to ALR, by doing it yourself you can rest assured the report has been made at the earliest opportunity, and to a high level of detail.

Art and antique insurance are typically classified as ‘low-risk’ by insurers, due to their unique and identifiable nature. By looking to the security of your home and documenting the measures you have taken to avoid damage and theft, insurance companies can often insure art collections with a very high value for a relatively small premium. For more information on art insurance, please contact Paul Macbeth on 0118 9452944 or complete one of our enquiry forms.

Cyber liablity insurance – What are the risks within your organisation?

21/01/2011 in Business, Cyber Liability Insurance

When considering cyber liability risks one area that should not be neglected are potential losses arising from employees or ex-employees.

This point was highlighted recently following the jailing of a Sainsbury’s IT network employee for the theft of 17,000,000 Nectar points.  The once trusted employee had set up 18 different accounts for himself and had transferred the points in over a number of years.

In another case a disgruntled ex-employee, hacked into his former employers data based and wiped it clean. The loss amounted to £70,000 which was mostly the time spent to reinstate lost information. Fortunately, this was covered by a cyber liability insurance policy.

For more details on cyber liability insurance, contact Tony Gibbs on 0118 9452944 or complete an enquiry forms.

Why do cleaning contractors need specialist insurance cover?

13/01/2011 in Cleaning Insurance

Cleaning contactors could be leaving themselves exposed to risk if they haven’t consider the wider cover that is available from the specialist cleaning industry insurers.

The main area for concern is that a standard public liability policy will exclude damage to property being worked on.  This could be a problem, if say for instant and item is dropped whilst being cleaned. Cleaning contractors that are carrying out carpet cleaning need to have the “treatment risk” insured in case something goes wrong during the cleaning process and the carpet is damage.

Loss of keys and cover for security of customer premises (that’s cover in case a cleaner fails to lock up properly) are useful cover extensions.

For larger companies it is worth looking at cover for fidelity (theft by employees) and misuse of customers’ telephones.

For more information on specialist cleaning contractors insurance, contact Tony Gibbs on 0118 9452944 or complete one of our enquiry forms

The New Year brings new legislation in relation to air conditioning systems

06/01/2011 in Business

The last phase of the Energy Performance of Buildings Regulations (EPBR) comes into force with effect from the 4^th January 2011 . These regulations have been in place since 2007 and were introduced in several phases. This brought in Energy Performance Certificates (EPC’s) and others. However the latest part and one which will affect many businesses and clients who may have been exempt from earlier phases, is the lowering of the size requirement for air conditioning systems.

From the above date, all air conditioning systems with a cooling (or heating) capacity of greater than 12kW requires to be surveyed and reported upon. This is a reduced threshold from the previous 250kW and when completed, the survey findings last for 5 years. It is also accompanied with a recommendation report which can identify ways to operate the system more effectively and thus save operating costs. At this time of the year this is uppermost in many of our minds.

The capacity is the total system cooling capacity taking into account all units and the significant lowering of the size will include many small packaged units, such as may be purchased from electrical retailers on the high street.

This legal requirement to have the efficiency of air conditioning systems assessed fulfils part 4 of the regulations, which also contribute to the Government’s strategy to meet its climate change targets

 I asked Ken Gunston who is the managing director of Equazion Ltd a Reading based company that specialise in air conditioning for his views on the new legislation.

Ken said “ I am worried that the new legislation will largely ignored, generally because few are aware of it. I am also concerned because some supplier of air conditioning equipment may not make their clients aware of the new legislation because of the cost implication”

For more information on EPC’s for Air Conditioning contact Ken on 0118 9866340. To discuss the insurance implication, please contact Tony Gibbs on 0118 9452944.