The time has come to make the shift from a home trader to a garage dealer but how prepared are you for the higher insurance premium? Learn why you pay more when you operate from a business premises and more...
As a part-time or full-time home based trader you have earned a decent living. Things are going great, but now you feel the time is right to make a move into a garage. You even found the perfect place to set shop. It is near the intersection, enjoys heavy traffic and has sufficient space to carve out a small office out front to entertain customers. Best of all, it costs less than what you expected. You move into a garage, and your business prospers. But, now your existing motor trade insurance is useless. You have to take extensions and extra covers, which adds to your insurance premium big time. Have you calculated the costs yet?
There is a lot more investment that goes into a garage, which you would not normally do as a home trader. Tools, equipment, staff, mechanics, company vehicles, paying the bills, stocking up on spares and accessories – the list is virtually endless. Your insurance cover is now grossly inadequate to protect your investment and business. That is where a combined premises cover comes into play.
With a combined premises insurance you get a fully customized policy that includes more than the basic road risk cover, which is the least you need to run any motor trade business. As a trader, you decide the insurance premium you are comfortable with and accordingly take up covers to protect your garage. Stock, spares, and vehicles are all included in business premises covers, but tools and equipment are not.
If you hire staff, you better have employers liability as it is necessary for any business with employees and if you welcome the public into your garage, keeping public liability cover is always advisable.
These are the least any garage trader should have. Naturally, they all cumulatively cost a lot more than what you were previously paying as a home trader. However, insurance is all about mitigating future risks and with a larger business, more employees and assets, your risks are higher.
It can be difficult moving from a home trader to a garage trader without having to pay through the nose for insurance, but your premiums will not always stay this high. As you continue year after year and accrue no claim bonuses, your premiums will keep going down. Moreover, you can always begin with bespoke plans that take into account only what is vital to your garage and as your business ages, you can add extra covers.
The best thing you can do is when moving to a garage is to set aside a specific amount as a premium for insurance, and we will get you a deal within your budget that will not just be competitive but inclusive of several covers vital to any garage trading business. Remember, there are many extensions available for additional protection other than the standard ones such as business interruption cover, money cover, additional business use and engineering inspection policy.