June, 2010

Motorhome Insurance

Home insurance is an incredibly specialised area, and as such many people don’t understand the requirements surrounding it. What you might be surprised to know is that regular home insurance has slightly different requirements to motorhome insurance, so it’s wise to have a basic knowledge of what’s required before hitting the road.

Motorhome insurance will always be required if you want to drive the vehicle on public roads. Normal tow-style homes are often covered by the accompanying car’s insurance policy, but as motorhomes are entities all of their own they’ll need their own insurance policy.

It’s a legal requirement to insure your home when it’s on public roads, as any accident or damage that occurs needs to be completely covered by a policy. Third party is the bare minimum that’s required, covering you in the event that the home damages another person’s property or causes bodily harm, but it’s advisable for home owners to go for more comprehensive policies.

The motorhome should always be covered for when it’s on the campsite as well as when it’s on the road, as damage can occur at any time. Natural threats such as fires or floods can completely devastate homes, and as they’re often particularly expensive it’s always wise to be fully insured.

Then there’s the threat of theft. Being a motorhome it won’t be too difficult to steal, and given that 3,000 homes were stolen last year it makes sense to protect your interests. This is even more important when you consider the fact that one home could easily have cost your entire life savings, so if you don’t want to lose out financially make sure that it’s completely covered.

Fully comprehensive policies are bound to cost more than basic alternatives, but when you consider the cost of paying for damages yourself, or even the cost of buying a whole new home, the premiums won’t seem like so much of an expense. Good deals can still be found, and as long as you spend a little time doing your research you’ll be able to find the right policy at an affordable price.

So, motorhome insurance is an essential purchase for all owners of such vehicles. It’s not only a legal requirement if you want to drive it on public roads but also protects you financially in the event of an accident or similar damage occurring, meaning that you can hit the road in complete confidence that your home is covered for all eventualities.

Motor Trade Insurance Online

Looking for motor trade insurance online can save you hours of pounding up and down the high street or leafing through the telephone directory. With quotes and policy details available at the touch of a button, you do not even have to leave your armchair to find the right cover for your motor trade business.

Motor trade insurance gives your business the financial protection it needs to be able to survive the theft or damage of a vehicle you intend to sell.

The benefits of such cover are self-explanatory – without motor trade cover, you could lose thousands if one of your cars is crashed or stolen.
So how can you get a good deal for motor trade insurance online? The internet makes shopping around simple. With a plethora of providers at your disposal, you can compare quotes within minutes.

You should be able to reduce the premiums offered is you have a significant no claims discount. Anything over 3 years is likely to yield a significant reduction. Further, by limiting the number of named drivers on the policy to a couple of individuals with good safety records, your insurer will be more confident about insuring you for less.

Given that you have to seek new stock from up and down the country, limiting your mileage on the policy is probably not an option. However, limit your activities to trading alone rather than, say, breakdown activities which insurers perceive as more risky.

When it comes to motor trade insurance online, don’t forget to specify the type of cars that are likely to be in your fleet. If you trade in high performance vehicles, these are going to be more expensive to cover.
Now that you have a number of quotes to compare, how can you choose between them? Not only should you consider the quality of service that you are likely to receive from the various providers, but also what they are prepared to add on as an extra to the cover.

You can judge the service provided on the basis of whether a provider has UK based call centres that are ready to help you at all times of the day or night. Also, ask whether a complementary hire car would be provided while yours is being repaired.

Lastly, breakdown insurance is essential in your industry. What could be more embarrassing than breaking down on a test drive? Ask whether this is included in the cover, or at least could be offered with a substantial discount.

Pet Bird Insurance

Birds are one of Britain’s favourite pets. Whether it is the family budgerigar, a parrot or an exotic bird of prey, the value of these birds and the cost of their upkeep can be significant. With the cost of veterinary care and number of bird thefts on the increase, many people have turned to pet bird insurance to protect their beloved feathered friends.

Why should you consider bird insurance?

Pet bird insurance provides comprehensive insurance for your bird. Policies can be tailored to your specific needs and generally include cover for vets fees, equipment, aviaries and bird rooms, public liability and theft.
With vets fees often running into many hundreds of pounds, and equipment and aviaries also costing a significant amount, could you afford to meet the costs of these bills yourself in the event of anything happening to your bird?

Main benefits
Bird insurance policies have several main benefits.

1. Vets bills – The insurance covers the vet’s costs for necessary treatment following accident or illness.

2. Theft – The policy covers the value of your bird and also the costs involved in advertising for its return and a reward. (There must generally have been a forcible entry into your home to be able to claim under this cover.)

3. Equipment – cover is provided from accidental damage to aviaries or equipment caused by fire, theft or attempted theft, malicious damage, storm or flood.

4. Public liability – If you own a bird of prey, this cover ensures that you are protected against a claim from a third party for death, injury or damage to their property caused by the bird.

5. Attack – most policies include cover if your bird is attacked by vermin

Other factors to consider

If you have outside aviaries or bird keeping equipment, it may be worth contacting your home insurance provider to check whether these items are covered as ‘outbuildings’ under your home insurance policy. You may find that you can incorporate your bird rooms into your existing home insurance policy.

Pet bird insurance policies will generally not cover you in the event of your bird’s escape, unless it is as a result of theft or attempted theft or malicious damage to their aviary.

If you have a bird of prey, you may also be able to add ‘non return cover’ to your bird insurance for a small additional premium. This provides a payment in the event of the bird not returning to you when you are out flying it.

Cheap Boat Insurance

Kenneth Grahame once famously wrote, in The Wind in the Willows, that “there is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” With over 600,000 UK households owning a boat, there are many that agree with those sentiments. One of the most important factors to consider when buying a boat is how to protect your craft, and this is why cheap boat insurance has become a huge growth industry in the UK.

Boat insurance is designed to protect any type of vessel from a small dinghy or rowing boat up to yachts, catamarans, narrow boats, fishing boats or powerboats. It covers accidental damage, theft, fire, the theft of accessories and equipment as well as third party liability.
Boat insurance premiums have been rising over recent years due to many factors. For example, in 2009 the insurers Zurich revealed that it had recorded a threefold increase in the number of falsified boat insurance claims. The total claimed by fraudulent claimants in the first four months of 2009 exceeded the total for the whole of 2008.

It is therefore vital that you shop around for cheap boat insurance, but it is important not to compromise on the quality of your cover. As you may have found in the past, cheap insurance is all very well until it doesn’t pay out on a claim you have made.

There are a number of things that will affect your boat insurance premium. Firstly, there is the boat itself. Clearly, a super yacht that will travel around the world will attract higher premiums than a dinghy that you only propose to use on your local river. The value of the boat, type of craft and the anticipated usage will all affect your insurance premium.
Secondly, as with other types of insurance, your premium will be based on you personally. This includes your previous boating experience (your premiums may be higher if you are a novice) and your previous claims record.

No-claims bonuses are normally available on boat insurance policies in the same way that they are on motor insurance contracts.
Whilst it isn’t compulsory to take out boat insurance, it is strongly recommended. The cost of a boat and equipment can be high and if the boat is to be moored in a marina or harbour, you won’t necessarily be able to keep a close eye on it or your belongings. It’s therefore vital that you protect not only the boat but lifejackets, sails and other expensive equipment.

Recovery Truck Insurance

If you are in the breakdown and recovery profession, your business would literally grind to a halt if your truck is out of action. So recovery truck insurance addresses this problem, and provides a solution to keep your business going if your own vehicle is stolen or damaged.

As long as your claim is higher than the “excess” on your policy, the insurer will pay out for the value of the damage caused to your vehicle, or pay for a replacement.

Tips on saving

To save money on your recovery truck insurance, there are a number of things that you can do.

• No claims bonus – a no claims bonus is the insurer’s recognition that you are a safe driver and have not needed to make a claim for some years. Accordingly, if you have a few claim free years under your belt, bring this to your insurer’s attention and demand a discount for your safe driving.

• Limit your mileage – if you mostly operate over a small but densely populated area, consider limiting your mileage so that your insurer perceives you as a lower risk operation. However, making this decision is something that needs to be thought through carefully, as you do not want to prevent yourself from working further afield if that is where the more lucrative work is. Whichever option you choose, ensure that the insurer is correctly informed about how many miles that you do. If you have grossly underestimated your mileage and this is discovered when you make a claim, your insurer might declare the policy void on the basis of this inaccuracy.

• Raise your excess – at first glance it can seem like madness to voluntarily lift the minimum threshold for which you can make a claim. But by doing this your insurer will see you as someone who is less likely to claim, and therefore may be prepared to drop the cost of the policy.
Most recovery trucks are pretty specialised. However, if you do use the vehicle for any other businesses activity (for example the motor trade), make sure that you inform your insurer so that they can add that to the permitted uses under the policy. As with mileage, you do not want to find yourself in a situation of not being able to claim on your recovery truck insurance due to misinformation on the application form.