Protect Your Business with Comprehensive Insurance

Business Insurance Packages consist of various types of cover depending on your business' individual needs. This can save you time and money rather than juggling multiple policies due throughout the year.

If cash flow is an issue we can also assist you with Premium Funding.

Business Insurance Packages can include:

• Physical Assets including theft, money, glass, fire & perils, machinery & equipment, general property and goods in transit

• Public & Products Liability

• Commercial Vehicle

• Business Interruption

• Fidelity (Employee fraud/dishonesty)

Public and Products Liability Insurance is vital for any business owner. It covers compensation and legal expenses that you are legally liable to pay in the event of:

• Third-Party bodily injury

• Property damage; and

• Issues relating to products manufactured, imported, or sold arising from your business activities (if relevant)

This type of cover can have many different variations depending on your business' specific needs.

• Event Liability can be obtained as an annual or one-off policy and is often used for events such as market stalls, fairs, trade shows, club activities, business shows, and exhibitions. Cover can include public liability and cancellation fees you may incur.

• Theft / Burglary covers your business for contents and/or stock lost due to as a result of theft following forcible and /or violent entry. Extra costs such as the cost of replacing locks & keys can also be insured.

• Money Cover ensures cash, cheques and negotiable instruments are insured against theft whilst on site at your business, in transit or at your private residence.

• Glass covers the replacement of fixed internal and external glass and signs.

• Fire & Perils provides cover to building, contents and stock, for physical damage including fire, storm, water and option flood and accidental damage

• Machinery / Electronic Equipment Breakdown covers the cost to repair equipment after mechanical or electrical breakdown. Stock may also be insured for example when stock in cold storage is ruined following machinery breakdown.

• General Property (Australia Wide Coverage) covers loss or damage to property taken off site. For example fire & perils or theft from vehicles or premises of items such as mobile phones, laptops and tools of trade

• Goods In Transit covers stock in transit (road, rail, sea or air) between suppliers, your business premises and your customer's premises.

If you are a tenant in your business premises it’s important to check your lease and ensure you hold the correct insurances. Your landlord/real estate agent will often ask for certificates of currency prior to finalising a lease so it’s important to get these insurances sorted as soon as you can.

Business Interruption cover can easily be overlooked by business owners, who focus on insuring against physical damage/loss. Whilst stock and contents can be replaced, without Business Interruption cover, you can be left out of pocket while you are unable to generate income or due to the extra costs you incur getting your business back on track.

Have a think about if your business experienced a major, unexpected disruption such as fire, flood, storm or issues with a major supplier. How long would it take you to get back up and running again? Especially in the current climate where major delays are continuing to impact construction and maintenance/repairs. How much money would you potentially lose during this time? Many businesses still need to cover expenses such as rent or loan repayments, staff wages and supplier invoices, regardless of whether they’re open and operating.

Business Interruption insurance can include:

• Loss of income / Loss of Profits. This covers the loss of gross profits or income that you would have received, but are unable to because of damage to fixed assets (with a fire & perils or theft claim). For example, if a shop has a fire, the fire claim would cover the cost to replace the goods at wholesale price while a loss of profits claim would cover the profits the business would have made if they had been able to be open and selling goods.

• Fixed Costs: Cover for operating expenses and other costs (based on historical costs) that continue to be incurred by the property during the closure

• Temporary Location: Covers the extra expenses incurred for moving to and operating from a temporary location

• Additional / Increased Cost of Working covers the (reasonable) increased costs beyond fixed costs that allow you to continue operating, for example marketing materials or temporary staff.

• Civil authority ingress/egress: Government-mandated closure of business premises that directly causes a loss of revenue such as street closures.

Just like personal car insurance, it is essential to have the right insurance for your commercial vehicles. It is important to be aware that personal car insurance policies may not cover you for damage to third party property or your own vehicle if you’re using your vehicle for business purposes.

Commercial Motor Insurance can cover cars, utes, vans, trucks, forklifts, trailers and specialised vehicles. It can be a stand alone policy which can allow multiple vehicles to be added under the one policy (check policy limits) rather than juggling multiple policies, or it may be able to be included as part of your business insurance package.

Commercial Fleet Insurance will have a minimum number of vehicles (often 15+) that can be covered under the policy and can often include instant cover of vehicles that meet certain requirements. Fleet premiums are often highly discounted (depending on claims history) and can include various additional covers or increased benefits including:

• Employee Equipment

• Business Owned Tools

• Driver Personal Property

• Novated leases and finance payout

• New vehicle replacement (often limited to vehicles up to 2 years old)

• Increased legal liability (e.g. $30million instead of $20million)

• Higher keys and locks limits

• Towing & car hire

• Detailed Reports on claims

Corporate travel insurance can help cover out of pocket expenses for your business and employees if something goes wrong with business travel. Corporate travel insurance is similar to personal travel insurance and can cover directors, employees and spouses/dependents travelling with them.

It can cover financial loss from business travel due to:

• Overseas health emergencies

• Life and disablmenent cover

• Flight cancellations and missed connections

• Lost or stolen luggage

• Rental car excess

• Personal liability

• Cost of replacing an employee: covers the cost of having to employ new staff to replace an employee who has been injured or has become seriously ill during work travel

We can also assist with ensuring leisure travel is covered when it is added on to the beginning or end of a business trip.

It’s easy to make mistakes – we all do. But mistakes can be costly in businesses.

Professional Indemnity can help you protect both financial costs and reputational risks associated with business mistakes.

Professional Indemnity Insurance is mandatory in some industries including medicine, accounting, law and financial advisors. However, it’s also recommended for anyone who is providing professional services or advice in exchange for payment. If you’re unsure whether you could need Professional Indemnity Insurance have a chat to us about your job and we can provide tailored advice.

Professional Indemnity Insurance can include:

• Inquiry costs: covers the costs of defending an enquiry by a regulatory body into professional conduct

• Defence costs: Covers the costs involved in defending a claim

• Fidelity cover: Covers financial loss for the business caused by dishonest or fraudulent conduct of an employee (e.g. theft by an employee)

• Advancement of costs and expenses: additional costs and expenses that are incurred during a claim

When you’re running a business – as an owner or officer – you can be held personally liable for actual or alleged breaches of the Corporations Act – this includes Small and Medium Business owners and officers, not just large companies. This can result in loss of personal finances and assets and/or jail sentences.

Management Liability Insurance covers the cost of defending directors, managers and employees against claims that are a result of their actions or decisions.

Cover may include:

• Employment practice liability: Covers payouts for claims of employment breaches e.g. wrongful dismissal or bullying

• Directors’ & officers’ liability: protects Proprietary Limited Company’s past, present and future directors, officers and managers against claims of wrongful acts

• Crime: Claims for crimes such as employee or third party fraud (not all criminal activity is covered)

• Corporate liability: Covers investigation, defence and settlement costs for claims from external parties for wrongful conduct

• Statutory Liability: Covers defence, fines and penalties for claims under some statutes such as WHS

• Government Inquiry Costs: Covers you for the cost of representation at Government inquiries

• Defence costs: Covers legal costs if your business ends up in court when the underlying claim is covered by the policy

Cyber insurance is designed to protect your business from the financial impact of hacking or data breaches which are increasing in frequency and severity for businesses around the world.

If you have any kind of online footprint in your business you are at risk of cyber crime which can result in significant financial loss but also impact your intellectual property, compromise client/customer information and potentially damage your reputation.

We are often told by businesses that they don’t ‘need’ cyber insurance as they don’t operate their business online. However, their online footprint can include:

Operating a website and/or social media

• Email systems

• Online payments including Internet banking and account keeping (both to and from the business)

• Ordering supplies online

• Any kind of client/customer or business information held on a computer or online e.g. in cloud software

Cyber Insurance can include:

• Business Interruption losses: the financial loss you may suffer as a result of a cyber attack if you are unable to operate or need to limit operations

• Cyber extortion: this cover supports you if hackers are holding your systems or data ‘hostage’ including hiring negotiation experts, covering extortion demands and prevention of future threats

• Electronic data replacement: the cost of recovering or replacing your records and other business data

• Security and privacy liability: Damages (e.g. being sued by a third party whose data has been stolen by hackers) resulting from data breaches on your systems

• Defence costs: Funds the legal costs of defending claims

• Regulatory breach liability: Covers legal expenses and the costs of fines from government regulators for breaches of privacy and confidentiality legislation (even if these breaches were unintentional)

• Crisis Management expenses: Cover for the costs of managing a crisis caused by cyber hackers

• Notification and monitoring expenses: Cover for the costs of notifying customers of a security breach and monitoring their credit card details to prevent further attacks

Not for Profits and Associations can come in many different forms including community organisations, committees, special interest organisations and industry-specific bodies.

It’s essential that you have the right cover so you can continue to protect your vital work and employees and volunteers. Some Insurers will offer discounts for NFPs and Associations and there may be inclusions specific to your industry such as covering volunteers.

NFP and Associations cover can package multiple policies so you pay one premium rather than juggling multiple policies throughout the year. Cover often encompasses (link to relevant sections, some don’t have their own section):

• Physical Assets including building, contents, glass, theft, money and equipment breakdown

• Professional Indemnity

• Public & Products Liability

• Employment Practices liability (e.g. bullying/harassment)

• Directors and Officers liability (cover for committees, boards and executives)

• Statutory liability that provides cover for potential fines and penalties

• Workers Comp including cover for Volunteers

Strata Insurance protects the building, common areas or facilities of townhouses, units or apartments. The premiums are paid by the Owners Corporation (also known as Body Corporate or the Strata) which means individual owners do not need their own building policies.

Strata Insurance is compulsory in every state and territory, however, legislation will vary and this determines what the Owners Corporation is responsible for and what cover they require.

Strata insurance can cover:

• Building and common contents (Compulsory): Building and common content including equipment, furniture, carpets etc. in areas for which the Owners Corporation is responsible. This can include cover for loss of rent or alternative accommodation due to an event covered under the policy

• Public Liability (Compulsory): If people are injured on common property

• Options Covers including:

  • Personal accident for voluntary workers: Compensation for someone who is injured while carrying out voluntary works on behalf of the owners corporation

  • Office bearers liability: Covers a claim arising from wrongful acts by the office bearers

  • Fidelity guarantee: Covers loss arising from misappropriation of funds belonging to the owners corporation

  • Mechanical and electrical breakdown: Physical damage to machinery or electrical items caused by breakdown e.g. a lift or airconditioner breakdown

To assist with cash flow or budgeting, Premium Funding can be an option worth looking at to pay for your insurance.

Premium Funding allows you to group your insurance policies together and pay one regular payment throughout the year, rather than paying your premiums in lump sums.

Important things to know:

• Premium Funding is like a small, fixed-rate loan with terms and conditions set by the provider (not Strive Insurance)

• The provider will charge a small interest rate so it will cost you a little bit extra throughout the policy, however, this is usually tax deductible for businesses.

• Brokers can add an additional % commission to allow for their time in setting up the funding. This will be outlined in the quote you will be provided with (it may be listed as an admin fee). Strive Insurance chooses not to do this.

• Defaulting on payments will result in additional charges so you still need to make sure you have enough money in your account or update your broker with plenty of notice if you’re changing bank accounts

• You can often choose the frequency of repayments such as fortnightly or monthly

• Premium funding is provided by a third party – not your Broker and not the Insurance company