Getting the right kind of Insurance for your

House Buildings and Contents as a photographer

aaduki

It can be difficult looking for the right kind of insurance for your home and contents as there seem to be so many insurance companies in the frame nowadays all competing for the right to do business with you. So how do the little “brokers” keep going when they are up against the multinationals that are able to discount deeply to offer you the “best deal”? Simple, they know how to treat you as a client and they know the cover you need…

Getting the right cover for you
With so many different insurance companies in the market and a plethora of different options to choose from, it is important the cover you select is all you require. The important things to consider is does it include the right kind of rebuilding costs for you? Do you have adequate contents cover? What about personal possessions? Cycles? Money? Do you have business visitors or a studio in the garden?

It is important that you discuss your cover with the Insurance Provider. All to often they direct you through to a website where you put in a few details and they offer you a quotation. But do they really know what you do? Do they understand the work of a photographer? The danger can be if they do not, they later rely on the “small print” to potentially deny a claim – isn’t it better getting it right from the beginning with a company that you can have a friendly chat with and make sure all your needs are covered?

Rebuild Costs
A lot of companies now offer a standard rebuild cost of ½ or even £1 million pounds, but the reality is you will never get this value if your house had to be rebuilt. Different Insurers take an “average” rebuild cost across the country and then apply this but quote these inflated figures, sometimes so it seems like you are receiving something for nothing and other times to ensure that you have the cover should the worse happen. It can therefore be better sometimes if you actually know the rebuild value of your home. Sites like www.abi.org.uk can help with advice on this or an easy way to find out is to go to www.calculator.bcis.co.uk answer a few simple questions and they should give you an accurate rebuilding figure! This will help when it comes to tracking the best cover for you. Please remember though – the value of your home to sell has no bearing on how much it would cost to rebuild – after all, you would already own the land if the worst was to happen. Accidental Damage is always worth adding – just in case you put your foot through the ceiling when in the loft or break the bath! It usually is fairly inexpensive to add this cover on.

Contents Cover
Many Insurers now use a “bedroom rated policy” where, depending on how many bedrooms you have, they quote based on that. A good rule of thumb is to make sure your contents cover is £10,000 per bedroom plus £5,000, and a minimum of £20,000 overall. For example, if you live in a 3 bedroom semi-detached property – the minimum sum insured should be £35,000. Obviously, this does depend in part on what you own so you should never just accept a blanket cover – if you have expensive items or collections you need to list them to ensure they are covered. You can also add Accidental Damage onto Contents as well but should be aware that this is more expensive as there is a bigger risk of you breaking something.

Personal Possessions
Many people are confused as to what personal possessions are. Traditionally, they are regarded as the items that you own which you may have out of the home with you on a fairly regular basis. These will almost certainly include jewellery, furs, expensive pictures or paintings, watches and laptop computers / hand held games consoles along with other items that you may take away on holiday with you. It is very important that you cover yourself to include these – after all, if someone was to mug you and steal items including your wallet from you, you would want recourse to claim it back!
A good idea is to have a minimum sum insured for personal possessions. Many Insurers will not accept a figure below £1,000 so £1,500 is probably a good starting point. This figure will vary dependant on what you own and what leaves the home with you.

The “included” extras
Most policies will include a certain level of cover for money, credit cards and the contents of your deep freezer. It is important to have this cover and it usually does not cost anything so be wary of any insurance product that does not include ALL of this as standard. Public Liability is very important for you. This should be a minimum of £1 million to cover people just tripping over your doormat or, if you have a cleaner, to cover anything that could happen to them whilst they are working in your home. DO NOT accept a household policy that does not include this as standard.

Bicycles
These can be quite expensive to insure so make sure you have the right replacement cost for them. Some Insurers will only offer “second hand” or market value cover on these, so check what the cover is first! There is no point insuring a £1,000 cycle for £1,000 if it is a market value policy – you will never get the money back! In these cases, specialist policies might be the answer. Make sure you also check the security arrangement clauses for when your bicycle is in use. After all, the last thing you want to happen is for the cycle to be stolen and then to find the claim is denied on the basis it wasn’t locked to an “immovable object”.

Getting the right kind of Cover for you
This is very important. Does the Insurer know you’re a photographer that earns an income? Do they know you could have clients visiting your home and you may hold their property on a temporary basis? Do they know you work from a “shed” or purpose built studio in the garden? This is where the mass market of Home Insurance Providers will suddenly increase the premium, add clauses to your policy or just refuse to insure you!

Adding your camera equipment to a household policy
This is something we can do but we recommend this only for amateurs as professionals, part time or full time, will need the Public Liability cover and Professional Indemnity cover that is simply not available on a household policy. You should be aware as well, with computers if you use a laptop or pc and more than 10% of its use is for business purposes, then it should be insured for business use.

The other important point with adding equipment onto household policies are Household Insurance Providers are not set up in the way Specialist Providers are to deal with claims. Whilst it is perfectly possible to get a claim agreed with Photographic Insurance Providers quickly, to ensure that you can continue to work the average Household Insurance Provider may take up to 6 weeks to settle a claim! This is absolutely no good if you earn an income with your equipment so in these cases, a specialist policy, whilst being slightly more expensive, is a worthwhile investment.

The Aaduki Household Product
This is where we come in! We have a panel of household insurers that understand what you do and how you earn an income – even if you’re a hobbyist or a part time professional. We can arrange a tailor made household policy for you that will compliment the photographic policy you have or even, in some cases, add the camera equipment on.

The Garden Studio or Home Office
Many Insurers get very worried when you start to talk about a garden studio to them. They imagine a shed from B&Q with lots of expensive equipment in it and wires trailing everywhere – not the prefabricated professionally installed buildings that are around today. Aaduki recognise this and our Insurers know what these are and are happy to include cover for them in your policy. Similarly, if you have an office at home that you work from covering administrative work, we can help there too.

Cover offered by us
We are very careful to ensure that the cover we offer you is exactly what you need. That is why we use a specially selected panel of Insurers that know what being a photographer is all about. They understand the potential risks that you may encounter on your way through your professional life, and they are keen to have your business.

Just before the mad rush to Easter starts and the new wedding bookings come in for this year just review what you have covered and if you feel it is not what you want then give us a call and we will see if we can help out.

Remember, it is more than just a place of work – it is your home too.

Nik Stewert

Call us on 01837 658880 for more advice or if you have a specific question.

www.aaduki.com

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