Willis Commercial Network Offer BPF Members Advice on Conducting an Insurance Review

In the difficult economic climate that is 2009/10 you may be shocked to find that the premium on your insurance renewal is higher than previous years. The insurance market is showing signs of hardening so your existing insurer may well be looking to increase the price they charge you. All just as you are looking to cut costs!

The antidote to this is to conduct a thorough review of your existing arrangements. It takes time for a good broker to scour the market on your behalf so you should start this process at least three months prior to renewal. The natural reaction is to include all the brokers that have promised to save you money over the past few years. In reality, this is a bad idea as it effectively closes down the market as all the insurers are presented with the same risk over and over again. The best-case scenario is to pit your existing broker against one other in a silent or open review.

A silent exercise would involve you inviting a competing broker to asses your risk without the knowledge of your existing broker and insurer. This broker will then make their own assessment of your risk and present it to all the relevant insurers barring your current insurer. If you have been with your existing broker and insurer for a number of years, you may find this experience very enlightening.

Alternatively, you could just tell your existing broker that they are under review this time round and watch as your brokers work hard to secure your business. It is very important that your competing broker has access to a wide range of reputable insurers. This way the insurers who are keen to quote for your business get the opportunity to do so. Ultimately, you get to make an informed decision based on price, breadth of cover and service.

Willis Commercial Network are Business Support Network Members and insurance experts.

For more information on Willis Commercial Network please go to https://www.bpf.co.uk/BSN/Commercial/Willis_Commercial_Network.aspx