As a business owner, it can be tempting to seek short cuts to find your best-fit insurance cover. The internet offers you an overwhelming range of options, but it can be tricky to work out the right cover to suit your business needs (and cheaper is not always the best).
You could have then taken out a policy because it was quick and ticked most of your boxes. Maybe the impact of Covid-19 has belatedly made you examine the fine print with a magnifying glass.
For example, did you check the independence of a comparison website? Social proof might have weighed on your decision-making too, rather than your usual due diligence.
Spoilt for choice
With millions of individual insurance policies offered through multiple brands and distribution channels across Australia, insurance brokers are a valuable guide to help businesses determine which policy offers the best fit for their needs.
It can be hard work finding the right policy. A quarter of sole traders have no insurance, according to an Industry Council of Australia report. One in 10 businesses underinsure their business assets, saying:
• “I can’t afford to pay more for insurance”
• “Premiums are too high” or
• “You can never be adequately insured.”
Maybe you’ve thought or said the same about your own business?
DIY insurance cover is not your best bet
Businesses need to protect their assets, customers, employees, owners, and earnings. There’s plenty more that companies might need to insure, including compulsory coverages.
If you’ve gone for the Google quick-fix option, you could be paying higher premiums after an initial honeymoon period. Chances are you’ll need to renegotiate with an insurer for a better rate or elect to take a higher excess to reduce your premiums. That will need to be repeated for each of your policies.
Would it make better business sense to deal with the same person for all your business insurance policies? Someone who’ll guide you when your policy needs reviewing, provide regular updates and take the stress out of insurance for you.
This is where JMD Ross comes in. Insurance brokers manage more than 90% of commercial insurance transactions in Australia.
What insurance brokers do
As insurance brokers, it’s our business to navigate the information tsunami. JMD Ross offers professional advice with expertise in insurance and risk management. Our aim is to scaffold business growth and support you in selecting your best-fit insurance cover. Once you’ve purchased the policy, we keep tabs on it, your circumstances, and how it relates to you.
We drill down into insurance products and policies for insights into finer details such as the:
• Policy terms and conditions
• Benefits (also known as optional inclusions)
• Exclusions (these are critically important to ensure you don’t have nasty surprises when you need to make a claim)
• Costs of a diverse range of competing insurance policies, and
• Validity of the insurance cover when there are changes in the business.
We advocate for you when making a claim, seeing that process through and enabling you to focus on running your business.
A licence to broker
To become a broker, we undertaken training and must successfully apply to the Australian Securities & Investments Commission to secure an Australian financial services licence. (Here’s how you can check if a broker is licensed.) We can also do this work as a representative of a licence holder.
This licence compels insurance brokers to provide “efficient, honest and fair financial services” and to comply with the Corporations Act 2001. We must also follow the Insurance Brokers’ Code of Practice.
Safety (and savings) in numbers
Licencing, laws, and the code of practice give brokers’ clients great peace of mind.
Once we’ve discussed your insurance needs and risk management issues with you, we could suggest bundling policies together to offer you savings. But, if you prefer to spread your policies among different insurers, you’ll still do well to use a broker.
In fact, that process helps pre-qualify you for a policy in the eyes of an insurer. They see you as a lower risk because you’ve taken on board your broker’s expert advice. That’s why brokers can access better rates for their clients than if a business dealt directly with an insurer.
Having a broker like JMD Ross on your side helps make you more savvy about risk management in your business. It’s a proven way to ensure you have sufficient cover for your risk exposure, leaving you to get on with what you do best – running your business.