Vehicle Conversion Specialists Insurance
Specialist Insurance for Vehicle Converters
Vehicle Conversion Specialists Insurance
As a vehicle conversion specialist you are involved in multi-disciplined trade activities, whilst dealing with vehicles of all sizes and orientations you have to be engineers, fabricators, potentially carpenters, and fibre glass specialists. Whether your business specialises in box vans, horseboxes, concrete mixers, motor homes or campervan conversions or even ice cream vans or you are a broad spectrum vehicle conversion specialist insurance is the main contributor to your business protections.
At Real Insurance Group we are specialist in the Automotive Sector and have been for many years, businesses in this industry need specialist insurance as well as advice to go with it, it can be complex and with many covers that cross both vehicle and driver use as well as the interconnecting covers for business premises you need to deal with a broker that understands not only the complex nature of the covers that are provided but the activities that go into converting vehicles.
Why do you need a Vehicle Conversion Specialists Insurance Policy?
With so many insurance products on the market, it can be difficult to understand what covers are provided, where, and how they work in relation to your business requirements. A basic policy designed for the garage trade is unlikely to provide the wide range of covers required by a vehicle conversion specialist, insurance on a wider basis could therefore be required.
An insurance policy for vehicle conversions can be made up of multiple parts, one of the key areas is Public & Products liability insurance, this protects you against allegations of negligence and by the very nature of dealing with vehicles can have their own specific issues, as an example, defective workmanship insurance providing cover for damage to vehicles whilst you are working on them.
As a vehicle conversion specialist, you will likely have premises, property insurance is essential, likewise, all the specialist machinery and plant need to be covered protecting your assets against many perils such as fire, storm, and theft.
What type of cover is provided on a Vehicle Conversion Specialists policy?
One of the main key areas of any insurance policy is Liability insurance and a vehicle conversion specialist is no different in their requirements.
Public Liability protects you against allegations of negligence from a third party, as an example, your customer comes to your premises and falls over a pallet, the cover provided with not only pay the legal and defence costs but any compensation payments that may be awarded against the business up to the indemnity limit.
Converting vehicles may mean that you manufacture your own products that may not be available off the shelf, this means that Product Liability Insurance is required. Product Liability works very similar to public liability but is where your product causes, loss, damage, or injury to a third party.
There are many other covers available, defective workmanship insurance, merchantable quality, financial loss, covers to protect your business.
What amount of Liability cover do I need?
Liability insurance provides cover up to an indemnity limit, this is the maximum an insurer will pay in the event of a loss and includes any legal or compensation costs awarded against your business.
Indemnity limits vary, there can be minimum requirements or the nice to have. Whilst many policies provide a standard cover of £2million or £5million, higher limits are available, £10million as an example. Its always a good idea to consider what the potential exposure might be rather than just accepting the policy limit, we can discuss this with you.
Is Public Liability or Products Liability Insurance compulsory for vehicle conversion specialists?
Put simply, no but any business without it would be exposing themselves to potential financial ruin should they be without it.
Does a business need to have Employers Liability Insurance?
In almost all circumstances, yes, Employers Liability insurance is a legal requirement where you have people carrying out work for you under your instruction, these are likely to be directly employed or could be self-employed or even voluntary.
Does a Vehicle Conversion specialists Insurance Policy cover my business for driving on the road?
By the very nature of a vehicle conversion business, insurance for driving on the road is an essential part of everyday business life, collection or delivery of your customer’s vehicles, test driving a recently completed project, or just having company-owned vehicles for everyday use.
Drivers, Vehicle Ownership, Use, Loan Vehicles, Trade Plates all need to be understood by your broker, no policy is any driver, any vehicle for any use so limitations to policies are where a specialist automotive sector broker like Real Insurance comes in.
What property insurance is available for a Vehicle Conversion specialist?
Liability and cover for vehicles when used on the road are just part of the specialist nature of your insurance requirements.
Having business premises means the building you work from needs insurance if you own it or if it is a requirement that you insure it under your lease.
Making sure you have sufficient cover in place is a large part of how your business insurance works and responds in the event of a claim, whether that cover is correct though is a different matter. Are the buildings that you work from owned, when was the last time you checked the rebuild cost was adequate? If you are a tenant, have you spent money on the buildings that aren’t yours, what would happen in the event of a claim, who would pay for the improvements that you have done?
Plant & Machinery can be a huge cost, ramps, particularly those designed to take much heavier vehicles, hand tools without them can make life difficult.
Vehicle conversion specialists can have very high vehicle values, maybe into the hundreds of thousands of pounds, who owns them, you, your customer, a dealer, these need to be fully understood to ensure that the cover provided flows correctly.
Can you stay in business even if you are not operational?
Business insurance policies have the option to include business interruption insurance, this cover intends to keep your business in business should you suffer a material loss at your premises, sometimes a large loss can mean that a business doesn’t restart.
Covering your overheads and essential outgoings, business interruption is designed to put you back in the position directly before the loss occurred. This can be many months or years so the period chosen must reflect the length of time (indemnity period) to get your business back on its feet.
An indemnity limit has a minimum is 12 months, we recommend a minimum of 24 months or 36 months. For a vehicle conversion business, this would be based on your Gross Profit.
It’s essential that this cover is correct, speak to us about this cover for your business, whilst we can’t tell you the amount to insure for we can assist you in arriving at the figure.
What type of business would a Vehicle Conversion Specialists insurance policy suit?
Whether you are specific to one type of vehicle conversion or you cover a wider market such as beavertails for vehicle or plant transport, curtain sided vehicles or trailers, truck bodies, refrigerated vehicles or specialist bespoke conversions or indeed those ice cream vans.
The domestic end of the market, motor home conversion insurance or camper van insurance is essential, not just modifications to the body to add additional windows but fully litting out including gas appliances.
Can my business be protected with other types of insurance cover?
Goods in Transit – getting goods or vehicles from one place to the next requires cover, a business in the automotive sector could be carrying parts so protecting them whilst in transit against theft or damage is a must.
Commercial Legal Expenses Insurance – sometimes an insurance policy includes this useful cover, it this provides a wide spectrum of cover such as Property Disputes, Employment Disputes, HMRC disputes cover, Contract Disputes.
These policies can provide a lot of useful covers, free business templates, and documents as well as legal and employment helplines.
Directors & Officers Liability Insurance – A limited company has limited liabilities a director of a company has unlimited liability. A management Risks insurance policy including Directors & Officers Liability cover can protect the director’s personal assets in the event of a claim against them.
Employment Practices – Provides legal defence in the event of an action taken by an employee of the company, an option under a Management Risks policy.
Cyber Insurance Cover – It’s estimated that 60% of businesses have succumbed to some sort of cyber-attack each year and that number is mounting, Many different policies are available providing a wide range of protections.
Engineering Inspection – An optional service we can arrange, the statutory inspections on lifted, pressure equipment, as well as extraction plant such as spray booths. It’s a legal requirement to have inspections to ensure they are not dangerous. We can include this service with your insurer or with one of the many companies that we deal with.
Why insure your Vehicle Conversion business with Real Insurance Group?
As a vehicle conversion specialist, you need to have the correct insurance coverage in force, these areas can at times be quite complex, particularly in larger businesses, this is where Real Insurance comes in.
We are specialists in the automotive sector so we know your business insurance requirements, the sector can be complex, each business is different and needs to be fully understood by your broker.
Being specialist commercial brokers we have the necessary, knowledge and experience to provide a responsive program of covers. Speak to us about your requirements, you will be dealing with a member of the team that has many years’ experience, we don’t sit behind screens, we are not a call center and we will give advice.
Call us today on 0330 058 0260
