We all know that feeling. It feels like last week that you renewed your professional indemnity (PI) insurance, and you’re already receiving your next renewal reminder.
There’s no denying it. Renewals can be tricky. Especially if there’ve been some big changes to your business over the last year.
There’s also the question of whether you shop around or stick with your current insurer. Or change your cover. Or increase your amount of cover. Or…you get the idea.
Sometimes, you just need a bit of a helping hand. Here are our top tips for renewing your professional indemnity insurance. Hopefully, they’ll make it a bit less daunting.
1. Give yourself time
We all know someone at school who left their homework to the last minute. Without fail, it’d be a disaster because they hadn’t given themselves enough time.
The same is true when it comes to your professional indemnity insurance renewal. Leaving it until the last week or two will just make the job more stressful. And increase your chances of making a mistake.
The last thing you want is to rush it, buy the wrong cover, and end up not properly insured.
Give yourself ample time to do everything you need to do. Calling your insurance broker, taking a look at your current policy, collecting any documentation you need...
For most businesses, around a month should be plenty of time. But if you’re a larger business, or have complex PI insurance requirements, you’ll want to start preparing a bit earlier.
2. Pick up the phone
When you’re ready to start discussing your PI renewal, the best thing to do is call your insurance broker.
They’ll be able to talk you through it, step by step. As well as answer any questions you have along the way.
Having an expert there to let you know exactly what to do can take a lot of stress out the process.
On top of going through your current policy with you, they’ll make sure you’re not missing any changes to your business that might affect your cover.
This will help you avoid being underinsured. And make sure you have the right professional indemnity cover for your business.
3. Make note of any changes
Chances are, your business will have changed in some way over the past year.
Almost any changes have the potential to impact your professional indemnity insurance. Especially if they increase the risk of you needing to claim.
It’s vital that you let your broker know about anything that’s changed. If you don’t, it could leave you high and dry if you have to claim. Or even invalidate your insurance.
But, what are kind of changes are we talking about? Here are some examples:
- The nature of your business – have you started offering any new services or products?
- Number of employees – has your business grown or shrunk in terms of headcount?
- Locations – have you opened any new locations or closed old ones?
- Claims – have you made any claims on your PI insurance this year? Or are you aware of any potential claims that could crop up over the next year?
- Turnover – has your business’ turnover increased or decreased?
These are the kinds of things your broker will ask you. It’s important that you’re open and honest when answering. Not disclosing something could invalidate your insurance.
To make things easier, consider any changes made over the last year before you call your broker.
4. Consider your cover
Your insurance renewal is the perfect time to think about the kind of professional indemnity cover you need. And the amount of cover you have.
After discussing your circumstances, your broker will make recommendations on whether you should increase or decrease your cover amount.
If you’re offering new services, or your business has changed in another way, you might also want to think about adding to your cover.
Let’s say you’ve just opened an online store to sell some new products. You might think about adding cyber insurance, so you’re covered if you’re hit by a cyber-attack.
5. Thinking about closing shop?
Has your business closed in the last year? Or are you thinking about closing it soon?
You’ll want to consider run-off cover.
It’s a type of professional indemnity insurance that protects you if a claim for past work catches up with you, after your business has shut up shop.
Similar to other changes, renewal is a great time to think about this. Especially if you’ve already closed or are thinking of closing soon.
Mastering your professional indemnity insurance renewal
Hopefully these tips make your next professional indemnity insurance renewal a bit smoother. Remember, the sooner you make a start on your renewal, the easier it’ll be.
Leave it too late and you’ll be setting yourself up for a stressful and time-consuming couple of weeks. Not to mention, you stand a better chance of getting a great deal if you give yourself a bit of extra time.
Is your professional indemnity insurance renewal coming up soon? Give us a call on 0345 222 5391. We’ll be happy to walk you through everything you need to know, and answer any questions you might have.
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