Compare Business Insurance

Running a business comes with risks, including to your business and its income, your employees, and your customers. Business insurance is designed to help you manage those risks — a little like having safety procedures in place that everyone at your business follows.

There’s lots of types of business insurance out there. Some may not be as relevant for your business as others. In Australia, there are also some mandatory insurances you’ll need to operate legally, like Workers’ Compensation Insurance if you have any employees and Third Party Personal Injury Car Insurance if your business uses motor vehicles. 

Business insurance works in the same manner as other types of insurance. You pay your insurance provider a premium and if you need to make a claim they’ll cover you up to the agreed insured amount, subject to the terms and conditions of the policy. Sometimes you may also need to pay an excess.

Every business has its risks and business insurance aims to help manage them. Some types risks may be more likely for your business, while others may be less relevant.  This is why there’s a few different options when it comes to business insurance.  

Business insurance can include but are not limited to: 

• Public Liability insurance: This could protect you and your business if your negligence (intentional or not) injures a third party or damages their property, like someone slipping from a spill in your restaurant.
• Professional Indemnity insurance: If your professional advice isn’t quite up to scratch, this insurance could help cover legal defence costs for yourself and the third party, along with any further costs you may need to pay.
• Cyber Liability insurance: Data can be a tempting target for cybercrime, but Cyber Liability insurance may help cover the costs from data breaches, investigations and data restoration, keeping customers in the loop and paying regulated penalties.
• Management Liability Insurance: If a higher up is accused of an unfair dismissal, OH&S dramas and other management claims resulting in losses for individuals and/or the business, this cover could help you pick up the pieces.
• Personal Accident and Illness Insurance: When you don’t have access to Workers’ Compensation, Personal Accident and Illness Insurance could help maintain your income if you can’t work because of an accident or illness.
• Product Liability Insurance: If your goods — even those you just repair or service — hurt someone or damage something, Product Liability Insurance could help cover the ensuing costs. 

You can learn about even more types of business insurance through the Australian Government’s dedicated Business website.  

While you may be looking at a particular type of business insurance, it may bear keeping in mind that policies can vary between providers. What may be covered by one policy may be excluded in another. Checking the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) could give you an idea about your coverage under a policy. 

Your business insurance premium is based on a range of factors that aim to put a number on the risk your business faces — essentially, how likely you are to make a claim. This can mean that two all-but-identical businesses in Australia could pay very different premium amounts.

When coming to the final figure, your insurer may consider:

• Your business’ industry’
• Your business’ location
• How many employees you have
• How much your business is making
• Your coverage, including extras
• Your excess
• Your claims history

Whether your business is thriving or just surviving, getting a regular bill for business insurance could leave you gritting your teeth. However, it could be worth its weight in gold for you if things go wrong.

At its heart, business insurance is there to minimise risk. Depending on the incident and insurance, this could take many forms, like:

• Cover for third-party injuries or property damage claims (Public Liability Insurance)
• Protection from alleged or actual mismanagement and misconduct from directors and other management (Management Liability Insurance)
• Legal cost cover if you omit, make a mistake or are otherwise professionally negligent when giving advice or providing a service, like auditing (Professional Indemnity Insurance)
• Handling personal injury, property damage and other loss claims if one of your products didn’t work as it should (Product Liability Insurance)
• Paying government-regulated penalties if private data is lost in a cyber security breach (Cyber Liability Insurance) 

Of course, exactly what you’re covered for will depend on the type of business insurance you choose, along with the individual policy. You could check the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) to see what limits and exclusions apply.

Some risks could be small, but it doesn’t mean they are not important, like an employee being minorly injured or a temporary supply shortage. This could mean a dip in profit or pause in production. However, risks can also be extreme, like the death of an employee or person who has used your product. These kinds of risks could lead to large financial losses and even your business closing its doors for good.

While business insurance can’t stop these incidents from happening, it could, at least, take some of the sting out of the risk by giving you some financial help to keep the lights on and do better tomorrow.

If you’d like to get business insurance, there’s a few steps you could follow.

1. Consider your business’ risks: These could be large or small, very likely or not all that likely. Ideally, you’ll find business insurance that gives you peace of mind if something were to happen. 
2. Check what’s mandatory: Depending on your industry and business activities, you may need to get certain types of business insurance to legally operate. 
3. Compare policies: With a clear picture in mind of what you’re after, you could make a more informed decision about which policies you’d like to take out.  

If you’re ready for step three (or need to come back after a little homework) iSelect, with the help of Bizcover, is ready too. You can compare a range of policies from a number of different providers conveniently online.*

To be able to purchase business insurance for your small business and to keep any existing policies valid, you may need to meet certain requirements. This could be as simple as regularly servicing any machinery or having smoke alarms fitted throughout the building. You might like to speak with the insurer and flick through the policy wording or Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) to see what’s required for a particular policy.

Additionally, once you have your business insurance, you may want to make a note to review it annually. This gives you a chance to update it if your circumstances change, particularly before renewal time comes around. It’s also an opportunity to check if anything needs to be changed at your business to keep the policy valid.

If you’re dealing with the public, Public Liability insurance may be a good idea — it may even be mandatory for your business. After all, it’s made to give you and your business cover in the event that a third party makes a claim against you, because of an injury or property damage as a result of your business activities.

With Public Liability Insurance, a successful claim could mean, for instance, your insurer pays out compensation money for the third party, rather than you. While appropriate risk management processes are important, the addition of Public Liability Insurance could give you a little bit more peace of mind.  

You may also need to get Public Liability insurance in the course of some partnerships, like having it to hold a stall at an upcoming expo or market. 

If you need to make a claim against your business insurance, or just want to know the steps in case, it’s pretty straightforward.

Like most insurance claims, it’s a good idea to start with getting your details and evidence ready. This could be photos and videos of what has happened, notes about the incident, and relevant computer records. As part of this, you might need to also report the incident to the police and/or the relevant industry authorities.

If you can explain what happened, when it happened, how it happened and how it will affect your business, you could be ready for the next step.

To get your claim moving, try getting in touch with your insurance provider. They may let you know if you need to submit anything else, along with whether your claim is successful or not.