10 How to get professional indemnity insurance

Getting quotes for home and car insurance online has been a growing trend for a good number of years now.

A recent newcomer to the world of online quoting is business insurance, and specifically professional indemnity and public liability insurance.

There are various ways in which the internet is used for quoting business insurance, and in this guide we’ll take a look at the various options and what you should know about them.

Online Quotes

For many years the standard practice for business insurance was to speak with an insurance broker.

Whilst this is still a very popular option (and possibly the most popular option) many business owners are now going online to sort out their insurance needs.

There are three main ways in which business insurance websites typically work. There are those which are simply enquiry websites, those which have added functionality to provide instant quotes, and those that can complete the entire transaction online.

Each different option has its own set of advantages and disadvantages, and below we’ll take a closer look at each of them.

Option 1 – Online Enquiries

This is the most common option, and certainly the easiest for any insurance brokerage or lead generation company to create.

These websites work by collecting your information and then passing it onto a broker for review.

Advantages

The main advantage of this method is that your information will be reviewed by a qualified broker (although you should always check their qualifications) who will then assess your situation and obtain quotes from various insurers.

This is a major advantage over some of the instant quoting systems which may only utilise a small number of insurers, or even a single insurer to make the quoting process easier for them.

Disadvantages

People going online for their public liability insurance quotes are often looking for an instant quote, however because this style of quoting requires work by humans the quotes can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days.

Option 2 – Online Quoting

This type of websites takes the leap from simply collecting details to actually using those details to generate an instant quotation on your business insurance.

The website will ask a range of questions about you and your business, and provided that you meet the criteria it will then provide you with an instant quote on the requested cover.

If you are happy with the quote you can then contact the insurance company to proceed, and a broker or adviser will help you with the process.

Advantages

Speed and convenience is the big advantages for instant quoting websites. Instead of having to wait for a person to process your request, the website will generate the quote for you within seconds.

Disadvantages

A disadvantage of these sites may be that they can only provide instant quotes for the ‘easy’ businesses. If your business activities are slightly outside of the norm, the website may not be able to provide an accurate quote.

Option 3 – Fully Automated Cover

There are now a small (but growing) number of websites which can bypass human interaction entirely.

In addition to providing you with an instant quote, these websites also allows you to go ahead with the cover immediately and receive your insurance documents within minutes.

Advantages

If you need to get your cover in hurry, it is difficult to beat these fully automated websites. If you want to get covered at 3am on a Saturday morning, you can do it without having to worry about business hours.

Many people do not like dealing with an insurance broker or other similar professionals, so this system allows them to get the cover they need without having to speak with anyone.

Disadvantages

This structure has many of the same disadvantages of option 2 (online quoting) however these risks are magnified due to the complete lack of involvement of a broker or other insurance professional.

When you go ahead with a policy entirely online it is your own responsibility to ensure that you have done everything correctly. There is no one there to check your answers and ensure that you have the right cover for your needs.