7 September 2009
Business insurance for the contractor
Posted by articleranks under: Money .
If you have ever been self-employed you have at some time considered the need for insurance of some form or another. As a self-employed worker, I once thought that my home insurance cover was more than enough. The policy would have proved me wrong, so it was fortunate that I never had to depend on it in a real situation.
Office insurance cover is an absolute must, if you want to stay in business indefinitely. You can gain credibility with customers, as it gives the impression that everyone is on the same level. It certainly is not the case of one rule ‘them’ and a different rule for everyone else. The law sees you as no different to the large corporate establishments employing 50,000 people.
Within the IT sector, most contractors have to be correctly insured by law. Even if you are a sole trader, you would have to set up a limited company. With this limited status, comes a need for special limited liability insurance, which has two clearly distinct areas to consider:
1. General liability: covers all damage that you may cause whilst on the employer’s premises, extending to injury or damage to a member of the public.
2. Professional liabilty: This is the part that covers any errors and omissions arising during the entirety of the contract. An industry-specific example might be cover for litigation as a result of forgetting to licence a picture from an online library.
You will need a different insurance cover, if you make a living using a van. Specific business van insurance is available and is tailored towards the insurance of the precious cargo contained within. Some of the benefits that you should expect are:
1. 24hr recovery: Insurance to cover breakdown and recovery for a twenty four hour period of time.
2. Vehicle replacement: covers the replacement of your vehicle should it be involved in an accident.
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