Insurance For A Business Courier

Are you a courier, making important deliveries to businesses?

As a business courier, finding the right policy at the right price is important, but why limit yourself to one insurer when there are so many specialists to compete for your business?

By filling in just one quick form, you could get quotes from some of the most experienced business courier insurancers in Britain.

Companies you get quotes from may include these top insurance providers:

As a business courier, you could be working in high-risk situations where an accident or error could have serious consequences. In addition to having an impact on your income and future career prospects, a single mishap could also result in you being held personally liable for any resulting costs. Therefore, it is essential that you understand what insurance policies are available to help protect you from potential risks.

Moreover, as the nature of your work may involve traveling with valuable documents and packages on a regular basis, it is imperative that you understand what insurance covers might be especially important for your particular situation.

Courier Insurance Basics

Before diving into a discussion of each of the specific insurance covers that are important for business couriers, it is important to first discuss some general concepts. Couriers, like other types of workers, may be offered employer-provided insurance cover. Whilst there are certain insurance policies that are commonly provided to couriers, there may be some situations in which the employer-provided policy is insufficient or inadequate. In such cases, the courier will need to purchase a supplemental insurance policy to help fill in the gaps.

The value of understanding the difference between an employer-provided policy versus a supplemental insurance policy is that you will know what risks and liabilities you are personally responsible for should your employer-provided policy fall short or fail to provide the necessary cover.

Vehicle insurance

Standard insurance policies can cover policy holders for driving to a single place of work, as well as the usual social, domestic and pleasure usage. Couriers, however, are likely to travel to many different destinations and so in order to remain covered by insurance they not only need a business vehicle insurance policy, but also cover known as 'hire and reward' insurance which is a legal necessity for when they are carrying goods (even if it is just a small parcel or briefcase of documents) that belong to other people, and which they get paid for delivering.

Courier 'goods in transit' insurance

Any time that you are transporting cargo, you need to be concerned about the potential for loss or damage. This is particularly true if you are carrying sensitive or high-value items. Goods in transit policies typically provide cover for loss or damage to the cargo itself as well as the costs associated with storage, re-delivery, and/or possible litigation.

More specifically, cargo insurance policies will typically pay for the following types of losses: -

• Loss or damage to the cargo itself - these insurance policies typically provide cover for the value of the lost or damaged goods.
• Re-delivery costs - your policy may provide cover for the cost of re-delivery of the cargo.
• Storage costs - these policies might provide cover for the cost of storing the goods whilst awaiting payment from a responsible party.

Personal accident or injury cover

Although accidents and injuries to couriers themselves are less likely to occur than losses or damage to the goods they carry, it is still important for business couriers to be prepared for these risks; they do happen, particularly to those carrying valuable or time sensitive goods, which may involve rushing a little too much for safety or, dare we say, activity by criminals.

Whilst liability insurance policies will generally provide cover for injuries to others, most of these policies will not provide protection for injuries to you. In such cases, you will need to either purchase a stand-alone bodily injury insurance policy or add this cover to your existing general liability insurance policy.

Courier injury insurance policies can provide cover for the cost of medical care, lost wages, and/or the cost of litigation resulting from an accident or injury.

Roadside assistance

One of your primary concerns is to minimize the risk of being involved in an accident. However, there are certain risks that you have little control over, such as vehicle breakdown, or accidents caused by other road users.

In such situations, you will want to have a roadside assistance policy that provides cover for the cost of towing, repair, and/or replacement of your vehicle, as quickly as possible, so that you can compete your delivery safely, with the minimum of delay.

Liability insurance

Business couriers are often likely to carry very important goods, with deliveries required within a certain time slot. Any failure to fulfill these requirements may have considerable financial implications, for which you might just be held liable.

In addition, any person in business should really consider public liability insurance (PLI). If anyone had an accident or suffered a loss as a result of your business or personal activities they could hold you liable. PLI is not usually very expensive but it could save you from some some very costly claims if the worst happened and you inadvertently injured someone whilst not in your vehicle.

To sum up

As a business courier, you will be subjected to a wide range of risks and liabilities. In order to help protect yourself, it is critical that you understand the various insurance policies and covers that are available. Moreover, it is important to select the appropriate combination of policies and covers to suit your particular situation.

However, it is important to keep in mind that even the best insurance cover will not help if you are not careful. Be aware of the risks and hazards associated with your work, and always be conscious of how your actions could affect your ability to protect yourself.

However, to make life easier...

Although the list of possible issues may look daunting, a good insurer should be able to simplify them for you, perhaps by bundling some or all of them into a single policy package. So, why not get quotes now.