All risks
This term describes the type of cover provided by your property (buildings and contents) insurance. At one time cover was limited, for example against Fire only. Now, however, most buildings and contents policies are written on an ‘all risks’ basis. This means your property is covered against loss or damage due to almost any unforeseen event.
There are always, however, some risks that won’t be covered – so please check your policy for a list of the ‘perils’ (e.g. Fire, storm, flood) that are covered and also look at your policy’s exclusions for situations that are not covered.
Asset
Anything of any value that belongs to your business, for example, your buildings, contents, stock and computers.
Book Debts Cover
Insurance to cover you against losses due to damage to your books of account etc. following a property loss where you cannot then recover sums due to you from customers.
Claim
You make a claim when something goes wrong that you think is covered by your insurance policy and you ask your insurer to pay you to cover the cost of replacing or repairing damaged property, to cover your liability or to help you get your business back up and running.
Claims history
Details of the insurance claims you have made to any insurer in the past.
Cooling off period
The length of time – usually 14 days – from first receiving your policy documents during which you can cancel your policy and get a full refund.
Deterioration of Stock Cover
Insurance to cover you for damage to frozen or chilled stock due to a change in temperature, for example, if your electricity supply fails. (We cover deterioration of drugs and vaccines for Surgeries)
Excess
An amount you’ll have to pay yourself on any claim you make. So, if your contents insurance has a £250 excess and you make a claim worth £800, your insurer will give you £550. If your claim is for less than your excess the insurer will not pay anything.
Exclusion
Something that isn’t covered (excluded) by your policy. Each area of cover in your policy will have a list of exclusions.
Expiry Date
The date your insurance cover ends – you can’t claim under your policy for anything that happens after this date. Cover finishes at midnight on this day.
Financial Services Authority (FSA)
The regulatory body for the financial services industry. getMY and getMY.com are registered trademarks of FirstAssist Insurance Services Limited which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.
Goods in Transit cover
Insurance that covers your goods or property (apart from money) while it’s being loaded or unloaded from your vehicles or temporarily stored in transit.
Inception Date
The date your insurance cover begins – you can’t claim on your policy for anything that happened before this date. Cover starts at 00.01am on this day.
Initial Disclosure Document
This is the FSA term for the details we give you about FirstAssist Insurance Services Limited and the services we provide. The information is in in our Terms of Business document.
Insurer / Insurance Company / Insurance Provider
The Company that provides your cover and will pay any (valid) claims.
Insurance Broker
Someone who gives professional insurance advice.
Insurance Premium Tax (IPT)
A tax on an insurance premium – like a lower-rate VAT specifically for insurance premiums.
Liability
Your legal responsibilities to your employees, customers and the public.
Limit of Liability
The total amount insured under a policy for this particular area of cover. It usually applies to liability covers such as Employers’ Liability, Public Liability or Products Liability and needs to be estimated based on a worst case scenario of what could happen in your business depending on how many employees you have, how many members of the public may be on your premises at any time and your potential liability arising from products that you sell or distribute. This is the maximum amount that the insurer will pay. If your claim is higher than the limit you have purchased you will need to pay the rest yourself so it’s important to get the right limit.
Loss Adjuster
An experienced professional used by an insurer to carry out detailed investigations of large or complex claims. Although the insurer almost always pays the loss adjuster’s fees, they are impartial, favouring neither the insurer nor the claimant.
Negotiable Money
Money that can be picked up and cashed easily by anyone, for example, cash, bank notes, uncrossed cheques, travellers cheques, bankers drafts or postal orders, postage stamps, luncheon vouchers and gift tokens.
No Claim Discount
A reduction in your premium that you’ll get if you don’t make a claim or suffer a loss for a specified number of years. The longer you’ve gone without making a claim, the higher the discount will be.
Non Negotiable Money
Money that, in normal circumstance, can only be cashed by the person / company that it is made out to, for example, crossed cheques, bankers drafts, postal orders etc, unused units in franking machines and credit company sales vouchers.
Period of Insurance
The period of time covered by your insurance policy. Cover is from 00.01am on the first date to midnight on the second date.
Policy / Policy Wording
The legal document that specifies the insurance cover being provided. A policy will cover a particular type, or types, of insurance and may vary depending on the type of the customer’s business.
Policy Schedule
The Policy Schedule forms part of the legal contract alongside your Policy Wording and details the specific facts about a policy that apply to you or your business, for example, the value of Contents that you have covered under your policy.
Policy Summary
The important details of a policy, showing the main areas the policy covers, the main exclusions and the limits of insurance provided by the policy.
Premium
The amount you pay for your policy’s cover.
Seasonal Increase
An increase in the stock levels insured for up to 90 days during the period of insurance, to take account of busy periods such as Christmas.
Specified Items Cover
Insurance to cover you against loss or damage to specified items whilst the items are away from your premises.
Subsidence Cover
This type of cover provides insurance against subsidence, ground heave or landslip under certain circumstances. As with all cover, exclusions apply, so check your policy wording for full details.
Sum Insured
The total amount insured under a policy for a particular area of cover. For example, a Buildings Sum Insured of £250,000 means that you have estimated the total replacement/rebuilding cost of all your buildings at £250,000 or less. This is the maximum that an insurance company will pay out. It is critical that this sum is high enough – even if you are not claiming up to the full amount, if you are underinsured the insurer may not pay the full amount of your claim.
Underwriter
The person (or people) at the insurance company who make the decisions on the cover provided by the policy and the premiums charged. The underwriter for getMY business insurance policies is Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance plc in respect of all covers except Legal Expenses and Great Lakes Reinsurance (UK) PLC in respect of Legal Expenses.
