Business equipment insurance

What is business equipment insurance?

Maybe you’re a consultant who relies on technology to connect with your clients. Maybe you’re a tradesman using specialist tools to transform people’s homes. Whatever sort of business you run, you’ll have an array of equipment that helps you do it.

Would you be able to afford to replace them if they were stolen or damaged? Could you do your work without them? Not many businesses could. But that’s where AXA’s business equipment insurance can help.

It’s designed to protect any moveable equipment including portable machinery, office contents/machinery leased by you or your partners, communication equipment like your phone, tablet or laptop.

For tradespeople, you can get cover to safeguard everything in your toolkit – from hammer and chisels to power-tools and diggers.

AXA’s offers tailored equipment protection that’ll protect you if the worst happens to your work kit – meaning you can replace what you need quickly and easily and get back to the most important business of all: the day job.

What equipment and tools does business equipment insurance cover?

There are a few kinds of cover you can choose from, in order to protect your business.

Own plant, tools, and equipment cover

If you’re a tradesperson, own plant tools and equipment offers protection in case of accidental loss, theft or damage to the tools you use. We’ll help you protect tools, equipment and stock as well as machinery, trailers or caravans.

Protect the tools you own in case of accidental loss, theft or damage. Under this cover we can help cover you for a variety of items such as;

• Constructional plant
• Machinery
• Trailers
• Tools
• Site huts
• Caravans (including their contents)
• Portable tools and equipment (including electronic communication and computing equipment)

Plus, we also cover you for stock in trade. With this cover, you can protect plus stock up to a value of £2000.

Hired-in plant cover

If you’re renting specialist gear, our hired-in equipment cover will protect them if they’re damaged or destroyed in your care. We’ll provide cover for a variety of hired-in equipment, such as:

• Constructional plant
• Machinery
• Tools and equipment
• Site huts or caravans you have hired to use in connection with the business

Business equipment insurance

With this add-on cover to your business insurance, you’ll get protection for laptop, mobiles and other essential work tech as well as any other equipment needed to keep your business running efficiently, no matter your job description. So, whether you’re working with computers, styling someone’s hair or teaching a Zumba class – we’ve got your back.

Should I get equipment insurance for my small business?

All businesses have essential equipment that keeps them going. With AXA, you can add business equipment insurance to any of our core covers: public liability, professional indemnity, contents insurance or employers’ liability insurance.

The insurance protects you wherever you are in the UK, which means that you’ll be covered if you’re travelling for meetings or to meet suppliers and lose your equipment when you’re on the road.

Why do I need business equipment insurance?

Think about the day to day running of your business and what it takes to make that happen? Perhaps it’s the laptops you use to send emails, manage appointments, order stock or write reports. Or the blow dryers and curling tongs you use to make someone feel fabulous? Maybe it’s the speakers use for Zumba classes to get people into rhythm?

Whatever it may be, if you’re unable to use any of your day-to-day equipment, business could come to a halt. For a small business, this loss could be far greater than the cost of new equipment. If your business has to come to a halt over lost or damaged equipment, you stand to lose more than your equipment. For example:

• Repair or replacement costs
• Loss of revenue for the days you can’t work
• Claims resulting from missed deadlines
• Loss of customers

This is why you need business equipment insurance, to ensure that you’re protected if the worst should happen to your equipment. While we can’t prevent accidental damage or theft, we can certainly make getting back on track and minimizing the fallout easier.

Who needs business equipment insurance?

We cover a broad spectrum of professions with our business equipment insurance, everything from consultants and bookkeepers to stylists, gardeners and personal trainers.

Every business has equipment that the need to keep business running – whether you’re a business consultant with laptop, mobile devices and tablets to stay connected, or a gardener with leaf-blower, rakes and forks – we’ve got something to suit you.

Regardless of what you use them for – your equipment is almost as essential as you are to the running of your business. And that’s why you need to protect them.

Tell us a bit about the work you do and add our business equipment cover, or tools insurance, to whichever core covers you have with us.

Types of insurance for the self-employed

From business consultants, to stylists, to personal trainers – there are many professions where you can be your own boss. If you’re self-employed, there are several types of insurance you might want to consider.

• Public liability insurance is important to consider if your business is going to be dealing with clients or the general public. You never know when an accident might happen that involves your business, which is where public liability insurance will keep you right.
• Professional indemnity insurance is there to keep you covered if you provide products or services to clients who suffer losses or negative impact due to your business.
• Plant, tools and equipment insurance is one of our two main extras that you can add onto your policy in order to protect the tools you use to get the job done – whether that’s your own tools or hired-in plan tools.
• Business equipment insurance is there to ensure that if your business equipment suffers any accidental damage or theft, that things get sorted as soon as possible, so that you can keep your business running smoothly.

Are rental equipment and tools covered?

With our hired-in plant and tools insurance, we’ll help tradesmen and construction workers protect things like constructional plant, machinery, tools or site huts if they’re damaged or destroyed whilst in your care.

How much business equipment cover do I need?

Every business is different, and so is the level of cover you need. That’s why we let you tailor your level of cover to what’s right for your business.

It’s important when you’re deciding on cover levels to get the right value for your equipment you don’t want to be left under, or over, insured. Underinsuring your equipment could result in not getting the right level of cover to suit the potential damage, whereas over insuring can leave you paying a higher premium than necessary.

To get this right, we suggest making sure you know the accurate value of the equipment you want to cover as well as keeping detailed records and evidence of their condition.

What types of business insurance can I add this to?

You can add this to any of our core covers, to create the perfect mix of cover for your company – meaning you only pay for the things you need.

What else should you consider when buying business equipment insurance?

When you’re buying business equipment insurance there may be other factors to consider.

Excess details

You might think that it makes more sense to have a high excess on your policy, however, your excess is costing you more than it would cost you to replace the damaged or stolen equipment, then you’re not getting the value you should be. So, always check your excess.

At AXA our excess is variable, offering 10% of every claim subject to a minimum of £100 and a maximum of £500.

Possible exclusions

Some policies come with certain exclusions, so be sure to always check your policy wording to be crystal clear on what we do and don’t cover.  As with most insurance policies, for a claim to be accepted there must be signs of forced entry in cases of theft.

Know the value of your equipment

When adding on your business equipment insurance cover, keep your receipts from any purchased items and photographs of the equipment. Doing so could help you get a claim settled faster. Over or underestimating the value of your tools could lead to paying too much, or not having enough cover should you need it.