Insurance Policies You May Need If You’re Self Employed

*This is a collaborative post on insurance policies but all thoughts are my own

There are so many different types of insurance policies, some must have ones like vehicle, or buildings insurance. And some you may own for worse case scenarios like gadget insurance or contents insurance.

Insurance policies are things you want to have, but ideally never use. No one wants to have their car written off, or lose their luggage while on holiday.

But when you are self-employed there are some additional insurance policies which are useful to have. And in some cases mandatory.

Public Liability Insurance

Public liability insurance for self employed can cover your legal costs and any compensation you may have to pay if someone is hurt (or killed) due to your work. It can also cover you if someone’s property gets damaged as a result of your business activities.

Having public liability insurance isn’t a law, but for some self-employed people it may be mandatory for particular jobs. For example Luke is an electrician. So he has to have public liability insurance to be let onto works building sites. For our wedding next summer our band have to have public liability insurance. This would be in case they damage the venue and the venue need to claim against them.

Again you hope this type of insurance is never claimed on, but it’s essential to have if you’re self employed. If someone did claim it could bankrupt you.

Insurance policies for tradesmen

For any tradesmen such as builders, plumbers, electricians etc you may have a lot of tools and equipment that lives in a van or work vehicle. You can get specialist tool insurance to protect your valuable kit incase it’s ever stolen or damaged. This could be either while locked in your vehicle or on the job.

Sadly both Luke and his dad have had their vans broken into numerous times in the past before having tool insurance. And it cost a lot of money to replace all of the items that were stolen. It was especially hard because they were all essential for their work. Now Luke has tool insurance so if this sadly happened again we’d be covered to replace the items so he could continue to work.

Running a business from your home

If you’re setting up a business from home don’t assume that your normal household insurance will cover you if something happens. Talk to your current insurer about what your business and your plans. You may not need an additional premium for admin office work at home. But if you’ll have visitors coming to your home you may need additional insurance.

If you don’t tell your insurance company you are running a business from your home and you need to make a claim that involves the business you may find your insurance is invalid and they won’t pay out.

Vehicle insurance policies

This one obviously isn’t unique to those who are self-employed, but vehicle insurance policies need to be treated with car if you’re vehicle is used for your work. Make sure you’re upfront about how the vehicle is used because the last thing you want to happen is you’re involved in an accident while at work but you hadn’t said you used your vehicle at work.

And there is a difference between selecting the commuting option on your insurance vs actual business vehicle insurance. For example if you’re a taxi driver, driving instructor, delivery driver etc you may need specialist vehicle insurance to be covered.

Are you self-employed? What insurance policies do you have?

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