# Workshop Insurance Cover



## Ian Dalziel (21 Jun 2004)

On a point on another post regarding insurance premiums,
When I went to insure my workshop and contents, I thought no problem: I’ll just phone my buildings and contents insurance and stick on the excess; ‘Wrong’  
They sent me a form out which basically was new for old, I then had to write in serial nos and values of any of my equipment and estimated values. No problem I thought  
I filled in the forms and sent back, 2 days later a phone call 
‘Mr Dalziel’ we cannot cover you for your workshop, house contents or buildings it is cancelled as of ‘end of month’
I then tried other companies to no avail, as soon as they hear of the values they have to speak to their supervisor which always ended in ‘NO’
Anyone with workshop equipment and tools with a min value of £20,000 is on a hiding to nothing they said, I was a good deal more, that was out with the actual building
When I first wrote down new for old values, I never thought it was as valuable but it’s not long in running up. 
Try it for yourself and see, be realistic using new for old prices, because this is what they ask for and new is what you get if you are burgled
I installed 2 alarms and 4 cctv cameras this still didn’t help
I have since had to take out a business policy which is very expensive

Anyone else found this problem or a solution

Ian


----------



## LeeElms (21 Jun 2004)

On a smaller scale, my insurance company was happy to cover machinery / tools to the value of £6000 (but no higher) in my garage workshop (to be) ('hobby' use only) ... for NO additional premium (I have standard buildings and contents cover), with no requirement to specify or itemize what was covered.


----------



## Anonymous (21 Jun 2004)

hi lee which company were you with for your insurance and how much did it cost comments appreciated.
cheers
Rich


----------



## Chris Knight (21 Jun 2004)

Ian,

I have become pretty disllusioned about insurance. It is necessary of course for something like a house and it's legally required for cars but the minute you step outside a well defined envelope of "types" then I have come to expect nothing but a bad deal. I came to this view when reviewing health insurance and realised it was just useless for me. They won't cover anything arising from a pre-existing condition, so basically it's only useful for "surprises" and at my age it costs a bundle anyway. I now self insure and the money I have saved on premia will certainly cover anything I am likely to survive (which is of course exactly how the insurance company expects to make a profit from selling insurance to me)


----------



## Adam (21 Jun 2004)

I'm insured with Direct Line, and have to admit, just upped my contents by £15,000 to cover the contents, and the buildings by £5000 to cover the shed :shock: . Direct Line were really good about it, and seemed to understand abou it being an "expensive hobby  ". Over £50K contents you had to have an alarm. And about 1/3 of any policy is set-aside for "valubles" - when I queried this, it includes, "Fur coats, quantities of silver and gold - i.e. gold bars :shock: , works of art, and a few other random items. - Basically, this applies under most policies, effectively 33% is covering things people simply don't own. Hence my £15K increase only really covers £10K. Read the small print!

Adam


----------



## johnelliott (21 Jun 2004)

waterhead37":2siozwck said:


> I have become pretty disllusioned about insurance.



I agree. Insurance _might_ be a cure (unless they can find a way to wriggle out of it, and they quite often can), but prevention is so much better, and is where I now concentrate my efforts (and cash)
John


----------



## Alf (21 Jun 2004)

waterhead37":28cmamyl said:


> I have become pretty disllusioned about insurance.


Can't remember ever being _illusioned_ about insurance. :roll: 

Cheers, Alf


----------



## Bean (21 Jun 2004)

Not something to get excited about, never mind have an illusion about it :wink: 


Bean


----------



## LeeElms (22 Jun 2004)

rich":wxg8vr49 said:


> hi lee which company were you with for your insurance and how much did it cost comments appreciated.
> cheers
> Rich



The insurance company is Liverpool Victoria.
I have combined buildings / contents cover.
One advantage they have is they don't require a specific estimate of buildings or contents value ... buildings covered up to £500,000, contents to some quite high value (can't recall the figure offhand).
There was no additional premium for increasing the cover for contents of the garage to their limit of £6000 ... but I don't think there was any way to go any higher.
I've had one claim with them (accidental damage due to falling shelves) ... no problems at all with claim.

Hope this helps.

If you would like more details, please send me a PM.


----------



## Anonymous (22 Jun 2004)

From past experience most Insurers run a mile from taking on business where workshops/outbuildings/garages and their contents are concerned.
However, the NFU, who are much more used to these types of locations, are usually quite happy to provide adequate cover at reasonable rates.

They might be worth looking at for anyone who is being denied cover by the other Insurers.

PeterW


----------



## Anonymous (22 Jun 2004)

Allianz - unlimited shed / workshop cover.


----------



## johnelliott (22 Jun 2004)

Guest":1mo2nxo3 said:


> Allianz - unlimited shed / workshop cover.



I doubt that very much indeed. So much do I doubt that in effect I am saying that it isn't true

John


----------



## Midnight (22 Jun 2004)

rookie question...

do insurers attitudes change if the detached shop /shed is taken out of the equasion??
I don;t have an Afl-esque coll...ummm selection of tools, but replacing them would set me back a few years...


----------



## Anonymous (22 Jun 2004)

johnelliott":2xpxhzpx said:


> Guest":2xpxhzpx said:
> 
> 
> > Allianz - unlimited shed / workshop cover.
> ...



Well that's what it says on my schedule of insurance, and has done for each of the past three years. If you choose not to believe this then thats fine by me, however it's rather rude of you to in effect accuse me of (at best) posting incorrect information or (at worst ) of lying, especially when you're in the wrong, and you haven't even bothered to research it.

I've posted information about how to get this type of policy a number of times over the years, I've usually been ignored (hence the brevity of the post) but never before had anyone challenge me in this way.


----------



## Jake (22 Jun 2004)

I suspect you are cross-purposes here with John here, Guest.

Unlimited cover is presumably within your overall contents cover ceiling?

Not unlimited as in you might have bought a few billion pounds worth of machinery and Allianz would still cover it if it went missing from your sheds? I suspect that John was being a bit tongue in cheek about that possible interpretation of your post, and I can see why.

Jake


----------



## johnelliott (22 Jun 2004)

Thanks for sticking up for me, Jake, but no, I wasn't being tongue in cheek. 'Guest' obviously doesn't know what 'unlimited' means. Hopefully your explanation will help him.
I didn't mean that 'Guest' was lying, BTW, just that he is misguided.
John


----------



## Anonymous (23 Jun 2004)

johnelliott":d2vuqhkc said:


> Thanks for sticking up for me, Jake, but no, I wasn't being tongue in cheek. 'Guest' obviously doesn't know what 'unlimited' means. Hopefully your explanation will help him.
> I didn't mean that 'Guest' was lying, BTW, just that he is misguided.
> John



I am quite aware what unlimited means, and I am also quite aware that the resources of an insurance company aren't unlimited; although I'm not familiar with the size of Allianz - I suspect that even a billion pounds would't cause them to sweat unduly.

I'm very aware about how weasel-like insurance companies can be so I've read my policy from cover to cover and there is no qualification on the word "unlimited" as applied to the workshop cover, it is most definately not limited to the total amount of contents cover. The same is true for the personal liability element which is not linked to the total insured value. I also have a separate written confirmation to the effect that my shed contents cover is unlimited. 

I assume that the actuaries who work for Allianz will make the reasonable assumption that a person who lives in a house worth X pounds is unlikely to have a workshop worth much more than around a x/5 pounds and set their premiums accordingly. Exceptions to this rule will cost Allianz money, but specifying precise limits will cost them in terms of admin. 

I searched high and low for a policy of this type, and judging from the number of people who ask questions about workshop insurance, it would seem that it's just the type of policy many woodworkers and people with capital intensive crafty pastimes need. I am happy that to all practical purposes the workshop cover on my policy is unlimited and shoud I need to make a claim the insurance company won't be able to dodge out of it on the basis of their wording. In view of the subsequent comments I wish I hadn't bothered to respond to this thread.


----------



## johnelliott (23 Jun 2004)

'Guest'- They don't need to give precise limits. Somewhere in your insurance paperwork there will be a question that says something along the lines of 'is there anything you haven't told us that you should have told us?' Having a well equipped woodworking workshop will be very much something that they will consider that you should have told them when it is cleaned out by thieves when you are on holiday. Now you can tell me as often as you like that you will be paid out in full when that happens to you, but I will exercise my right not to believe it
John


----------



## Keith Smith (23 Jun 2004)

Up until this year I too have had an unlimited policy for contents in my house and this would include tools in a workshop for hobby use. There is a single item limit of £2500 but no limit to the overall claim. 

This policy was offered by my building society and I could have continued with it, but they no longer offer it to new customers. I have changed this year as it has become very expensive at £1300. 

John, I do think that you could be more polite in your replies and still get your point across.

Keith


----------



## Mike.C (23 Jun 2004)

Hi All,

Yes you are right Alf so i have removed my comments. But i do think that Keith has a point. No wonder he has not given his name if he was totally ignored before, and when he isn't he gets that sort of reaction.

Regards

Mike.C


----------



## Alf (23 Jun 2004)

Folks,

This isn't an argument, but a difference of opinion, or possibly understanding. Let's not let it get to the argument stage, please. Time to walk away perhaps.

Guest, I can't PM you as I'd prefer, but can I suggest you might receive a less sceptical reaction if you put some sort of name to your post? Just a thought.

Cheers, Alf


----------



## Anonymous (24 Jun 2004)

I've got Barclays homecover which does cover me for the sheds, and had to test it out the unfortunate way last year when i got cleaned out of everything except the bestcombi - everything portable and some things that weren't (floor standing pillar drill comes to mind)

After a little "negotiation" with their assessors we agreed on a 90% payout of the equivalent new book values - just under £4k. If I'd pushed for more they would have gone down the route of restocking me from their suppliers, so i decided I'd rather take the lower figure but have the choice to swap a few things around - Having amassed 3 power drills over the years I really didn't need to replace them all. And the payout date just happened to coincide with a machinemart 10% off day 

They still insure me and haven't hit me with any specific clauses or limitations other that asking me to show evidence of having fitted suitable locks and that the locks must be in operation whenever I am away from the property - like that wasn't going to happen anyway. I also now keep all the receipts as proof of ownership, not that they doubted my word on anything, but they ask for receipts if available

Hopefully I won't have to call them again, but at the end of the day I feel I got a reasonable service and settlement so would recommend them for general cover - couldn't say what their views would be on very big numbers though. Don't know how competitive they are on price as my wife is staff so we try to show some loyalty and buy the services that pay her wages...


----------

