Professional Indemnity – Is Price Everything?

When shopping for a reputable professional indemnity company, where should you look? There are thousands of brokers that offer good professional indemnity insurance prices, but are their policies tailored to your profession & will they really be there in times of distress? There's a big difference between cheap professional indemnity and bad professional indemnity. Fortunately, the Internet can be a powerful resource as you shop around.

Online professional indemnity prices

Gone are the days of confusing paperwork and lengthy waits. From your home PC, you can find online professional indemnity insurance prices in a matter of minutes. With a few clicks, you can do what would have taken days just a few years ago. Using a shortlist of professional indemnity insurance prices, you can determine a ball-park figure of what you can expect to pay. But your work isn't finished yet. Price isn't everything.

Advice about buying professional indemnity insurance

Of course you want cheap indemnity insurance, but be forewarned: not every professional indemnity insurance policy is suitable for you. Look for specialist PI policies tailored to the needs of freelance professionals & more specifically the industry you work in. Always read policy fine print, paying particular attention to any exclusions. Make sure you compare PI quotes on a 'like for like basis' ie are the limits of indemnity 'any one claim' or 'in the aggregate' also what are the excesses? These can vary from insurer to insurer. Next, check the credentials of the underwriter & the broker whose business should be FSA regulated. Only select reputable professional indemnity suppliers who are financially strong. Lastly, if you already have professional indemnity insurance & are changing to a new insurer make sure you check the new indemnity policy has 'backdated' or 'retroactive' cover to protect you from work carried out in the past.

In a short time, you should be able to create a solid list of about 3-4 suppliers that offer cheap, but reliable, professional indemnity insurance. Although many brokers will encourage you to buy indemnity insurance immediately, you'll probably want to speak with someone over the phone before you purchase cover.

You can tell a lot about of company based on how easily you can connect with them via the phone. If they're hard to reach now, they might be hard to reach if you need to file a claim. Similarly if they struggle to communicate clearly about your business activities its unlikely their professional indemnity policies are suitable.