Insurance Cover for home held stock

[cassie75]

I have done a search on here and found several threads that have been useful. I have even had a reply from one post i put in so am very impressed with this forum.
Anyway - my problem.
We are a family run internet business selling craft items and are all 4 of us are classed as self-employed sole traders. It was all set up before I started working for them.
The office is set up in the granny flat behind my parents house and they had a warehouse built in the garden, but some stock is held in their house too. That is all insured by NFU, the stock by the business and the house personally by my parents.
The problem is that I am the web designer and do that from home which is miles away from my parents house. I now also keep around £8000 stock at my house which I pack here before taking to the main office for charging the cards and sending out by Royal Mail.
My current house insurer (ironically it is NFU) will not insure the stock and their house insurance works out more than double that i can get elsewhere. I have found a house insurer who will insure use with an endorsement to NOT cover the stock.
I have tried various including AXA, Simply Business, Saga, and a few others found when I did a search for business stock insurance.
My other problem is that I only have a mobile at home and cannot ring 08 numbers which bar me from using people like Direct Line who will not give out a mobile friendly number.
Any help would be appreciated.

 

[cassie75]

I just realised I should have added - my insurance is due tomorrow :-(

 

[Simply Business]

Hi @cassie75 have you looked into the possibility of getting the house insurance that excludes the business stock, and your family look to cover stock away from their premises (their house, office, warehouse etc)?

Sounds like a difficult situation!

 

[cassie75]

Because of the time constraints, and I really don't like to be totally uninsured, I have managed to find one home insurer that will allow me to do that.
We had tried several home insurers but many would not even allow us to insure even if the stock is insured elsewhere. The only one we found, with a mobile friendly number available, JLP, will insure with an endorsement for the stock.
The company (nfu) who insure the warehouse stock have already said they will not insure stuff away from the warehouse.
Just finished the stock take and the stock is about 14k so just need to insure that.
BTW one business insurer who posted on one of my comments on another post, would not insure the stock in my house as the main business (which i don't want insurance for) sends parcels to the USA. Odd or what ?
Really loving this forum - already found some interesting info on other stuff too

 

[Simply Business]

Good to hear you're managing to find a solution @cassie75. A lot of the difficulty in insuring products being shipped to the US is the product liability aspect.

Because the US is quite known for its claim culture, and very different laws, it can require slightly more specialist cover. 100% it's a great forum with a lot of helpful info and advice

 

[cassie75]

but why would claims be relevent when all i want is to cover my stock against fire or theft !!

 

[japancool]

My other problem is that I only have a mobile at home and cannot ring 08 numbers which bar me from using people like Direct Line who will not give out a mobile friendly number.
Any help would be appreciated.

What's stopping you from using the Get A Quote form on their website?

 

[cassie75]

Fine I get a quote - then what do I do if I need to claim?

 

[japancool]

Fine I get a quote - then what do I do if I need to claim?

Email them, maybe? Honestly, it is really difficult for you to find a landline phone to make a call?

 

[cassie75]

There are no phone boxes around here and my family live miles away.
And anyway, why should I have to find a phone box when I have a perfectly good mobile. If these companies were not so money grabbing by only having phone numbers they can make money out of rather than land lines or 03 numbers then there would be no problem.

 

[japancool]

There are no phone boxes around here and my family live miles away.
And anyway, why should I have to find a phone box when I have a perfectly good mobile. If these companies were not so money grabbing by only having phone numbers they can make money out of rather than land lines or 03 numbers then there would be no problem.

Well, if you do need to claim and:
* can't be bothered to find a landline phone
* don't want to call them on your mobile because you apparently can't afford it or your goods are worth less than the cost of that phone call
* can't install a VOIP app on your PC
* can't send an email

Then insurance is probably a waste of time for you.

If you got burgled and lost £8000 worth of stock, are you seriously saying you can't make a call on your mobile? You can take being tight too far.

 

[cassie75]

Why should I ??!!
If they want my business they should accept that many, many people no longer bother with a land line. If businesses are so short sighted that they want to bar so many people from their business then they should not be in business.
Insurance is a "what if" product to help you in the very rare occurrence of a fire or flood - my stock is highly unlikely to be "burgled". Why should I also be thinking about the fact, just after losing my house to a fire or flood, that a call, which will probably take 40 or 50 minutes if past occurrences are anything to go by, will be costing me 41p per minute instead of being included in my mobile minutes like a 03 or 01 number would.
Are you seriously saying that these companies are right to charge customers this !
If you cannot help me by giving serious suggestions to who I could use rather than make ridiculous points about my choices then I suggest you leave this thread alone. Or do you make a habit of flaming.

 

[globby]

Cassie you should use saynoto0870.com for calling 08 numbers from your mobile. Quite often people will share a local number (mobile friendly) equivalent.

It is free to use and will solve this 08 number issue for you regularly (and yes direct line has a ton of mobile friendly numbers). Search for Direct Line or type the 08 number that you have in the search field and it will show you a bunch of options.

Good luck

 

[cassie75]

Thank you - at last some helpful advise

 

[japancool]

Cassie you should use saynoto0870.com for calling 08 numbers from your mobile. Quite often people will share a local number (mobile friendly) equivalent.

It is free to use and will solve this 08 number issue for you regularly (and yes direct line has a ton of mobile friendly numbers). Search for Direct Line or type the 08 number that you have in the search field and it will show you a bunch of options.

Good luck

Even if you had to call the 08 number, if Direct Line's quote is £100 a year cheaper than someone else's, you would still have to be on the phone for them for a long time to spend that much. That's assuming they only provide an 08 number for claims, and assuming they won't call back (which they do on quotes).