Review: Hiscox Business Insurance

In Summary

Widely praised by its customers, Hiscox business insurance was named Best Small Business Insurer at the 2017 Start Your Business awards.

You can get a quote at the Hiscox website.

Background to Hiscox business insurance

Hiscox has a long history of providing specialist insurance cover. It is perhaps most widely known for providing high net worth home insurance – covering more than 60,000 homes in the UK. However, it also has a successful business insurance operation, protecting more than 150,000 British SMEs, professionals and consultants.

It bases its customer service around the philosophy that claims should be handled based on fairness and common sense.

Hiscox provides a wide range of insurance products for businesses, including professional indemnity, public liability, and employer's liability insurance, as well as online security protection. You can get a quote at the Hiscox website for any of these insurance products.

Overview of the cover provided by Hiscox business insurance policies

The exact nature of Hiscox business insurance will depend on the type of cover your company requires, however some of its benefits are common to all policies. For example, it offers immediate coverage and documentation, the ability to make changes to your policy at any time and Direct Debits are available with 0% interest.

From there, businesses can choose from the following cover options:

• Professional indemnity - to protect your business if claims about the quality of your work are brought against you by a client
• Public and employers’ liability - to cover you in the event of an employee or member of the public sustaining an injury
• Office contents insurance – available both at home and at office premises, cover for damage to contents, including portable equipment like laptops
• Personal accident insurance – Hiscox will pay your business a weekly sum if you or a key employee is unable to work following an accident, or a lump sum in the event of permanent disability
• Cyber and data risks – to insure your business in the event of losses arising from Internet and email issues, data breaches, hackers and viruses
• Treatment and professional liability insurance - cover for hair and beauty professionals to protect them against legal costs if a client claims they've become injured as result of their treatment or services
• Directors' and officers' liability insurance - designed to cover compensation claims made against a director or an officer of a company
• Commercial legal protection insurance - to protect your business against legal claims such as employment and tax disputes

As your company needs will be quite specific, Hiscox has a breakdown of recommended insurance products by profession.

There are some policy features that are worth highlighting, though. For example, personal accident insurance includes cover for accidents sustained outside of working hours. Meanwhile, its office insurance features up to £25,000 of contents cover for items away from the office.

Get a quote tailored to the needs of your business at the Hiscox website.

How much does business insurance from Hiscox cost?

There is no exact price quoted for Hiscox business insurance, because the cost will depend very much on how many products you wish to take out, and the level of cover you require for each of these.

For example, within office insurance, the value of equipment you wish to cover and the location and security solutions installed at your premises can impact premium price.

Generally speaking, Hiscox is not known for being the cheapest insurer, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s important to choose an insurer that offers comprehensive cover, and has a good track record of paying claims.

Cutting corners to secure a cheaper premium can come back to haunt you in the long run, if you find yourself facing (say) a public liability claim that you’re not covered for, or make an unsuccessful claim on damage or theft to property and/or buildings.

Particularly with claims made against you, bills can mount up without adequate insurance protection.

Visit Hiscox's website for an accurate business insurance quotation.

What do Hiscox business insurance customers say?

Overall, Hiscox business insurance scores 4.7/5 stars on average, with comments including "very helpful customer service", "they understood what I needed straight away", and "quick and easy". However, it’s worth bearing in mind that these comments are published on Hiscox’s website, so are likely to favour the good over the bad!

Reviews on Simplybusiness, meanwhile, give Hiscox a similarly high score of 4.6/5 stars from over 30,000 reviews.

What do experts say about Hiscox business insurance?

Industry body Defaqto rates Hiscox business insurance 3 out of a possible 5 stars.

Hiscox won Best Small Business Insurer at the 2017 Start Your Business awards for the 8th year in a row.