Why every sole trader needs insurance

If you’re a sole trader, you’ve put in serious hard work and no doubt made sacrifices to get your business up and running. The last thing you want is for an accident to set you back– however unlikely it may seem – so it’s best to protect yourself by taking out sole trader insurance.  Here are just some of the reasons sole trader insurance should be front of mind for your peace of mind.

You’re covered against third party injury and damage

With many professions, there’s always a risk you could accidentally cause injury or damage. If your work leads to an injury to someone else or you damage third party property, you could be liable for costly compensation claims.

Such claims could have a serious impact on the continuity of your business. As a sole trader, you’re personally responsible for any outgoings and would have to pay out from your own pocket if you were liable for any injury or damage caused. For instance, if a wall you have built collapses and injures a passer-by, you could be held responsible.

That’s why Public Liability is such a critical part of sole trader insurance. Public Liability covers your legal liability if claims are made against you or your business because of injury to another person or damage to property. At Ripe Insurance for Small Business, you can set your Public Liability insurance limit at up to £1m, £2m or £5m, depending on the level of cover you need.

You’re safeguarded from claims made by employees

If you’re a sole trader who employs other people, there’s a chance you could be personally liable for work-related injuries sustained by your employees. In any industry, an employee could have an injury at work and make a claim against you.

Depending on your industry, if your employees are working with electrical equipment, there is the obvious risk of an electric shock causing them injury. It could be that your business’ day-to-day operations involve using equipment such as ladders, and someone you employ falls off a ladder and hurts themselves. If such instances occur, you could be liable for a compensation claim from your employees.

This is why Employers’ Liability is a legal requirement for all sole traders who employ people. Employers’ Liability insurance covers the costs and legal expenses you could incur if a current or former employee makes an injury-related claim against you.
Ripe Insurance for Small Business offers £10 million Employers’ Liability cover – so you can rest easy in the knowledge that our sole trader insurance protects you against unfortunate accidents.

Your tools are covered against loss, theft and damage

It’s not just your legal liability you need to think about safeguarding. For some sole traders, their tools are the lifeblood of their business and therefore need protection. In many industries, you can’t complete projects without your tools – so if they were lost, damaged or stolen, you could be out of work for longer than you can afford and have an unhappy client on your hands.

The likelihood of the above happening is higher than you might think. Your tools could be stolen from a locked vehicle, or they could be accidentally damaged.

To protect you against instances like these, Ripe Insurance for Small Business has created specialist Tools insurance of up to £5,000. You can add this to your policy to cover portable and handheld equipment against theft, loss and accidental damage. With our Tools insurance, you can minimise disruption to your daily operations and continue running your business stress-free.

If you use hired-in plant equipment or heavy machinery for your business, we also offer own plant and hired-in plant insurance to cover such equipment against loss, theft and accidental damage.
What’s more, we can also protect you with our Goods in Transit add-on, which provides you with £500 cover for damage caused to goods whilst being transported.

You don’t have to fork out big sums to re-do a project

If you work in construction, you’ll know that a building project isn’t over until it’s over. For all the effort you put in to complete a project on time, something out of your control could happen midway through which could mean you have re-do weeks, if not months, of work. Whether it be fires, floods, storms, vandalism, theft, or damage to materials – a number of situations could bring your project to a halt.

If you have to put a project on hold because of any of the above, you need Contract Works insurance. This covers the cost to put right or re-do any temporary or permanent work carried out as part of a contract if an incident occurs and you have to start again. 

Ripe Insurance For Small Business offers up to £500,000 Contract Works insurance to cover the cost of tools, materials and labour to put right any damage caused.

You’re prepared for the worst case scenarios

As much as you’ll have extensive measures in place to prevent serious accidents, there’s always a chance (albeit a small chance) that such accidents could happen. That’s why we provide Accidental Death cover of £10,000, free of charge with every sole trader insurance policy.

At Ripe, we’ve created sole trader insurance which is quick and easy to buy. We don’t believe in long forms, jargon or expensive premiums; we believe in giving you exactly the cover you need at the best possible price. Our Lowest Price Guarantee means we won’t be beaten on cost, so get an instant online quote today and make sure you’re protected.