Art dealer insurance

Professional indemnity

In case a client loses money because of your advice, services or designs.

What’s typically covered by art dealer professional indemnity insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• errors in the training you deliver for clients, which means they lose money
• bad advice that causes a financial loss, from a simple mistake to negligence
• other mistakes in your work that mean a client loses money, including mishandling sensitive information

For example :

• you don’t send a document to HMRC in time and your client gets a fine
• you use an image without the copyright holder’s permission and your client gets sued
• you accidentally email sensitive data to the wrong person, leading to fines for your client

Read more about professional indemnity insurance

Public liability insurance

In case your business and products cause an injury or property damage.

What’s typically covered by public liability insurance for art dealers?

Claims against your business for:

• damage to someone’s property, caused by your work
• an injury or illness caused by your business activities
• certain accidental damage or injuries caused by your employees

For example:

• you accidentally knock a shelf of products onto the floor while working on a client’s premises, which break and need replacing
• you leave a trailing cable outside your premises, causing someone to trip and injure their back
• an accident happens at your premises and someone is injured because of your work

**If you do employ anyone, you’re usually required by law to have employers’ liability insurance too.**

Read more about public liability insurance

Employers’ liability insurance

In case anyone gets ill or injured while working for your business

What’s typically covered by employers’ liability insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• injuries to staff (including casual labourers and contractors) that are caused as a result of your business
• illness suffered by an employee (including temps and casual workers) caused by working for you

**Employers’ liability insurance is usually required by law if you employ anyone – including part-time staff, temporary workers, and in most cases, volunteers. Without it, you could be fined up to £2,500 for every day you don’t have cover in place. A main exemption is unincorporated family businesses where all your employees are family members.**

For example:

• your office manager breaks their finger while trying to close a faulty window at your business premises
• your receptionist trips over a cable running across the floor of your office, breaking their ankle
• a temp worker scratches their arm on one of your tools, and the injury becomes infected

Contents insurance

In case something happens to your fixtures, fittings, or operational equipment.

What’s typically covered by business contents insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• accidental damage or destruction caused by flood, fire, theft, or vandalism
• cover for your contents, up to the insurance level you’ve selected

For example:

• your bespoke wooden display units and decorative items are damaged by flooding, and need restoring or replacing
• a fire causes serious damage to your premises, and you need to replace all your office furniture
• someone breaks into your business premises and steals the office printer

Read more about business contents insurance

Business legal insurance

In case you’re hit with legal expenses connected to your art dealership.

What’s typically covered by business legal insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• a dispute relating to debt recovery, including judgement enforcements
• an investigation into your tax affairs
• someone using your company’s identity illegally

For example:

• one of your clients has informed you that they believe you haven’t met the contractual requirements of their purchase agreement, and they’re refusing to pay an outstanding invoice
• HMRC investigates your recent tax return, triggered by a fluctuation in your business income
• someone gets hold of your company bank details and uses them to buy goods and services

Read more about business legal insurance

Personal accident insurance

In case anyone you’ve covered is accidentally injured, at work or off-duty.

What’s typically covered by personal accident insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• accidental injury or death of anyone you’ve chosen to cover in your policy – whether this happens at work or elsewhere
• medical costs, lost income, and hospitalisation benefit

For example:

• your business partner, who’s named on the policy, is injured while ice skating and left permanently disabled
• you fall down some stairs at home and lose the use of your right arm
• an employee you’ve covered is playing squash at the weekend and hits their head on the wall, causing concussion and a hospital stay

Read more about personal accident insurance

Stock insurance

In case something happens to your products and consumables.

What’s typically covered by stock insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• damage to (and loss of) stock, following fires, floods, or vandalism
• theft of stock following a break-in
• costs involved with replacing the stock you need to operate

For example :

• someone forces entry to your business premises and steals from your stockroom
• an important stock order falls from the back of your van and is never recovered
• you’ve taken a stock delivery, which is stolen while you’re speaking to a neighbour

Read more about stock insurance

Buildings insurance

In case something happens to your business premises.

What’s typically covered by business building insurance?

Claims against your business for:

• damage to the structure of your building if there’s been a fire, flood, or vandalism
• contents, fittings, and equipment if they’re damaged by an event like a fire or flood
• repair and rebuild costs

For example:

• your gallery’s wooden floor is damaged during a flood and needs replacing
• your employee damages an interior wall installing new equipment, as well as a glass door

Read more about business buildings insurance

Excess insurance

In case you need to make a claim on your insurance policy.

What’s typically covered by excess insurance?

Claims made by you for:

• when you make a claim on a cover included in your [TRADE] insurance policy, you won’t need to pay excess

For example :

• after a heavy storm you need to make a claim on your building cover – you don’t have to pay the £250 excess thanks to your excess insurance
• a leak in the bathroom causes a guest to slip and injure themselves and thanks to excess cover, there’s no excess to pay on the claim
• a tenant’s suitcase scratches the wooden flooring in your hallway – you won’t have to pay any excess on your accidental damage claim