Furniture removal insurance
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Rated 4.7/5
Based on 39,283 reviews
Claims paid in 24 hours
For 80% of settled claims
Why is furniture removal insurance important?
In the furniture removals business, you can’t always prevent mishaps like broken toes, dented walls and smashed heirlooms – but you can make sure you’re covered. Furniture removal insurance can protect you against the cost of incidents at work.
- protection against costly claims due to accidents, injuries, and damage to customer property
- insure what matters, from your employees to your office equipment to your removal equipment
- peace of mind in case your business ever faces legal or medical proceedings
What does furniture removal insurance cover?
We help you customise your removals insurance policy to meet your needs. The key piece of insurance for most removal professionals is public liability insurance. And if you have a team, employers’ liability insurance is a legal requirement. Beyond that, you can select the options that suit your setup.
Public liability insurance
In case someone experiences injury or property damage as a result of your removals business.
Employers’ liability insurance
In case something happens to an employee while they’re working for you
Tools insurance
In case something happens to your furniture removal tools.
Business and office equipment insurance
In case something happens to your business and office equipment
Legal expenses insurance
In case your furniture removals business is hit with legal costs
Personal accident insurance
In case anyone you’ve covered is accidentally injured, at or outside of work.
Public liability insurance
In case someone experiences injury or property damage as a result of your removals business.
Claims against your business for:
What’s typically covered by public liability insurance?
- accidental damage caused by you while moving furniture in someone else’s property, or for other reasons over the course of you carrying out your furniture removal work
- injury caused by you to someone else while you’re moving furniture in someone else’s property, or for other reasons while you’re carrying out your work
- accidental damage or injury caused by your employee (remember, if you employ people, you're required by law to have employers' liability insurance)
For example:
- you’re trying to lift up a large metal table for your customer but the table leg gets caught on the carpet and rips a hole in it
- you accidentally drop a heavy sofa on your customer’s foot while you’re carrying it through their house, fracturing several bones in their foot
- your employee cracks a mirror that’s leaning against the wall by knocking into it with a chair by mistake
What you’ll need additional cover for
- damage to your customers’ furniture while in transit under your care – your customer would need to take out their own insurance for this purpose (or it may already be covered under their home insurance)
- if you sometimes work as a courier as well as a removals expert, you’d need to cover this trade separately under courier insurance
Read more about public liability insurance
Employers’ liability insurance
In case something happens to an employee while they’re working for you
What’s typically covered by employers’ liability insurance?
Claims against your business for:
- injury or illness to an employee (including casual workers) as a consequence of doing removals work for you
**Employers’ liability insurance is required by law if you have people working for you. Without it, you could be fined up to £2,500 a day for each employee.**
For example:
- your employee breaks their toe by dropping a removals box full of kitchenware on their foot
Tools insurance
In case something happens to your furniture removal tools.
What’s typically covered by tools insurance?
- loss or theft of the specialist tools you use to carry out your furniture removal work (especially handheld and portable electronic tools) whether on site or stored at your business premises
- flood, fire, or accidental damage to your furniture removal tools
For example:
- the tools you use to help you lift large pieces of furniture are stolen from your van while it’s parked outside a customer’s house during the daytime
- your heavy lifting and glider level system gets damaged on the way into a customer’s property
What you’ll need additional cover for
- if you leave your furniture removal tools locked in a vehicle overnight, they would need to be covered separately under goods in transit insurance
Read more about tools insurance
Business and office equipment insurance
In case something happens to your business and office equipment
What’s typically covered by business and office equipment insurance?
- loss or theft of the equipment you use to run your business (meaning operational equipment, not specialist removals tools) while stored at your home or business premises
- flood, fire, or accidental damage to your operational equipment
For example:
- you accidentally sit on the tablet you use for invoicing customers, which breaks the screen
- the laptop you use for your furniture removal work is stolen from your business premises
Read more about business and office equipment insurance
Legal expenses insurance
In case your furniture removals business is hit with legal costs
What’s typically covered by legal expenses insurance?
- the cost of resolving issues you could come up against in the running of your removals business, particularly disputes with your staff and tax or compliance irregularities
- personal enquiries by HMRC into you and other directors, as well as business enquiries
- helplines for tax advice, 24/7 confidential legal advice, and crisis PR support – providing expertise you can rely on at the press of a button
- legal claims relating to property damage, nuisance, or trespass
For example:
- you need help from an accountant because HMRC have decided to investigate your company’s tax affairs, or because you’ve been selected at random for an audit
- you need to defend yourself in court following the dismissal of an employee
Read more about legal expenses insurance
Personal accident insurance
In case anyone you’ve covered is accidentally injured, at or outside of work.
What’s typically covered by personal accident insurance?
- lost income, medical costs, and hospitalisation benefit due to injury or death – whether at work or elsewhere – for anybody you’ve named in your policy
For example:
- a door slams shut on your hand while you’re doing a removals job for a customer, meaning you’re unable to work for a month afterwards and you have to cancel several upcoming bookings
- your casual labourer breaks their leg on a night out
Read more about personal accident insurance
How much does furniture removal insurance cost?
Find out how much you’ll pay by comparing prices from a range of trusted insurers. You choose what goes into your policy, so you only pay for what you need.
Prices start from £6.77 per month
Get your quotes in 7 minutes – prices are guaranteed for 30 days.
Get your tailored quotes in 7 minutes
How we work out example prices We take the highest price from the bottom 10 per cent of all our customers paying in monthly instalments (based on data from 1 Jan 2021 - 31st August 2021). Most customers pay more than this but some pay less.
Example quotes, real prices
£10.56 /month
£85.62 /year
A self employed man with a van specialising in house moves
- 2-3 years' experience
- Sole trader
- No employees
- Based in Glasgow
Public liability
£1,000,000
Employers’ liability
Not included
Tools
Not included
£151.31 /month
£1,345.01 /year
A small local movers firm with 2 employees
- 5+ years' experience
- Limited company
- 2 employees
- Based in Poole
Public liability
£5,000,000
Employers’ liability
£10,000,000
Tools
£8,000
How we work out example quotes These examples are real quotes from our online system (created 20/01/2021). They’re based on a range of factors, like employees and location. Your own quote will be based on what you tell us about your business. Prices may go up or down from day to day, so the prices you’re quoted may differ to the ones you see here.
What kind of excess should I expect?
An excess is an amount you pay towards any claim you make on your insurance. For example, if your excess is £250 and you make a claim worth £1000, your payout will be a maximum of £750.
| Insurance cover | Lowest excess | Highest excess |
|---|---|---|
| Public liability | £100 | £2500 |
| Employers' liability | No excess | No excess |
| Tools | £60 | £500 |
| Business and office equipment | £50 | £750 |
The figures above are for guidance only and any excess applying to your quote may differ. You’ll get a breakdown of the excesses for each quote when you compare with us.
How it works
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We handle claims, so you can get on with business
How do I choose insurance?
Making sure you have the right type and level of business insurance can be the difference between getting a claim paid and having to cover the cost of an expensive accident yourself. Read our tips for guidance on what to consider when buying a policy.
Can I just cover my most expensive tools?
Which type of workers do I need insurance for?
Will tools insurance cover all my equipment?
Does furniture removal insurance cover my work correctly?
Do I need cover for other types of work?
Which public liability cover limit should I choose?
Can I just cover my most expensive tools?
Make sure you cover the total cost of replacing all your tools or you’ll only get a proportion of your claim paid out if something happens to them. Learn about tool cover.
Which type of workers do I need insurance for?
Employers’ liability insurance is a legal requirement if you employ people.
If you have people working for you, including bona fide subcontractors (BFSC), labour-only subcontractors (LOSC), part-timers, or full-time staff, employers’ liability insurance is required by law.
Read on for our simplified guide to the difference between labour-only subcontractors and bona fide subcontractors.
Will tools insurance cover all my equipment?
Depending on what you use to do your work, you may need other covers.
You may need more than tools insurance – for example, business equipment insurance if you have a work laptop, plant insurance if you use machinery.
Does furniture removal insurance cover my work correctly?
Make sure you're picking the right cover to protect you properly. It's important to know that if you have another trade or job, you'll need additional cover. For example, do you need to consider courier insurance or handyman insurance?
Do I need cover for other types of work?
If you provide these services alongside building work, make sure you’re covered:
Which public liability cover limit should I choose?
Think about the maximum possible loss your business could face in the event of a claim, and make sure you take legal fees and damages into consideration. You can choose from three levels of coverage – £1 million, £2 million, or up to £5 million.
Talk to an expert
Our team of UK-based insurance experts are here to help, Mon 09.00am - 05.30pm, Tues 09.00am - 05.30pm, Weds 09.00am - 05.30pm, Thurs 09.30am - 05.30pm, Fri 09.00am - 05.30pm, Sat 09.00am - 02.00pm
Call our team
How do claims work?
Unlike price comparison websites, we take the hassle out of claims for you. We know how important it is to get your business back on track quickly – and with a minimum of fuss. That’s why you get access to your dedicated claims any time, day or night. Call them on 0333 207 0560 or claim online. They’ll do their best to be fair and supportive. The figure below is rounded across our range of products. Our claims process may vary for different products and operates on a ‘claim by claim’ basis.
£30 million in claims paid out in 2019
Paying 80% of settled claims within 24 hours in 2019
Example claim
Having furniture removal insurance through Simply Business has saved furniture removal experts thousands of pounds when the unexpected happened.
Barnaby saved more than £1,200
While in the process of delivering a piano for a customer, Barnaby (not his real name) scratched a driveway by mistake. Luckily he could rely on his removal insurance policy to fund the expense of making things right again.
Insurance payout
£1,204.00
Covering the cost of accidental damage
Barnaby costs
£100
The excess amount stated in Barnaby policy terms
Chosen by 800,000 small businesses
We started out as a team of five back in 2005. We’ve grown since then with 800,000 customers across 1,500 trades now trusting us to provide their business insurance.
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Based on 39,283 reviews
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Furniture removal insurance FAQs
Whether you’re new to buying business insurance or you’ve been trading for a while, here are the answers to some commonly asked questions about furniture removal insurance. You can also check out our business insurance FAQs.
This depends partly on the way you run your man and van business, and partly on what’s important to you.
Do you have people working for you? Remember, you’re legally required to have employers’ liability cover.
And because you come into contact with other people (and their belongings) over the course of your removals work, public liability insurance is worth thinking about too. It steps in to cover the cost of accidental damage to somebody else’s property or accidental injury.
Do you rely on equipment such as a phone or laptop? You might also want to look into business and office equipment insurance.
Are you interested in safeguarding yourself and others from the financial difficulties that can follow on from injury and illness? That’s what personal accident insurance is for.
Finally, do you want an extra layer of protection against expenses following on from disputes with clients or employees, such as court costs and compensation payouts? You can take out legal expenses insurance.
Still feeling uncertain about what insurance you need for your man and van business? You might find it helpful to read our guide on assessing the risks.
Yes. It’s important to make sure you have the right type and level of insurance for the different types of work you do. For example, if you’re a plumber, you may also do building work on certain jobs – you’ll need additional cover for this, but you can have it all on the one policy. When you start your quote, you’ll have the option to add another trade or profession to your policy. If you need to add a third trade, give us a call on 0333 043 8527 and one of our insurance experts will help you set up your policy in minutes.
Each insurer looks at CCJs and IVAs differently – some apply stricter rules than others, but having a CCJ or IVA doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t be able to buy insurance.
You can choose the payment type that suits your business and cash flow best. Some customers prefer to pay in one go, while others prefer to pay a regular monthly amount, like you do with lots of other bills. Simply Business offer three ways to pay for your policy:
- one-off credit or debit card payment
- BACS payment
- Direct Debit
If you choose to pay by Direct Debit, our credit provider, Premium Credit, pays Simply Business the full amount for your policy up front. You then repay Premium Credit in 10 monthly installments.
This will depend on whether you have employers’ liability insurance in place. Public liability insurance is designed to protect your business against the consequences of legal action brought by members of the public for injuries or damage to their belongings. But when it comes to your employees causing injury or damage, this protection only activates if you also have employers’ liability insurance.
If you employ people, you’re required by law to have employers’ liability insurance.
There’s one exception here. Family businesses that aren’t incorporated as a limited company are not legally required to have employers’ liability insurance. The government defines a “family business” as one where all your employees are closely related to you (as a spouse, civil partner, sibling, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, step-parent, stepchild or half-sibling). So if you run an unincorporated family business and you choose not to get employers’ liability insurance, it’s important to know that your public liability insurance wouldn’t cover you against damage or injury caused by your team.
We create this content for general information purposes and it should not be taken as advice. Always check policy documentation for details and seek professional advice. Read our full Terms and Conditions
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