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Luke Ngwerume
MANY businesses unknowingly or deliberately undervalue their assets and risks in order to achieve a lower premium.

The reality is that in the event of a serious loss, you will not be able to enjoy the benefit of full replacement cost because the insurer will adjust the payment in accordance with the under-insured value.

Make sure your assets/risks are properly assessed before every renewal. Too many businesses tempt fate and deliberately omit insuring certain risks because they feel the chances of the risk materialising are small. Many transporters operate with no GIT, public liability, fire and so on.

Accidents by nature occur without warning and often when you least expect them. When you do not have the resources readily available to remedy an unplanned loss it can often cause severe disruption or depending on the size of business it could totally cripple your business. Make sure you understand the impact of a risk occurring if you decide to exclude its insurance.

Many small businesses grow from small home industries to become fledging SMEs. Through that transition their owners fail to realise that as their business grows, so do their risks. The need to properly insure not just their assets but their employee benefits also grows. If you do not have the internal capacity in your business to acquire the right insurance, call an insurance agent to help you through the process.

Be careful not to over-trust your broker! Many businesses believe that their broker is their insurer. Many do not know or even care who their actual insurer is. The onus is on the business owner to know their insurer.

This is a high risk error because it is the insurer and not the broker that pays your claims. If your broker has placed your insurance with an insurer who is not sufficiently capitalised or stable, you may run into problems getting your claims fulfilled. Make sure you know your insurer, understand their stability and their reputation for customer service and claims handling.

Luke Ngwerume is the chief executive officer of Zimselector.com, a local online insurance agent.