Reply to: Insurance cover for loaned IT Equipment?

[tonyjwheeler]

Thanks to all...

Oh - and to the OP - treat like your own laptop and make sure you don't damage it in the first place.

(How many have you got through until now??)

Indeed. Lots of comments that are most welcome. Here is what I found out:

• Kingsbridge PI cover includes "property" but then excludes most cases (incl loaned equipment)
• Business equipment insurance covers your own equipment
• British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) could not find cover

I had assumed that I needed cover as the client would be asking me to sign for the laptop (an expensive one) but it could be that the client has it covered - or should do.

Thanks. If anything changes I'll get back here with comment.

Regards

Tony

[cojak]

Oh - and to the OP - treat like your own laptop and make sure you don't damage it in the first place.

(How many have you got through until now??)

[cojak]

Make sure that the status and condition of the equipment is clearly documented and signed off on by both you and a client representative before accepting it. Failure to do so may result in all sorts of headaches, like this --> Paying the damage

What???

I would have logged an incident 2 minutes after being given that pile of junk! What the hell was he thinking?!?

[Lance]

I've had PI for 25 years, and never once read the fine print. I did think one was "indemnified" against damage to client equipment and systems, provided it wasn't deliberate. Thankfully I've never had to claim...honest!

Perhaps I should have got PPI instead, at least I could have claimed it all back...

PI insurance is an odd one.
Never gets claimed, and is cheap to buy. And always required.

If however, you run a real business, with employees doing work for your client, it's really expensive. It's a tickbox exercise for one-man bands. It's why they charge >£1k a day for the consultancies, and why small businesses struggle to compete. They can't charge >1k a day, but are undercut by one-man contractor companies.

A sensible client will not bother about PI as it's never claimed, but due to the risk averse nature of agencies it creates a bit of a racket. IMO. IANAL.

[Mordac]

That's lucky then

I've had PI for 25 years, and never once read the fine print. I did think one was "indemnified" against damage to client equipment and systems, provided it wasn't deliberate. Thankfully I've never had to claim...honest!

Perhaps I should have got PPI instead, at least I could have claimed it all back...

[northernladuk]

Happy to be corrected.

That's lucky then

[Mordac]

Nope.

PI is cover against you being not very good at your profession.
The client, or their equipment, are not 'public'.

Happy to be corrected.

[Lance]

It probably does, but it probably won't cover theft, fire, flood etc., or one of your children getting handy with a hammer...

Nope.

PI is cover against you being not very good at your profession.
The client, or their equipment, are not 'public'.

[Lance]

Doesn't professional indemnity/public liability insurance cover any damage you cause to third party equipment/people etc during the course of your daily duties?

No.

[Mordac]

Doesn't professional indemnity/public liability insurance cover any damage you cause to third party equipment/people etc during the course of your daily duties?

And so if client co tried to claim off you then you would claim of that.

It probably does, but it probably won't cover theft, fire, flood etc., or one of your children getting handy with a hammer...

[Mordac]

What has the client said? Have they indicated you need the get the insurance or are you making an assumption?

I've never heard of or seen a contractor having to insure client kit before.

I had a spell setting up servers at home and delivering them to site pre-configured. At the peak I had c.£20k worth of kit in the spare room, and it cost me about £60 to add cover for that lot* onto myco's policy. (I can't remember the insurer, but it was probably Direct Line). I covered the extra, rather than bill the client, as I thought it might be a good outside-IR35 pointer. (An employee wouldn't have to insure client kit he was working on away from client premises.)

*The client didn't insist on insurance cover, but I didn't fancy anything unpleasant happening to several grands worth of kit which wouldn't have been covered otherwise.

[northernladuk]

Doesn't professional indemnity/public liability insurance cover any damage you cause to third party equipment/people etc during the course of your daily duties?

And so if client co tried to claim off you then you would claim of that.

Have you checked the wording in your PI/PL policies?

[original PM]

Insurable interest is going to be an issue here, in that you have none. If the client's equipment gets damaged, it's the client, not you that suffers the immediate financial loss, so I think this would have to be covered by the client's insurance in the first instance. Obviously, you would have the secondary costs of being charged by the client for this loss, but I can't think how you would go about obtaining insurance cover for this risk...

Might be worth speaking to your Professional Indemnity insurer in the first instance, see if there is an extension/add-ons they can offer, but I think you'll likely have to self-insure this one....

For the same reason, you'd struggle to insure car you don't own (unless owned by a close family relative).

Doesn't professional indemnity/public liability insurance cover any damage you cause to third party equipment/people etc during the course of your daily duties?

And so if client co tried to claim off you then you would claim of that.

[fiisch]

Insurable interest is going to be an issue here, in that you have none. If the client's equipment gets damaged, it's the client, not you that suffers the immediate financial loss, so I think this would have to be covered by the client's insurance in the first instance. Obviously, you would have the secondary costs of being charged by the client for this loss, but I can't think how you would go about obtaining insurance cover for this risk...

Might be worth speaking to your Professional Indemnity insurer in the first instance, see if there is an extension/add-ons they can offer, but I think you'll likely have to self-insure this one....

For the same reason, you'd struggle to insure car you don't own (unless owned by a close family relative).

[Old Greg]

Don't bother. Nick a bog roll per day from the client to make yourself feel better about the risk.