Workshop Insurance

Well it's that time of year again.
My insurance runs out at the end of this month.
Last year thru the help of Wilf Baker who reads this news group, I
managed to find an insurer that would cover me thus..
House contents plus workshop contents on one policy covered to total
=A335,000
means if the workshop were to burn down and I lost everything I would
be paid out =A335,000
But if the house and the workshop burned down ...I would still only get
=A335,000.
I was happy enough with that, as most of my high value stuff is in the
workshop.
The policy cost me =A3180
This year the same company nationwide building society insurance say
I'm only covered up to =A3500 for contents of any outbuildings...so I'm
stumped
So for the last three days I've been phoning around .............and I
cant find any insurer that will cover me like I want it.
I cant even find someone to put the workshop on a separate policy at a
nice cheap price.
also I'm not well-off enough to pay a separate premium for the
workshop.
When I questioned some of them ............they say would be paying the
market value of my machines .............and we all know what that
means don't we.
ah yes sir your machine is over ten years old and the value of scrap
metal is thus..etc
Anyone got any leads.
all the best..mark

I don't think any "standard" insurer offering house insurance will give you anywhere near decent workshop cover. You need a specialist insurer, who know what they are doing.
Walker midgely are at all the model engineer shows, and the leaflet I have quotes £6.90 per £1,000 of cover for workshops. They are at
They will insure machines at "current value" and tools on new replacement.
Anyone know of anyone else who covers workshops?
Regards Kevin

Build a workshop that won't burn down?

And doors you weld shut when you leave.

But where do you store the welder and the grinder to get back in again?

Build a small workshop at the side .................... -- Regards,
John Stevenson Nottingham, England.
Visit the new Model Engineering adverts page at:-

.......and Get MC Escher to design it?

That would be a great help ;-)
Alternatively, acquire a pack of Dobermans (Dobermen?)
Regards, Tony

Or borrow my friends wife. She's so ugly you could pay her to haunt your house.
Peter

means if the workshop were to burn down and I lost everything I would be paid out £35,000
I would be very surprised if that was the case, insurance doesn't normally work that way though people often think it does, you don't automatically get the insured amount even in a total loss situation. Even if you have a 'new for old' policy you still only get the actual cost of the replacements but not exceeding the insured amount.
Greg

Thank you Kevin WILF has come to the rescue again this year .Thank you Wilf . He has given me the name of insurer that will meet my needs. . ...HE RECONS WALKER MIDGLEY ALSO. Will phone them up Monday.............if all is good will publish results here Monday. price /if house contents are covered / new for old or whatever/sum insured.
all the best.mark

Are you absolutely certain that this is the case (i.e. have it written explicitly into the insurance contract)? My understanding of houshold, and any other form of insurance, is that they only pay out pro-rata. So if the total insured value is X, you have to lose it all to get paid the fully amount.
Hopefully, you'll never have to find out, but from the above it sounds like your cover is for 35k, but the total value of your "stuff", i.e. house and workshop is 70k. So if you lost the lot, you'd only be paid the 35k it's insured for (as you say). However, if you lost for instance, the workshop, your insurance would only pay the proportional value of the loss, in that case 17.5k
Pete

I don't know Pete it was explained to me over the phone that I was covered for =A335,000 .=2E......for house and outbuildings. whatever contents were in them would be covered for that amount they (nationwide) said. and it said they same on the policy when it arrived. That was all there was to it.........at the time I could not get any other insurance to come anywhere near it.......so I just settled with that. What would have happened at pay out time didn't mater ,,,,,,,,,,because I couldn't find anything better. It was one up on all other insurers that only wanted to cover contents of outbuildings at =A3500. it was a comprimise that i had to accept ..or be covered for only =A3500 for my machinery Anyways that policy ends this month ......because they have gone down the =A3500 route for this years new cover.. so I'm moving onto another.
I had one quote yesterday from another insurance company.. Towergate .=2E...the the only way that they could do it, was combined workshop structure/building plus contents.....cover equalled =A370,000.....which equalled =A3280 premium..........then I would have my house contents on top of that ....plus I already have buildings insurance that covers my house and my outbuildings.........when I add up my buildings insurance plus contents with someone else..it would have come out at a total of over =A3800...NO DEAL.
All the best...mark

It's not cheap getting anything like decent cover these days, so one thing to do is to make your workshop as hard to break into as possible and take a reasonably sized excess to reduce the premium.
As our workshop is integral with the house structure, it is covered by the main insurance, but separate buildings are a bit of a nightmare.
We are just fitting new doors to our workshop, hardwood frames out of 4"X2" with 16g Zintec steel panelling over all the door and wrapped around the side of the door frame into a rebate so it can't be got underneath with a jemmy (crowbar to the younger members!)
We had to replace one door anyway through weathering, but still cost the wrong side of £500 altogether for the two doors. Windows are all double glazed.
Peter -- Peter & Rita Forbes Email: snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk Web:

i pay $120 for monthly insurance my lowest so far see check insurance companies prices avail.