The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Smallholding => Buildings & planning => Topic started by: Stellan Vert on July 22, 2013, 08:31:12 am

Title: Smallholding insurance
Post by: Stellan Vert on July 22, 2013, 08:31:12 am
Hi All  :wave:

We are presently insured with the COOP, general household insurance which is due for renewal.

Who would you suggest that I contact for Smallholding Insurance?

SV
Title: Re: Smallholding insurance
Post by: Foobar on July 22, 2013, 05:31:18 pm
NFU for a start.  There are others too, I've seen them advertised in Country Smallholding etc mags.
Title: Re: Smallholding insurance
Post by: ferretkeeper on July 23, 2013, 08:55:14 am
Watch out with NFU - I have a policy with them covering the smallholding/home worker type thing, which can only be taken out with their home insurance. I needed to amend the policy to cover my new business and after a bit of discussion it turns out the smallholder policy only costs £125 but my annual policy price is over £600  :o

so it turns out I've been paying WAY over the odds for my home insurance JUST so I can have cover for the smallholding. I told them I will be cancelling as soon as a current claim is dealt with, and might speak to CAB about such a rip off - I would never have taken the policy out had it been broken down like that in the paperwork.

There are some old threads on here about policies for smallholders, I can't remember off the top of my head but I'll need to look them up myself soon 
Title: Re: Smallholding insurance
Post by: Stellan Vert on July 23, 2013, 12:09:54 pm
Hi Ferretkeeper

Thank you that is the sort of comment I was looking for.

We presently have a buildings policy , a contents policy, a third party liabilty policy plus other bits and bobs.

I have been advised that I can pull it all together which will be more cost effective and by using the right underwriter we will get a better product for our needs.

SV
Title: Re: Smallholding insurance
Post by: honeyend on July 23, 2013, 05:31:35 pm
I seems to be a very grey area , I had the NFU out and they wouldn't insure us as we were renting out the house. I am now insured but when I rang up to get cover for casual employees, to help with fencing and drains the women totally misunderstood and two weeks later I got a letter about work being done to the house.
I pay about £480, the house is a shed and has no value really and cover for out buildings, it mainly for the public liability, livestock and it includes cover for caravans. I am yet to resolve the worker situation, I have lost the will to live.
Title: Re: Smallholding insurance
Post by: Stellan Vert on July 25, 2013, 09:27:58 am
Hi Honeyend

Try Greenlands Insurance Services,  www.greenlands.co.uk/smallholders/ (http://www.greenlands.co.uk/smallholders/)
they do smallholder insurance which includes employers liability cover.

SV.
Title: Re: Smallholding insurance
Post by: bazzais on July 25, 2013, 01:16:44 pm
I got insurance with the FUW its just under two grand for all the outbuildings, farm, landrover + quad + tractors  (fully comp any driver), public liability for the campsite and car park, 3 rental properties buildings no content, insurance for water leaks, employee liability, garage and tools etc etc - much better off having it all on one policy.

It all comes with the added bonus that you actually get someone round your house to walk and have a look at your buildings and make recommendations - makes you feel like you are covered unlike many other companies who dont know you from adam, sell you the insurance only for you then to find out when you ae a claim - you have not read the tiny tiny tiny small print and youve been paying you premiums for nothing
Title: Re: Smallholding insurance
Post by: bazzais on July 25, 2013, 01:18:07 pm
Not that I have ever made a claim - cant stand the paperwork - rather pay for it myself unless its a catastofic amount which has never happened touch wood.

Title: Re: Smallholding insurance
Post by: HesterF on August 01, 2013, 01:05:07 am
I contacted NFU for a quote this year but it was a lot more than we currently pay Nationwide so we've stuck with Nationwide. We don't have any public liability insurance at the moment but our regular home and contents insurance covers everything that is relevant for us currently (bigger animals and holiday cottage will change that). The only potential stumbling block was the tractor - regular home insurance covers a machine that is used for mowing (i.e. ride-on) but not a regular tractor. Ours is a compact tractor which we use primarily for mowing so the mowing bits are permanently attached which we've got away with as a ride-on. Hopefully it'll never come up in a claim!

H
Title: Re: Smallholding insurance
Post by: marka on September 23, 2013, 09:44:20 pm
HI all,

Just my twopenneths worth but ive just got a quote from Greenlands which included public liability etc ( no vehicles though ) and seemed very reasonable - they offer a bolt on home and contents policy as well ( although you cant get this seperately ) which seems reasonable although it may be possible to get cheaper home and contents from elsewhere.

Hope this helps

Regards
Title: Re: Smallholding insurance
Post by: AndynJ on September 26, 2013, 08:38:50 pm
We use Thistle
We have I think 4 acres as smallholding/personal, we have £16,000 contents, £9,000 laundry equipment/supplies, £7500 mini digger, £7,000 push bikes, it also includes cover for our barn that is a building site, cover for 8 log cabins total loss £1.2m and or loss of earnings £97k, public liability £10M, personal liability & contractors liability. road traffic acts insurance for digger & mower
Cost £649
They are the top insurers for log cabins
Title: Re: Smallholding insurance
Post by: marka on September 26, 2013, 08:53:02 pm

Just an update - had a quote from GMM and Greenlands is still better value across both the smallholding insurance and the home and contents, although GMM was slightly cheaper by about £7 on the smallholding quote.

Regards

Mark
Title: Re: Smallholding insurance
Post by: littleacorn on September 28, 2013, 07:19:22 pm
Make sure the policy meets your requirements. We had the Greenlands smallholder policy last year - just the smallholding part not house and contents.  The electric got disconnected from the portacabin type building that houses our 'butchery' and the freezer defrosted which contained a substantial quantity of pork and sausages.  We thought this would be covered as the policy documents mention that the 'crop' is covered and pork is our crop.  The insurance company did not pay out - their reason -  there is no accidental cover on the smallholding policy.