Retail insurance for the shop you built

Contents and stock, theft and business interruption have their own sections below. A shop can also choose:

Glass. Shopfront windows, doors, internal glass and the signage often fixed to it. Without this section, most of the policies we place still pay for glass broken in listed events, such as fire, storm, impact or a malicious act. Accidental breakage needs the glass section.

Public and products liability. A claim against you for an injury at your shop or harm from something you sold. Products cover is usually one limit a year, shared by every products claim. See Public Liability Insurance.

Money. Cash has its own section, with a different limit in the till while you trade, in a locked safe after hours and on the way to the bank.

Machinery breakdown. Your property cover does not pay when a machine breaks down on its own. Most of the retail shops we insure sell food, homewares or clothing. For a food shop, this section can cover stock that spoils when a fridge or cool room fails.

On the business packs we place, everything you own in the shop sits in one section. Its sum insured has to be the full replacement cost of the fit-out, contents, plant, electronic equipment, stock and any customer goods you hold.

The fit-out is everything built into the space: shopfitting, counters, flooring, lighting, signage and wiring or plumbing done for your shop. It goes in at what it would cost to rebuild today. Stock goes in at what you would pay to buy it again, cost plus freight and duty, not what you sell it for.

In our experience, a short figure here is the single most common retail mistake, and raising it on a business pack can make only a modest difference to the premium. A lower renewal price sometimes comes only from a lower figure, so compare the figures before the prices.

On the business packs we place, your stock cover lifts on its own during a busy period, with no need to tell the insurer in advance. The lift is generous, and we have rarely needed to arrange more. The Seasonal Stock Clause sets out how far it goes and what to check if your peak runs higher or longer.

Your contents and stock sum insured is also tested against their true value at the start of your policy period. If it falls short, a partial loss can be cut back in proportion. A total loss is paid only up to your policy's limit, which on some policies sits above the sum insured. The Co-Insurance Clause shows the maths.

Your lease may make you insure the fit-out, or make you responsible for the landlord's fixtures, fittings or plant. Which policy covers them turns on the lease and how your policy defines and lists them. Where the two do not match, you and the landlord can each think the other has it covered, and an item goes uninsured.

If the landlord's side causes the damage, your own policy usually pays first for your contents and stock, fit-out included. Your insurer can then try to recover the money from whoever is liable for the damage. Whether it can depends on the lease and on how the damage happened. A claim against the landlord can take a year or two, so insure what is yours.

A clothing shop's floor. Water came through a shop's roof and ruined the clothing retailer's floating timber floor. The lease made the tenant responsible for the flooring. The tenant's insurer paid for the repairs first, while recovery from the building owner's side was pursued separately.

See who pays for building insurance on a commercial property.

The proof is a certificate of currency, which shows the cover you hold on the day it is issued. We release yours once we have received your premium. It costs nothing to note your landlord on the policy as an interested party, so the insurer knows the landlord's stake.

We often see tenants miss that their lease makes them service the air conditioning. A lease can also make you pay for damage your business does to the building, even if you did not notice it happening. Damage that builds up slowly is the kind a policy is least likely to pay for.

We can match your cover to your lease, reading its insurance clause with you when you have it to hand.

The indemnity period is how long the cover runs after the damage. It has to carry you past reopening while you win customers back, and a period set too short will not stretch.

For a shop, we recommend 18 months of business interruption cover. The period is yours to choose, and the longer it is, the better placed you are at claim time.

On the policies we place, this cover can pay, up to set limits, when damage elsewhere stops your trade: at a customer's or supplier's premises in Australia, at the anchor store of a shopping centre you trade in, or to a utility supply, such as power or water. For damage to a utility supply away from your shop, this cover generally applies only if the interruption lasts more than 48 hours.

Most of those policies can cut back what this cover pays if your profits figure is below 80 per cent of what it should be.

Contents and stock cover alone does not pay for theft on any pack we place. Theft with no sign of a break-in may be paid only up to a lower limit, and stock may be treated differently from your other contents. Theft by your own staff has its own conditions and limits. Our theft cover guide sets out options for broader cover.

The claims manager will deal with the insurer, tell you what it needs and keep you informed, so you can get on with reopening. The insurer decides the claim, and we press for what your policy and the evidence support.