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Towergate business insurance: at a glance
Towergate is an insurance broker and you might look to them if you need specialist business insurance, or if you aren’t sure what cover your company might need. It’s an insurance broker that can access a range of providers. It can offer specific cover that’s built around your business, as well the standard business insurance you would expect.
The Towergate name might be new to you, but the insurers on its books are likely to be familiar. It has over 2,000 advisers who you can talk to about insurance for your profession and particular business.
Towergate Business Insurance
- Maximum Cover AmountsPublic Liability: £10m | Employers Liability: £10m | Professional Indemnity: £10m
Learn more about how we bring you our review.
Towergate business insurance pros and cons
Pros
- You can save and retrieve quotes online.
- You can amend or renew your policy by email or an online form.
- There is phone support for policy management.
- You can make a claim by phone, email or post.
- You can shop by specific industry, with optional add-ons for typical risks.
- Annual or monthly premiums options are available.
Cons
- You can’t call customer services on weekends.
These pros and cons are based on a survey of UK business owners on what they found important when selecting a range of business products, conducted by NerdWallet in December 2022.
Towergate business insurance key features
- Offers flexible packages of cover
- Can cater for specialist and niche professions
- Comprehensive range of cover
Towergate business insurance full review
Towergate’s particular focus is businesses that have special requirements, such as past claims that might otherwise make it harder to find or be accepted for insurance. But it offers more standard business insurance too.
It offers a variety of cover types that can help safeguard your business from a number of potential costs and liabilities.
As Towergate is a broker, the policy you may decide to take out via them will be provided by another firm. They will look to place your business with the most appropriate provider for your needs.
This review is based on Towergate and not the firms they broker to. The types of products, benefits & features referred to in this review cover the range of firms Towergate conducts business with. Specific details such as the pro’s and con’s refer to Towergates services.
What types of business insurance does Towergate offer?
Towergate offers a large range of core business cover, as well as more specialist cover through the insurers on its panel:
- Public liability insurance (up to £10 million): This covers legal fees and compensation costs if a member of the public is injured or their property is lost or damaged and your business is at fault.
- Product liability insurance (up to £10 million): Covers the cost of compensation and legal defence if you supply a product that has caused a customer to be ill or injured, or has damaged their property, and they make a claim against you.
- Employers’ liability insurance (£10 million): This covers legal and compensation costs if a permanent or temporary employee gets injured or becomes ill (or depending on the policy, dies) due to their work. You can only buy this with public liability insurance, or as part of a business cover package.
- Professional indemnity insurance (up to £10 million): This is protection for legal and compensation costs for mistakes, negligence or bad advice by you or your business that cost your client money or damages their reputation.
- Business contents and stock insurance: This covers belongings inside your premises (and can extend to taking them elsewhere), such as office equipment and shop stock if they are stolen or damaged.
- Plant, tools and business equipment insurance: This covers accidental loss, damage or theft of your tools and equipment, and can include machinery, own plant and hired-in plant.
- Business interruption insurance: This covers lost income if your business can’t operate after an unexpected event, such as a fire or flood or equipment breakdown.
- Cyber insurance: This is protection to help your business recover financially after a cyber event, such as a data breach, phishing or ransomware attack.
- Directors’ and officers’ insurance: This is cover for directors and key managers if compensation claims are made against them for mistakes or wrongful acts.
Some cover, such as business interruption insurance, employers’ liability insurance and hired-in plant, can’t be bought on its own and must be combined with another type of cover or package.
Towergate also offers:
- Commercial vehicle insurance: This is cover for using a vehicle for work, such as carrying stock or tools to other locations. It can pay out if you are involved in an accident or your van is stolen or destroyed, depending on the level of insurance you choose.
- Landlord insurance: If you rent out a property, whether it’s residential, commercial or mixed use, this can cover the building itself and your fixtures and fittings after an unexpected event causes damage or loss. It can also cover loss of rent, liability cover and other risks, such as home emergency cover if something needs fixing quickly.
Towergate’s offering is one of the more comprehensive and flexible, in part due to it being a broker with access to a number of products and providers. It also has a sister company Towergate Health & Protection that offers employee benefits and health and life insurance.
Towergate business insurance features
Below, you can find out more about what Towergate business insurance features. We’ve also considered what business owners said was most important to them in our NerdWallet survey.
Professions and trades covered
Towergate covers a number of trades and professions. Its packages are built around the risks of each. A few examples include:
- Therapist insurance: Beauty therapists, counsellors, psychotherapists and nutritional therapists.
- Camera insurance: Commercial drone, DSLR (digital single-lens reflex), film and TV production, photography, videography and camera equipment.
- Care and medical insurance: Care home, medical indemnity, nursery, charity, dental, domiciliary care and surgery.
- Commercial property insurance: Office, pub, shop and warehouse.
- Commercial vehicle insurance: Fleet, self-drive, agricultural, van, minibus and taxis.
- Small business insurance: Consultants, freelancers, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), sole traders and people who work from home.
- Landlord insurance: Landlord contents, emergency, student landlord and landlord house in multiple occupation (HMO).
- Trade-specific insurance: Builders, contractors, construction, farm and plumbers.
Payment options
You can pay your business insurance premiums annually or monthly by direct debit. Smaller, regular payments may be useful for budgeting, but may cost you more in total through the interest you are charged.
Having this choice was key for a number of business owners in our survey, with the option to pay monthly the second most important factor and annual payment in fourth place.
Online policy management
To ask to make changes to your policy or to renew it, you can call Towergate, fill in a contact form for a call back from one of its agents, or send an email. You can also save and retrieve quotes through an online portal.
Web-based policy management was the third most important factor in our survey. So, while contact by email and managing quotes goes a little way towards that, some business owners might want greater online functionality.
Phone support
You can contact Towergate customer services by phone, and you can also request a call back by email. Lines are open on weekdays (not weekends or bank holidays). The number you call and opening hours vary across cover types.
In our survey, being able to call customer services to make policy changes was ranked eighth in importance, with the majority seeing the self-service, online route as a higher priority. But the option to be able to speak to a person about their cover is important for some.
Making a claim
For most types of cover, you can make a claim by phone or by email, though some cover is by phone only. There are different claims routes, depending on the cover type. Phone lines are open on weekdays, generally during working hours, again depending on the type of cover.
Some commercial vehicle claims lines, such as for minibus and taxi cover, are open 24/7. An address is provided for each cover type, so sending claim information by this route is possible.
In our survey, being able to make a claim online was important for nearly half of business owners, and was the top ranking factor. For Towergate, the emphasis seems to be on claims via the phone.
Customer reviews
Towergate UK has a Trustpilot rating of 4 out of 5 stars, based on over 800 reviews, as of 8 March 2023.
Be aware that these reviews aren’t exclusively about business insurance, as Towergate also offers general insurance cover.
Can you shop by profession with Towergate?
You can shop by an array of specific occupations with Towergate, from barbers to window cleaners. There are also more niche offerings, such as a range of camera and multimedia insurance.
This might be useful if you want to see the typical cover people doing your work might need. Not all types of cover mentioned will be relevant to your individual business, such as if you don’t have employees, so try to stay focused on your risks. For example, that might mean a tradesperson package of cover that includes hired-in plant, or breach of contract cover for influencers.
You can also find cover by your type of business, whether you’re self-employed, for example.
In our NerdWallet survey, being able to shop by industry was only ranked seventh out of 10 in importance. Even so, speed and ease of buying and industry expertise were certainly factors for some.
How to choose the right business insurance
The business insurance policies or package you choose needs to address the risks your business faces. There’s a lot of choice available, but some businesses might need the following cover to be able to operate:
- You need employers’ liability insurance by law if you employ anyone in the UK who isn’t close family. Though if you employ family and your business is a limited company, you will need it.
- For some professions, such as solicitors and accountants, professional indemnity insurance is required by their governing body or regulator.
- You may be asked to have a specific level of public liability insurance to carry out some work, including for government contracts.
- If you use a vehicle for work (other than commuting), you must have motor insurance and should consider business car insurance or commercial vehicle insurance.
If you’re not sure which types of cover you need, an independent business insurance broker can help. Membership and trade bodies may also help you work out the minimum level of cover you need.
How to get Towergate business insurance
You can get a quote for Towergate business insurance online or by phone.
You will need to supply information about you and your business, including its name, structure (for example, limited company or partnership) and when you started trading, as well as your proposed policy start date. You can then add the cover you need.
Once Towergate has searched for cover from their panel of insurers, you can apply for cover if you decide it’s right and affordable for you. You can also compare the quote details with other providers.
How to save money on Towergate business insurance
Towergate offers a discount on professional indemnity insurance if you are a member of an industry body or professional association.
You may also get a discount on your premiums if you insure more than one vehicle or have certain security systems in place. Depending on the type of cover, it’s worth asking what discounts might be available if you speak to a customer service agent.
Review methodology
At NerdWallet UK, we base our reviews and our ‘Best’ pages on the results of surveys we undertook about what was important to people who use these products. This allows us to look at products impartially of any commercial arrangements we have and fairly rate the products on the same set of criteria.
Best means our ‘Best’ and is based only on what products we have aligned to our surveys, which form the basis of our reviews and ratings. This means that there will be other products on the market that we have not included in our ‘Best’ pages. Best does not mean it’s best for you, nor does it mean the ‘cheapest’.
Our reviews may display lenders’ rates. This additional information has not been included in our evaluations but is still very important when choosing a product. Rates offered can depend on circumstances, amount and term. Always check details before proceeding with any financial product.
Product details reflect the information that was available at that time but may have changed since. We strive to give you a review on as many products as possible, but there will be products not included on the market. The review is our opinion, but it does not constitute advice, recommendation or suitability for your financial circumstances.
While we try to provide you with accurate information, the providers can change the terms of their products at any time, therefore it is advisable to check the terms before you proceed.
You can view our full review methodology here.