Kwik Fit Insurance is expanding into commercial lines with own-brand small to medium-sized enterprise products after joining forces with Moorhouse Brands, a trading subsidiary of Welsh broker Moorhouse.
Kwik Fit Insurance will offer a range of products tailored to meet the insurance needs of SMEs, tradesmen and the construction industry.

The SME products have been developed for Kwik Fit Insurance by Moorhouse Brands and will be provided as a comprehensive white-label package. Moorhouse Brands has also provided Kwik Fit Insurance with a fully branded website and marketing resource to support the SME products.

Moorhouse chairman Lyndon Wood said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Kwik Fit Insurance and look forward to helping grow their commercial lines book. We are also currently in discussion with other significant potential partners which we hope to announce shortly.”

Kwik Fit Insurance business development director Bert Main, said: “Many existing Kwik Fit Insurance customers are also SME businesses so there was obvious potential to supply them with commercial cover. “In choosing a partner, the comprehensive package offered by Moorhouse Brands convinced us that this would best suit our aims. By providing the support and infrastructure required, we believe they can help successfully maximise the Kwik Fit Insurance brand’s potential – providing further choice for our existing customers while also building an entirely new SME customer base.”

A leading insurance magazine recently published a survey on how small businesses are being affected by the credit crunch.  The survey identified the concerning statistic that 7% of businesses are cutting back on their insurances in an attempt to lower costs.

All businesses need insurance especially during a credit crunch to protect their business and this is where xbroker.com can help you to help your clients.

Xbroker.com is an online portal especially for brokers.  Our website provides comparative quotes on a host of business insurances meaning we do the shopping around for you and your clients.  This gives brokers the time to concentrate on writing more business. 

We are proud to announce the launch of a fantastic online PI product for the Xbroker.com platform. The product allows you to get quotes, purchase cover for your clients and download the documents immediately.

A wide range of occupations are covered including accountants, estate agents and electricians (who do PAT testing). The great news is that the cover also includes retroactive dates and flexible cover levels.

We believe this is a very competitive product with excellent cover levels. We will be uploading a product guide to the site in the next 48 hours and emailing it to you (if you are an existing Xbroker member). However, if you want an immediate quote, log in and you will find the product on our main menu.

If you are not yet an Xbroker member and would like to take advantage of this great addition to our platform, click here to start the registration process.

As of today, (1st October 2008) there has been a change to the legislation concerning the Employers’ Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Regulations 1998. Under the old legislation companies had to display at least one copy of their employers liability insurance certificate at each place business (usually in communal areas such as the kitchen).

The new legislation means that employers can keep these certificates in electronic format as long as it is readily accessible to all employees. In addition to this change, employers will no longer have to keep copies of their insurance certificates for 40 years.

The removal of the 40 year certificate retention requirement could be a potential problem for some companies as employers liability insurance claims can take decades to come to fruition and if a company no longer has these records could be found liable for the claim damages.

The changes come as part of a drive by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) to reduce companies’ administrative costs by 25%.

Xbroker, the leading online comparative quotation system from the Moorhouse Group, has expanded its panel and product range with the addition of three new insurers.

The expansion involves Axa, Groupama and Brit joining Xbroker to provide easy access to enhanced products for brokers. The three have joined initially with one product apiece, but other products are already in development and will be announced shortly. Xbroker is also in discussion with other insurers and further panel editions are expected by the autumn.

In an exclusive deal with Axa, Xbroker will provide broker access to its Hauliers Choice product which is not available electronically anywhere else.

Xbroker will also offer an improved commercial vehicle product from Groupama, which will replace the existing AIG product. Groupama’s offering has a higher capacity limit than its predecessor. This upgrade will allow greater volumes of commercial vehicle business to be transacted through Xbroker, meaning greater access for a broader number of brokers.

Brit also joins the Xbroker panel, initially to offer its recently launched professional indemnity product which can cater for over 140 trades.

Moorhouse chairman Lyndon Wood commented: “We are extremely pleased to welcome three first class insurers to the Xbroker panel, which is part of the group-wide hypergrowth strategy implemented in January. With this broader range of products now available from a single log-in it also furthers our aim of providing greater choice and access to market to brokers.”
Xbroker announced record growth in the first half of the year with the number of brokers using the facility increasing by 27% in April. Other areas of the business also saw rapid growth during the period and its high net worth motor product on track to reach £4 million in gross written premiums annually.

Moorhouse Xbroker products are underwritten by a panel of leading UK composite insurers with same-day policy issue and up to 25% commission to brokers.