Business interruption insurance pays for the gross profit you lose while your business is at a standstill, or running at half capacity, after covered material damage.
Without obligation; a reply within one working day.
The calculator and the quote form below are in Dutch. Prefer to do this in English? Email info@finassverzekert.nl or call 072 - 509 24 56 and we will take it from there.
Work out your own premium with the calculator.
Enter your details; you will receive a proposal within one working day.
We compare the offerings of several insurers
An adviser checks whether the cover suits your activities
A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
In brief
The sum insured is not your turnover and not your profit, but your gross profit: turnover minus the costs that move with production when it stops, such as purchasing and consumption. The costs that run on while nothing is coming in, such as rent, interest, depreciation and the wages you want to keep paying, are precisely what it does include. If that sum is set too low, underinsurance applies and the payment is reduced proportionately.
The second quantity is the indemnity period. That runs not until reopening but until the moment you are back at your old level of turnover. Delivery time for machines, permits, rebuilding and winning back customers who have gone elsewhere all count. For an office a short period can be enough; for a manufacturing business with specialist equipment it is almost always too short.
Business interruption insurance is a derived cover: there must first be covered material damage, usually fire, storm, water or burglary damage to the building or contents. If you can keep going from another location after damage, additional costs insurance is often the more suitable and cheaper form.
The structure of the cover in three parts, with an overview per situation below.
The basics
Liability
AVB for property damage and injury, BAV for professional errors.
Damage to third parties
Employers' liability
Care, custody and control as an extension
Your business
Assets and continuity
Business contents, goods and lost turnover during downtime.
Business contents at replacement value as new
Goods at cost price
Business interruption or additional costs
If you employ people
Staff
Sickness absence, accidents and the traffic risk.
Continued pay for 104 weeks
Group personal accident
WEGAS for traffic risks
What is covered
Situation
AVB
BAV
Cyber
Injury to a visitor or customer
Yes
No
No
Damage to a client's property
Sometimes
No
No
Financial loss caused by an advisory or calculation error
No
Yes
No
Downtime after a ransomware attack
No
No
Yes
Data breach involving personal data
No
Sometimes
Yes
Damage to property in your care
No
No
No
This overview is general in nature and is not personal advice. What is actually covered, including exclusions, limits and the excess, is set out in the policy conditions and the insurance card (verzekeringskaart) of the insurer; you receive both before you take out cover. Taking out cover without advice? Then read what execution only means for you.
Where things go wrong in practice
Four points that make the difference between a policy that pays out and one that does not.
No material damage, no payment
This is the most important limitation. If you are at a standstill through ransomware, a failure at your hosting provider, a power cut outside your site or a supplier who does not deliver, there is no material damage to your own property and the policy does not pay. Digital interruption belongs on cyber insurance with interruption cover; interruption at suppliers or customers calls for a separate section that you have to have expressly insured.
Review the gross profit each year
The sum insured is a snapshot from annual accounts that are already old when a loss occurs. If you grow, your gross profit grows with you and silent underinsurance arises: the insurer then pays proportionately less than the actual loss. Many policies therefore have an adjustment afterwards or a reserve margin. Report changes in turnover, product range and locations; that also bears on the duty of disclosure under Article 7:928 of the Dutch Civil Code.
Work the period back from full turnover
An indemnity period of twelve months sounds generous until you set the chain out: clearing rubble, the insurance assessment, the permit, rebuilding, delivery time for machines, commissioning and only then winning customers back. If that runs over, the payment stops while your turnover has not yet recovered. With unique premises, a specialist production line or a strongly seasonal business, a longer period is rarely superfluous.
Report at once and keep your records available
The size of your loss is shown from your own figures. A loss adjuster compares the turnover achieved with the turnover you would have achieved without the event. Make sure the records are accessible after a fire as well, for example through a back-up kept off the premises. Report the loss within the period set by Article 7:941 DCC; the insurer may not pay you more than your actual loss, as Article 7:960 DCC provides.
What does your premium depend on?
Level of the gross profit — The sum insured is the basis of calculation; it follows from your turnover minus the variable costs.
Indemnity period chosen — Twelve, eighteen or twenty-four months; the period weighs heavily in the premium.
Fire risk of the premises — Construction, compartmentation, sprinkler or detection installation and the presence of neighbouring risks.
How far the business assets can be restored — Delivery time for machines and whether production can be housed elsewhere for a time.
Seasonal pattern — Businesses with a concentrated peak in turnover suffer a larger loss if damage occurs in that period.
Excess in days — A waiting period before the payment begins lowers the premium and shifts the first part of the loss to you.
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is why comparing pays off.
How we arrange it
You request a quoteWe take stock of your activities, turnover and wishes.
We compareseveral insurers, on premium as well as conditions.
You receive a proposalWith an explanation of the differences and the exclusions.
We arrange the switchIncluding cancellation, so there is no gap in cover.
Customers rate our service on four aspects: personal service, service delivery, availability and the outcome. The reviews are collected and published by NH1816 and come from customers who have actually taken out a policy with Finass Advies B.V. or reported a claim.
Does business interruption insurance pay out after a cyber attack?
No, not by itself. The policy requires covered material damage to your building, contents or goods. With ransomware or a hacked system there is no physical damage, so there is no right to payment. Interruption from a digital cause belongs on cyber insurance with business interruption cover. If you take that out, watch the waiting period in hours.
What is the difference from additional costs insurance?
Business interruption insurance pays the gross profit you lose because the turnover falls away. Additional costs insurance pays instead the additional costs you incur in order not to come to a standstill: a temporary location, hired plant or subcontracting. If you can carry on elsewhere, that second form is more suitable and cheaper. With a shop, restaurant or production line, business interruption cover remains necessary.
What happens if my sum insured is too low?
Then underinsurance applies. The insurer pays in the ratio between the gross profit insured and the actual gross profit, even if the loss itself is lower than the sum insured. At a growing business that creeps up on you. Some policies soften it with a reserve margin or an adjustment afterwards; check whether that is on your policy schedule and report growth in turnover in good time.
Is continued payment of staff wages covered?
The wages you want to keep paying during the standstill can be included in the gross profit; they then run with the payment. Sickness absence is separate from that: continued payment of wages during illness is a risk you cover with sickness absence insurance (verzuimverzekering). Decide in advance which levels of pay you insure in full and which for a shorter time, because that determines the sum insured.
Finass Verzekert is a trading name of Finass Advies B.V. We advise on and arrange non-life insurance on the basis of an objective analysis of several insurers, and receive commission for this from the insurer, which is included in the premium. You pay no separate advice fee. Before you take out cover, we establish your wishes and needs.
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