One policy for premises, stock, liability, lost income and other key risks, packaged together.
You take the covers that apply to your business and leave the ones that don’t, all under one contract with a single renewal date.
Commercial combined insurance
Usually includes
Buildings
Contents, fixtures & fittings
Stock
Business interruption
Public liability
Products liability
Know your cover
Fewer seams for a claim to fall through.
Buy your cover as separate policies and the gaps and overlaps appear where they meet. A commercial combined policy takes the covers a trading business might need, the premises, what’s inside them, your liabilities and the income you’d lose if you had to stop trading, and puts them on one contract instead.
One contract
Every cover you take sits under a single policy, with one renewal date to manage.
You choose the covers
Not every part applies to every business. You take the ones that do, and leave the rest.
Fewer gaps
One fire hits premises, contents, stock and income together. On a single contract that’s one claim, not insurers apportioning it between them.
What we cover
What each cover does, and where it stops.
The cover, the conditions attached to it, and the things it typically won’t reach, set out side by side rather than three clicks apart.
Cover
What comes with it
Commonly excluded
Buildings
The premises you own, or are responsible for under a lease, and the cost of putting them back.
Rated on rebuild cost, not market value. Underinsurance is the most common reason a property claim is reduced, and most wordings apply a proportionate cut rather than declining outright.
Gradual damage and wear. Subsidence (the ground sinking beneath the building) on some wordings. Damage while the premises stand unoccupied beyond a stated period.
Contents, fixtures & fittings
Everything inside that isn’t stock. Fit-out, furniture, office equipment and tenant’s improvements.
Usually on a reinstatement basis, so the sum insured has to reflect replacement cost rather than book value.
Wear and tear. Mechanical or electrical breakdown. Anything more specifically insured elsewhere.
Stock
Goods for sale, raw materials, parts you install, and work in progress.
Normally rated on the average value held, with a separate declared figure for peak periods. If your stock swings seasonally, the peak figure is the one that matters.
Deterioration from a refrigeration failure, unless that is specifically added. Stock held away from the premises.
Business interruption
The income lost while you can’t trade, and the extra cost of working around it.
Measured on gross profit across an indemnity period you choose. This cover carries its own inner limits below the policy limit (certain items within it have their own, lower maximum).
Anything beyond the indemnity period you set. Loss caused by a supplier’s own failure, unless extended to include it.
Public liability
Injury to other people, or damage to their property, arising from what you do.
The limit applies per claim in most wordings. Contracts frequently specify a minimum, so check what yours requires before you set it.
Injury to your own employees, which should be covered by your employers’ liability cover. Damage to property in your custody. Liability you accepted by contract.
Products liability
Injury or damage caused by something you supplied, once it has left you.
Usually written alongside public liability and sharing the same limit rather than carrying one of its own. It reaches goods you made, and also goods you only sold, installed or repaired, which is the part people do not expect.
The cost of the product itself, and of putting the work right. A recall, which is separate cover. Any performance guarantee you gave, and liability you accepted by contract.
Employers’ liability
Injury or illness suffered by the people who work for you.
Compulsory under the Employers’ Liability (Compulsory Insurance) Act once you employ anyone, and the certificate has to be available to staff.
Genuinely self-employed contractors, who carry their own. Claims arising outside the policy’s territorial limits.
Money & personal accident
Cash on the premises, in transit and at the bank, and injury to whoever is carrying it.
The maximum depends on where the money is (in a locked safe, in transit, or at someone’s home, each carrying a different figure). The safe specification is often a condition.
Money left out overnight other than in a specified safe. Shortages traced to accounting errors rather than a loss.
Legal expenses
The cost of pursuing or defending a dispute. Contracts, employment, property and tax.
Usually optional rather than part of the standard policy, and it normally needs the insurer’s consent before you instruct anyone. It covers costs, not the sums in dispute.
Matters that arose before the policy started. Anything pursued without the insurer’s consent. The sums in dispute themselves.
We’ll tell you what this policy doesn’tcover before you buy it.
Every cover on this page carries its limits and its common exclusions in the open. That is
the part which decides whether a claim is paid in full, so it isn’t buried. Some risks sit outside this policy altogether. Cyber, commercial motor and professional indemnity are separate contracts, bought alongside this one rather than inside it.
Words you’ll see
Six terms that decide whether a claim is paid in full.
Sum insured
The most the policy will pay for that cover. You set it, and if it’s too low, a claim can be cut in proportion.
Reinstatement
Replacing what was lost with its modern equivalent, rather than paying what it was worth second-hand.
Indemnity period
How long business interruption cover keeps paying while you recover. You choose the length.
Excess
The first part of a claim you pay yourself. Each cover usually carries its own.
Inner limit
A cap inside one cover, sitting below the overall policy limit. The easiest thing on a schedule to miss.
Aggregate
A ceiling on everything the policy pays in a year, rather than per claim. Not every cover works this way.
Why Vara
Bespoke service for you & your business,
without the big-firm minimum.
01
Sums insured are where claims are lost
Underinsurance is the most common reason a property claim is cut. We work the rebuild, replacement and stock figures through with you rather than roll last year’s numbers forward.
02
We present the risk properly
How your premises, your trade and your claims record are described changes the terms you are offered. We know what commercial underwriters are actually asking for.
03
Named insurers, not a black box
We place with a published panel and tell you who’s on it. You can see where your risk went and who’s carrying it.
04
We recommend, and we write it down
We set out cover, limits and exclusions, recommend a policy from our panel, and put in writing why we consider it meets your demands and needs, so you can check it. The decision is always yours.
You talk to a person. The machines do the typing.
Alongside this policy
The three that sit next to it.
Cyber
Data, systems, and the money that leaves after a convincing email. A separate policy, not a cover on this one.
Commercial motor & fleet
Vans, cars and HGVs, arranged alongside this policy rather than inside it.
Professional indemnity
For advice, design and professional work. A separate contract again.
Free commercial combined cover and cost review.
Leave your details and we’ll call you straight back. One conversation covers what you own, what you stock and what would stop if the premises closed.
What the review covers
We go through the policy you have now, so you can see what it does and doesn’t cover against what you own, what you hold in stock and what would happen if the premises closed.
We point out the terms that catch commercial combined customers out most often, reinstatement, indemnity period and inner limits among them, so you can check yours.
We approach insurers on our panel who write commercial combined cover, and come back with what they’ll offer.
We explain each option in plain English, including what it doesn’t cover.
If it’s not a risk we can place, we’ll tell you straight away rather than leave you waiting.
No obligation to switch. You decide what fits.
Rather not wait? Call us on 0333 091 3663
Good to know
Commercial combined questions, answered straight.
What is commercial combined insurance?
Is it cheaper than separate policies?
How do I work out the sums insured?
What is an indemnity period?
Does it include cyber?
Do I need employers' liability if I only use subcontractors?
What if my premises are leased?
Can I add or remove covers mid-term?
Vara Commercial Insurance · 0333 091 3663
Vara is a trading name of Koral AI Operating Company Limited. Vara is an appointed representative of Innovative Risk Labs Ltd, under Firm Reference Number 1060955. Innovative Risk Labs Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, under FRN 609155. We are registered in England and Wales under Registered Company Number 17256222. Registered office: 167-169 Great Portland Street, 5th Floor, London, W1W 5PF.