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02/09/2026

Burglary vs theft, they're not the same thing on your insurance policy, and the difference affects your excess.

Burglary is when something is stolen and there's clear evidence of forced entry, a bashed-in door, a tampered lock, that sort of thing.

Theft is when there's no sign of forced entry at all. Someone walked past and picked something up, or they wandered in through a door you forgot to lock.

That distinction matters because most commercial policies carry two separate excesses, one for each. Typically the theft excess is higher than the burglary excess. Using a business contents policy as an example, you might see a $2,500 excess for theft and a $1,000 excess for burglary.

The reason the theft excess is higher is pretty logical, it's there to encourage good security habits. If there's no evidence of forced entry, the insurer is factoring in that the loss may have been preventable.

Forgetting to lock up isn't the end of the world, but it will cost you more at claim time.

Worth checking what excesses sit on your current policy so there are no surprises if you ever need to make a claim.

Did you know these two were treated differently?

General information only, not financial advice. Gerrard's Limited (FSP1003639), trading as Gerrards, is a Financial Advice Provider.

01/09/2026

Are you paying for insurance covers your business will never actually use? 🤔

It happens more than you'd think. A taxi driver buying professional indemnity cover, for example, sounds reasonable until you realise it only applies to advice or services you charge for, nothing a taxi driver would ever claim on.

The problem is that when people Google what they need or ask a mate, they often end up ticking boxes that don't match their situation at all.

The straightforward fix? Ring an insurance broker or adviser before you buy anything. They can put together a written recommendation of the covers that actually make sense for your business. No padding, no guesswork.

And even if you decide to go and sort it online yourself afterwards, at least you'll know what you're looking for, and what you can leave out.

General information only. Talk to a broker about what's right for your specific situation.



General information only, not financial advice. Gerrard's Limited (FSP1003639), trading as Gerrards, is a Financial Advice Provider.

28/08/2026

One small line in your tools policy could mean your claim gets declined. ⚠️

Some insurers now require your tools to be stored in a lockbox to be covered for theft or burglary. So if they get stolen out of the back of your van and they weren't locked away, you may not be covered at all.

Not every policy works this way, but it's worth checking yours. Here are two things to look out for:

1️⃣ The lockbox clause, some policies won't pay out for theft unless your tools were locked in a secure box at the time. If your policy has this wording, it may be worth shopping around, because there are insurers who don't require it.

2️⃣ The excesses, policies that don't have the lockbox requirement often use higher excesses instead. Burglary (forced entry with evidence) might carry a $1,000 excess. Theft (no sign of forced entry) could be $2,500.

And here's something worth thinking about honestly: if you've only got a few thousand dollars worth of tools, and your policy costs $500 a year, and the excess is $1,000 or more, the maths may not stack up. Sometimes the cost of the premium plus the excess gets close to the value of the tools themselves.

The takeaway? Read the wording. Check whether a lockbox is required. Then weigh up whether the cover actually makes sense for what you've got.

General information only, your situation will be different, so it's worth getting advice that's specific to you.

Do you check the fine print on your tools policy, or is it something you've never looked at? 👇



General information only, not financial advice. Gerrard's Limited (FSP1003639), trading as Gerrards, is a Financial Advice Provider.

25/08/2026

Want to get less from your insurance claim? Easy, have no evidence of what you own. 📱

No photos. No receipts. No payout.

If your house burns down and you need to make a contents claim, the insurer needs to see proof you actually owned those things. That bookshelf full of books, the clothes in your wardrobe, the tools in the workshop, that mystery box in the garage you haven't touched in 20 years, all potentially claimable. But only if you can back it up.

Keeping receipts isn't really a thing anymore, so the simplest solution? Grab your phone right now and take photos or a short video of everything you own. Walk through each room. Open the wardrobes. Check the garage.

It takes 20 minutes and could make a real difference when you need to claim.



General information only, not financial advice. Gerrard's Limited (FSP1003639), trading as Gerrards, is a Financial Advice Provider.

20/08/2026

This one small sentence could get your business insurance claim declined. ⚠️

When you take out business insurance, you fill in a business description, a line or two about what your business actually does. It sounds simple, but getting it wrong (or leaving it too narrow) can mean your insurer declines a claim.

Example: a builder writes "residential house construction", then picks up a couple of commercial jobs during the year. A claim comes in on one of those commercial jobs. The policy says residential. That claim could be declined, full stop.

What to do:
✅ When you fill in that business description box, include everything you could reasonably be doing, not just your main work.
✅ If your work changes during the year, contact your broker and get the description updated before a claim arises.

Your business description isn't just admin. It's one of the most important parts of your policy.



General information only, not financial advice. Gerrard's Limited (FSP1003639), trading as Gerrards, is a Financial Advice Provider.

19/08/2026

Is it actually cheaper to bundle all your business insurance with one company? In most cases, no.

Insurance companies tend to specialise these days. One might be strong on vehicle cover, another on liability, another on tools and contents. Multi-policy discounts are largely a thing of the past, and the real savings often come from shopping each cover separately.

To give you a real example: a building company we quoted recently was looking at $7,000 for a full package with a single insurer. By splitting their tools, vehicles and liability across three different insurers, the total came down to $6,000, and the liability cover was actually better.

The catch? Most brokerages won't split covers for smaller businesses because it takes a lot of time to piece together. We've built our process to handle that efficiently, so it's not a barrier for us.

If you've always assumed keeping everything under one roof saves money, it might be worth a second look.

Have you ever questioned whether your current business insurance setup is actually the most suitable arrangement?

General information only, not financial advice. Gerrard's Limited (FSP1003639), trading as Gerrards, is a Financial Advice Provider.

13/08/2026

Third party car insurance sounds fine, until someone hits you and doesn't have insurance. 😬

Here's the bit people often miss: third party cover protects other people from you, not your car from other people.

So if someone runs into you and they're uninsured, your insurer isn't covering your repairs. That's on you, and if they won't pay up, you're the one taking them to court to chase the money.

Comprehensive cover means your insurer handles your car's repairs regardless of who's at fault. For a lot of people, the extra cost is worth not having to deal with that situation.

Worth thinking about before you decide which level of cover suits you.



General information only, not financial advice. Gerrard's Limited (FSP1003639), trading as Gerrards, is a Financial Advice Provider.

12/08/2026

Can you just sort your own insurance online? For personal stuff, house, contents, car, honestly, yes, often you can.

But commercial insurance is a different story.

Most insurers won't quote commercial policies directly. They only work through brokers. So if you're going it alone, you're already missing options.

Then there's the policy wording, around 30 pages of legal language. Do you know which policy has an exclusion that could mean a claim doesn't get paid? A broker does.

Because brokers access a wider range of commercial insurers, the quotes they find can often work out more competitively than what you'd find yourself, and they handle the legwork.

For commercial insurance, it's worth having someone in your corner who knows what they're looking at.



General information only, not financial advice. Gerrard's Limited (FSP1003639), trading as Gerrards, is a Financial Advice Provider.

11/08/2026

Your car might need commercial vehicle insurance, and you might not even realise it. ⚠️

If you're using your personal vehicle to generate income in any way, your standard private car insurance may not cover you if something goes wrong.

That includes:
- Sales reps and real estate agents driving to client appointments
- Mortgage brokers and insurance advisers visiting clients
- Delivery drivers using their own car for food or courier work

The general rule of thumb: if the car is being used as part of earning money, it likely needs to be commercially insured.

On the other hand, if you're simply an office worker commuting to and from work, your private insurance should be fine, your car isn't part of the money-making process itself.

Not sure which category you fall into? Drop a comment below and we'll help you work it out. You don't want to find out the hard way.



General information only, not financial advice. Gerrard's Limited (FSP1003639), trading as Gerrards, is a Financial Advice Provider.

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