Specialist Insurance - Why We Have It

Here at Hencilla Canworth and Performing Arts Travel Insurance, we specialise in providing niche market travel insurance for working artists. If you’ve only ever dabbled in the basic insurance types- possibly a house or car policy, or maybe a travel insurance for a well-earned holiday-you may be wondering why specialist insurance types like ours exist. Today the team looks at the wider world of specialist insurance, and why it’s such a critical cornerstone of business for many industries, just like the artists we serve.

What is Speciality Insurance?

First of all, what is a niche market? This just means that the insurance broker works with a small segment of the industry to provide a highly specialised product. Instead of covering a wide range of situations or people, we underwrite programs that focus specifically on the liabilities and exposures unique within that industrial area. We help them to manage risks that come with their industry, and our trained team are experts in that area of coverage.

Often, you will find that speciality insurance areas aren’t serviced well, or even at all, by more mainstream companies, specifically because of those unique risks. Instead, they focus on wide areas of the market that are used by a broader audience. This is the sort of insurer that gets a lot of advertising and press time, so people are often surprised to find more specialised coverage even exists. Common ‘mass market’ insurance types you may be more familiar with are those most of us carry as standard. Think auto, home, buildings, life, and disability cover. And, of course, standard travel insurance.

Why Do We Need Specialist Insurance?

While many general insurance firms are great at what they do, their business model lies in offering easy-to-acquire coverage at attractive prices for the wide number of people who need to access them. This means that their products can be very ‘off the shelf.’ They’re designed to fit a wide spectrum of commonly encountered issues. There is little room, however, for unique needs, and often they don’t have much experience in meeting those needs even if you can tailor the policy a little.

In some circumstances, that may be all you need! However, it often means you’re dealing with people with very little experience in the unique challenges you face at your worksite or while undertaking your work. When you take out a generalised policy, you can run into serious issues if you don’t fit the ‘normal’ profile they cater for. Issues like:

• Incorrect Coverage: Often going hand-in-hand with coverage lacks, you may find you’re paying a hefty chunk of your premium towards coverage for things you don’t need.
• Denial of Coverage: A hidden risk of dealing with a general insurance policy in a niche industry, this means you may submit a claim to have them deny it because you were acting in a way that a general insurance provider deems ‘too risky’ or inappropriate. For artists using general travel insurance, this often happens because you were not on holiday, but rather working at the destination. It may also be a facet of your work. A general insurance policy would baulk at covering a high-risk occupation like stunt driving or stage rigging, where the risk of falls is very high. Yet it’s merely a day-to-day aspect of what you do!

As you can see, these coverage gaps can dramatically impact the trust you can have in your insurance- and yet insurance is meant to be there to give you peace of mind that you’re covered no matter what. Instead, you’re at risk of large out-of-pocket losses if you’re deemed uncovered, and may view your premiums as a waste altogether, even if they look pleasingly low when you sign on the dotted line.

The Growing Need for Specialist Insurance

By now, it’s probably clear why specialist insurance products- like our performing arts travel insurance- exist. From complex industries to high-risk occupations, everyone needs insurance they can trust every step of the way. Specialist policies allow you to:

• Communicate with brokers who understand everything there is to know about the risks and rewards of your industry
• Create policies that match your needs, covering only what matters to you
• Work with a company that underwrites the exact sorts of risks you face in your work, offering extended and broadened coverage that has your back at all times

Specialist Travel Insurance for Performing Artists

In our line of work, this means that we are able to offer you policies that understand how the needs of travelling artists differ from people on holiday. While we still cover all the facets of travel insurance that matter: your health and safety, your belongings, and compensation for trip delays, flight changes, and other travel issues that impact your ability to get to your clients or fans, we’re able to do it with the nuance needed by a working artist. By using artists’ travel insurance, you ensure you have a partner who will cover you through every stage of your adventures abroad. You pay only for what you need, and know you have coverage when it counts.

It’s critical to have the right travel insurance when you’re working abroad. Are you ready to relax and focus on your act, not the worries of travel? Then it’s time to give the expert Hencilla Canworth team a call, and get performing artists’ travel insurance that understands the life of travelling performers.