Business insurance for minor & niche business?

YodaForce157

Hi! I am a minor and looking to start a business, the only issue is the insurance, I have contacted about 8 insurance providers one (direct line) said they would insure minors, but they wouldn't insure my niche business. The business is an online shop selling modded consoles e.g 3ds capture cards and better gameboy screens etc, but half of the insurers don't insure minors and the other half don't insure my business. What would be a way around this or an insurer that could insure me? Could I potentially put the insurance under my parents name? Thanks in advance!

DullGreyGuy

Are you purely a retailer or are you doing the modifications?
How old are you?
Are you operating as a sole trader? Have you formed a Ltd?
What classes of insurance? Presumably Public Liability? Stock? Premises? Employers?

YodaForce157

I do the modifications myself
I am 13
I haven't formed a Ltd and am operating as a sole trader but haven't started yet
I just need Public Liability and legal expenses. Thanks!

DullGreyGuy

If you are making the modifications yourself you also need Product Liability however that shouldn't be an issue as SME business PL insurance tends to inc Product as standard. 

I'm curious as to what point your age comes up? Having looked at a few proposal forms none ask the age of a sole trader? I can see why they may not want to quote if they did find out your age but you've no obligation to highlight anything they haven't asked you about. 

Presumably you are doing this from your parents home? They'll need to make sure their Mortgage provider and Home Insurer are comfortable both with Stock being held in the home and the mods being done there, esp if that involves any hot instruments (eg soldering iron)

YodaForce157

Thanks for clearing this up, i was asking if they insure minors as in legaladviceuk subreddit they told me to do so but i see now that they should be asking me the question, We rent so it would be a bit different. The only issue with insurance is that they don’t like the business idea, i have emailed about 8 different brokers but only 2 came back and said no.

Savvy_Sue

The problem with your age is that minors can't enter into a contract, which is what insurance is, so I'd say it is a valid issue. However, it may well be worth speaking to an insurance broker, especially if the nature of the business has been an issue. 

And if you are in rented accommodation, your landlord needs to give permission too. There may even be a clause saying you can't run a business from the premises - if you're with a local authority or Housing Association they won't unreasonably refuse permission, but you should ask for it. 

DullGreyGuy

Savvy_Sue said:

The problem with your age is that minors can't enter into a contract

Not true  @Savvy_Sue

Minors can enter into contracts, did you never buy sweets, comics or hairbands with your pocket money? They were all contracts of sale that you were entering into.

You cannot enforce contractual terms against minors, other than contracts of necessity, and hence many companies will be reticent to enter such contracts. Shops are happy to enter into the contract because you pay first then get the goods but for example if you asked for the sweets on tick they couldn't force you to pay later (your clearly can choose to).

There are special rules for certain contract types, eg credit agreements, but that doesn't apply to insurance as long as its paid in full