getting insurance on something I manufacture

[Thunderchild]

I'm designing an electronic device for use in the automotive industry. now say i complete it and want to market it. from what my friend tells me whom I'm building it with we would need public liability insuarance in the event it were to go wrong. How would i go about this and what might it cost ? the vehicles it will be installed on are worth up to a million pounds

[buildersmate]

Then it isn't public liability liability that you require. It sounds like product liability insurance. However you are not going to be able to walk into a commercial insurance broker and get such cover - and even if you could it is going to cost you shed-loads of money if you require cover to indemnify you in the event that your product fouls up a vehicle worth a million pounds.
The reality of this is that any likely customer you have is going to want to conduct extensive field trials on such a gadget to satisfy himself that the device won't fould up his machine.
Frankly I wouldn't worry about it at this stage. if this really is a breakthrough product as you indicate, you are going to need decent commercial legal advice when it comes to the start of marketing the product to (the few) companies who would be interested in it.
Then there's patent advice.
All of which is why potentially successful innovations of this type (technological) typically go into partnership with an established company in exchange for a percentage of revenues - then let the professionals deal with these sorts of issues.

[Thunderchild]

Hi thanks for your reply unfortunately I'm not getting email notifications.

Thing is with this its going on vintage cars and may be sold directly to individuals (via ebay for example or our own website should we set one up) and being vintage cars will not have a large customer base.

[woozer]

You need to speak to a specialist - contact a large national /international commercial insurance broker unlike BM I think that there may be someone who can help you but he is right it will be hard to find and very very expensive. By the sound of it you need a great deal more than simple Public and Products Liablity - you may well need Professional Indemnity cover, Efficacy etc etc - put some time into finding the right person to advise you - it is very necessary for your own protection !

[Thunderchild]

hm yes I'm not sure how over the top my friend is about this. Obviously we don't want any comeback, I am making my design as robust as possible and he can now see why I made certain choices that he initially thought to be OTT. The plan is to test this out on his own car(s) and then the company he works for will be interested in buying them off us for cars they restore, as the company he works for has insurance because they make their own stuff (could bassically build you a pre-ww2 astin martin from scratch if you asked them to) we won't have a problem as they are covered and aware of the situation. I am interested though in taking the product further once proven, my first outlet would probably be ebay or our own website. i'm not sure if a statement of the kind that we are not liable for any damages etc etc will cover us as I intend taking this in stages and giving it thorough testing before selling to any tom dick or harry so really insurance is just to make sure all is in order.

[woozer]

You cannot get away from your legal liabilities by issuing any sort of disclaimer. Presumably you dont want to give too much away on a public web site, but once you say you are doing something thatinvolves a car then you are really making the insurance industry wary. If it fails what happens - could the car it is attached to fail in a big way - might it cause an accident involving other vehicles - how many people could be killed or maimed - huge liabilities can be envisaged. On the other hand if its something to do with the cigar lighter it could be quite cheap ! The only way you are going to get a proper idea is by getting professional advice. DOnt risk everything you own by underestmating the need for and value of insurance - sorry to sound like a preacher but I am passionate about people protecting themselves and also having a policy in place to compensate anyone whose life may be ruined if they are damaged ! Good luck with your project.

[Thunderchild]

Hi woozer, you are of course right, I am building a replacement power regulator for the dynamo of a vintage car so ita not something that will cause an instant accident if it stops working as it just ensures the battery is proprly charged up.