Are you a craftsman and have created a self-employed business? Be aware that there are regulatory obligations incumbent on your status. Among them, the need to take out certain insurance, which protects you from the risks inherent in your job.
Some of these insurances are compulsory. Such is the case of ten-year insurance. Others, on the other hand, are optional, but useful. In this article, we will take stock of these different insurances to which you must subscribe, in particular the ten-year insurance and all its implications.
Summary
Everything you need to know about ten-year auto-entrepreneur insurance
Ten-year insurance is compulsory when you are a self-employed craftsman.
What is ten-year insurance?
When you are a craftsman and you set up on your own account in a field such as construction, the subscription to a ten-year insurance is compulsory, when you have the quality of builder. Once you take out ten-year insurance, it is both protection for your own business and a guarantee for your client.
It allows the latter to be assured of the fact that, in the first 10 years after delivery of the site, any damage related to the construction would be entirely your responsibility. Moreover, This is insurance that is required regardless of your status.
It must be signed before the work begins. As we said, this insurance only covers possible damage associated with the construction itself. Implicitly, this cover does not take into account compensation in the event of an accident, lack of maintenance, or damage related to normal use of the construction.
What is the cost of this insurance for a self-employed person?
The cost of a ten-year insurance for self-employed craftsmen is generally between 50 and 200 euros. It is influenced by different factors, some related to your own business, others to the activity itself.
The turnover (CA) is a factor that can influence the amount of your insurance. The higher it is, the more the insurer considers you to be a risky profile. However, we specify that the amount of the ten-year guarantee is not linked to turnover. If your CA is high, your insurance rate will be low. What’s more when you know that with the status of auto-entrepreneur, the turnover is capped.
Your number of years of experience as a self-employed person is also a factor that can weigh heavily when taking out your insurance. If you can prove more than 10 years’ experience with official documents, you can benefit from up to 15% reduction on the insurance premium. If, on the other hand, you are just starting out, it can be increased by 10%.
Next come factors such as the work techniques employed and the location of your activity. Indeed, insurers consider certain techniques to be more risky than others. This therefore implies higher contributions.
The choice of insurer is also a detail that impacts the premium ; each company being free to set its prices. Likewise, your insurance history matters. If you have remained claim-free for several years under the self-employed status, your premium may be considerably reduced. However, the ten-year insurance is not the only one to which you must subscribe.
Professional civil liability insurance
In terms of professional civil liability, there are several types of insurance contracts. They differ in particular in terms of the guarantees offered. If these are not always mandatory, we strongly advise you to include some of them in your contract. These are:
- Damage caused by your own business, your employees and even your equipment;
- Damages after delivery, such as those related to a manufacturing defect which causes an incident for example.
Of course, you retain the right to take out civil liability insurance with broader guarantees. It will naturally be more expensive, but safer, you will agree. Some insurance companies, for example, offer you optional clauses applicable in the event of theft by an employee, inexcusable fault, bodily injury, material damage, etc.
Professional multi-risk insurance
It is also essential insurance for your self-employed business. Its objective is to cover your premises and your work equipment against claims.. When you subscribe to it, you can claim compensation when major claims occur. It can be:
- Natural disaster ;
- short circuit;
- Fire ;
- Water damage ;
- Acts of vandalism.
Even if the law does not require it, we suggest that you subscribe to it. It can be very useful. Better, as a building tradesman, choose a contract specially designed for you, in order to be well covered when handling dangerous machinery.
optional insurance, but useful
These are guarantees that the legislation applicable to the construction sector does not necessarily impose on you. But you can subscribe to it to protect your back. In some cases, they can be an argument that you will put forward as a self-employed entrepreneur to your customers, just to gain their trust.
The guarantee of perfect completion can sometimes be useful for this purpose.. It requires you to respect the basics of a perfectly completed site. It gives the customer, for a period of one year, the right to ask you for any problems following your intervention, which are not covered by conventional insurance (microcracks for example).
In addition to this optional insurance, we also count the guarantee of good functioning. Valid for two years, it gives the possibility to the customer to call on your services, for any problem related to equipment that can be dissociated from the construction, at no additional cost.
As you will have understood, apart from insurance such as the ten-year guarantee which is not negotiable, the subscription to other insurance is left to your discretion. As a self-employed person, depending on your number of years of experience, you will be able to assess the risks associated with your job. In order to make the best choices, we advise you to call on specialists, if you cannot find your way around.
