Good CAR cover doesn't come from a catalogue – it's built from the project: from the technical content, the schedule, the site and the contractual commitments. We call this translation work needs assessment – from the project's language into the language of cover. This article shows how it works, and the decision points it goes through.
- The needs assessment starts from the project's five basic facts: what, how much, where, when, with whom.
- The layers of the cover structure: base cover → extensions → limits and deductibles.
- Every layer is a decision: a balance between taking on risk and cost – your decision, but an informed one.
- A question left unasked costs more than one that turns out unnecessary – that's why we ask through everything.
First layer: the base cover
It starts with the classification: CAR or EAR, project policy or annual open cover. Then the backbone of the property section: the full value of the contract works – including deliveries and your own labour. And the size of the liability section: based on the surroundings (neighbours, traffic, an operating plant). Everyone starts with this same skeleton; the next layer is already project-specific.
Second layer: the extensions
This is where the cover's real fit is decided: existing property (if it's not a greenfield site), the maintenance period (matched to the contractual commitment), storage and transit (matched to the logistics), machinery (matched to the plant fleet), natural-catastrophe endorsements (matched to the site). The method is simple: for every extension, ask yourself what would happen without it on the worst possible day – and your answer decides.
Third layer: limits and deductibles
At the end of the structure comes fine-tuning the numbers: sub-limits for sensitive types of loss, deductibles by type of loss – this is where the premium and expected claim-time performance strike a compromise. Raising the deductible lowers the premium, but backfires on frequent small losses; a low sub-limit is cheaper, but falls short on a big loss. This isn't a trick question, it's an open discussion – exactly what the trap of the cheap quote article shows from the other side.
The output: the brief for competing quotes
The needs assessment's output is a precise brief that we take to the insurers: this way the quotes answer the same question, and become comparable. The assessment itself starts with the 20-minute consultation (how it works), and the data outline can be prepared in advance on the project data sheet.
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