Mechanical engineering insurance

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Mechanical engineering insurance – why is it important?

You apply experience and training to solve all sorts of problems. If an unexpected professional indemnity claim came up – or maybe a public liability case – would you have the funds ready to manage it? We provide mechanical engineer insurance for small and large companies right across the UK, including extra cover options for your employees, kit, and personal accidents.

  • public liability for engineers with cover between £1 million and £5 million
  • tools, accident, and employee cover – you choose what you need
  • professional indemnity protection from £50,000 to £5 million

What does mechanical engineer insurance cover?

From the tools you rely on to the type of contracts you sign, details are important when deciding what goes into your policy. We put you in control of your cover, starting with public liability insurance – you can have it as a standalone policy or add other covers like professional indemnity and employers’ liability insurance.

  • Public liability insurance for mechanical engineers

    In case your engineering business causes an injury or property damage.

  • Employers’ liability insurance

    In case something happens to an employee while they’re working for you.

  • Professional indemnity insurance for mechanical engineers

    In case there’s a claim for negligence, or breaches in your duty of care.

  • Business and office equipment insurance

    In case something happens to equipment like your office hardware.

  • Tools insurance

    In case your engineering tools are lost, stolen, or damaged.

  • Legal expenses insurance

    In case you’re faced with legal costs from running your business.

  • Personal accident insurance

    In case you or anyone you’ve covered has an accident, at work or off duty.

  • Public liability insurance for mechanical engineers

    In case your engineering business causes an injury or property damage.

    What’s typically covered by public liability insurance?

    Claims against your business for:

    • injury or damage to someone’s property, caused by you or as a result of your work
    • accidental damage or injury caused by your employees, if you have any

    For example:

    • you’re using some equipment on your client’s site which malfunctions, accidentally injuring a third party
    • while carrying your equipment you accidentally drop a heavy item onto your client’s laptop, causing damage

    Read more about public liability insurance

  • Employers’ liability insurance

    In case something happens to an employee while they’re working for you.

    What’s typically covered by employers’ liability insurance?

    Claims against your business for:

    • an employee suing you because they’re injured or fall ill as a result of working for you (includes temp staff and casual workers)

    **Employers’ liability insurance is required by law if you have people working for you. Without it, you could be fined up to £2,500 a day for each employee.**

    For example:

    • your employee trips while measuring up for a new installation, twisting their ankle
    • a work experience student cuts their hand on your broken office door frame, and needs several stitches

  • Professional indemnity insurance for mechanical engineers

    In case there’s a claim for negligence, or breaches in your duty of care.

    What is professional indemnity insurance for engineers?

    Claims against your business for professional negligence or a loss-causing breach of contract. This can include:

    • advice which turns out to be incorrect
    • mistakes in your work that cost others money to fix

    For example:

    • a design you’ve put together causes a piece of machinery to malfunction and loss of production for your client, resulting in a financial loss
    • your client installs a piece of machinery on your recommendation, but the set-up is inadequate and causes them a financial loss

    Read more about professional indemnity insurance

  • Business and office equipment insurance

    In case something happens to equipment like your office hardware.

    What’s typically covered by business and office equipment insurance?

    • theft of the operational equipment you use to run your engineering business, rather than tools of the trade
    • accidental loss of your equipment
    • flood, fire, or accidental damage

    For example:

    • you lock your office up for the weekend and return to find a leak from next door has damaged your hardware
    • while working on site, your laptop and phone are damaged by one of your employees

    Read more about business and office equipment insurance

  • Tools insurance

    In case your engineering tools are lost, stolen, or damaged.

    What’s typically covered by tools insurance?

    • loss, damage, or theft of your engineering tools and equipment

    For example:

    • your tool kit is stolen from your garage before you leave for work
    • while refilling at a motorway services, your tools fall out of the back of your van

    Read more about tools insurance

  • Legal expenses insurance

    In case you’re faced with legal costs from running your business.

    What’s typically covered by legal expenses insurance?

    • legal costs that you’re responsible for, within your business
    • property damage, nuisance, or trespass – specifically, the associated legal claims and compensation payouts
    • tax and compliance disputes and investigations you need help with
    • access to expert advice – including a tax advice phone line, confidential 24/7 legal phone line, and crisis support to help you protect your professional reputation

    For example:

    • an engineer you’ve hired raises an employment dispute with you, and you need to pay for legal representation
    • some teenagers trespass on your business property, forcing you to take legal action and incur costs

    Read more about legal expenses insurance

  • Personal accident insurance

    In case you or anyone you’ve covered has an accident, at work or off duty.

    What’s typically covered by personal accident insurance?

    • accidental injury or death of anyone you’ve chosen to cover in your policy – whether this happens at work or elsewhere
    • lost income, hospital bills, or other medical costs associated with the accident

    For example:

    • while playing rugby you dislocate your shoulder, and will need at least a week off work
    • your office manager traps their hand in their front door – they need several stitches and time off work

    Read more about personal accident insurance

This content has been created for general information purposes. Make sure you have the right level of business insurance by checking your policy documentation for details. Read our full Terms and Conditions

How much does engineering insurance cost?

Find out how much you’ll pay by comparing prices from a range of trusted insurers. You choose what goes into your policy, so you only pay for what you need.

Prices start from £4.74 per month

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The price is for up to £2 million of public liability insurance – 10% of customers paid £56.82 or less annually between 1st Jan – 31st May 2024. Equivalent to £4.74 a month (and excludes the extra costs for paying monthly). 76% of customers have a £1 million limit and 24% £2 million. If you complete a quote, more types of cover will be available. These all have additional costs.

Example mechanical engineer quotes, real prices

£105.75 /month

£939.97 /year

A self-employed mechanical engineer working in a local factory

  • 2-3 years’ experience
  • Sole trader
  • No employees
  • Based in Leeds

Public liability

£1,000,000

Professional indemnity

£100,000

Tools

Not included

£166.15 /month

£1476.86 /year

A small mechanical engineering firm who manufactor heating and cooling systems for the construction industry

  • 5+ years’ experience
  • Limited company
  • 3 employees
  • Based in Manchester

Public liability

£5,000,000

Employers’ liability

£10,000,000

Professional indemnity

£1,000,000

How we work out example quotes These examples are real quotes from our online system (created 16/04/2021). They’re based on a range of factors, like employees and location. Your own quote will be based on what you tell us about your business. Prices may go up or down from day to day, so the prices you’re quoted may differ to the ones you see here.

What kind of excess should I expect?

An excess is an amount you pay towards any claim you make on your insurance. For example, if your excess is £250 and you make a claim worth £1000, your payout will be a maximum of £750.

Insurance cover

Lowest excess

Highest excess

Public liability

£100

£2500

Employers’ liability

No excess

No excess

Tools

£60

£500

Stock

£100

£500

Business and office equipment

£50

£750

The figures above are for guidance only and any excess applying to your quote may differ. You’ll get a breakdown of the excesses for each quote when you compare with us.

How it works

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Only pay for what you need

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How do I choose insurance?

Making sure you have the right type and level of business insurance can be the difference between getting a claim paid and having to cover the cost of an expensive accident yourself. Read our tips for guidance on what to consider when buying a policy.

  • Can I just cover my most expensive tools?

  • Which type of workers do I need insurance for?

  • Will tools insurance cover all my equipment?

  • Does mechanical engineering insurance cover my work correctly?

  • Do I need cover for other types of work?

  • Which public liability cover limit should I choose?

  • Can I just cover my most expensive tools?

    Make sure you cover the total cost of replacing all your tools or you’ll only get a proportion of your claim paid out if something happens to them. Learn about tool cover.

  • Which type of workers do I need insurance for?

    Employers’ liability insurance is a legal requirement if you employ people.

    If you have people working for you, including bona fide subcontractors (BFSC), labour-only subcontractors (LOSC), part-timers, or full-time staff, employers’ liability insurance is required by law.

    Read on for our simplified guide to the difference between labour-only subcontractors and bona fide subcontractors.

  • Will tools insurance cover all my equipment?

    Depending on what you use to do your work, you may need other covers.

    You may need more than tools insurance – for example, business equipment insurance if you have a work laptop, plant insurance if you use machinery.

  • Does mechanical engineering insurance cover my work correctly?

    Make sure you’re picking the right cover to protect you properly. It’s important to know that if you have another trade or job, you’ll need additional cover. For example, do you need to consider electrical engineer insurance or engineering consultant insurance?

  • Do I need cover for other types of work?

    If you provide other services, make sure you’re covered:

    Other types of insurance

  • Which public liability cover limit should I choose?

    Think about the maximum possible loss your business could face in the event of a claim, and make sure you take legal fees and damages into consideration. You can choose from three levels of coverage – £1 million, £2 million, or up to £5 million.

Talk to an expert

Our team of UK-based insurance experts are here to help, Mon 09.00am – 05.30pm, Tues 09.00am – 05.30pm, Weds 09.00am – 05.30pm, Thurs 09.30am – 05.30pm, Fri 09.00am – 05.30pm, Sat 09.00am – 02.00pm

Call our team

0333 043 8527

Online

Contact us on our website whenever suits you

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Call our insurance experts during office hours (calls are charged at a local rate)

FAQs

Find answers to common insurance questions

How do claims work?

Unlike price comparison websites, we take the hassle out of claims for you. We know how important it is to get your business back on track quickly – and with a minimum of fuss. That’s why you get access to your dedicated claims any time, day or night. Call them on 0333 207 0560 or claim online. They’ll do their best to be fair and supportive.

£51 million in claims paid out in 2023

83% of claims were settled in 2023

The figure above is rounded across our range of products. “Settled” covers paid, declined or withdrawn. Our claims process may vary for different products and operates on a ‘claim by claim’ basis. Our specialist partner Sedgwick will pay the claims on behalf of the insurer. Reviewed on 24/04/2024.

Example claim

Having mechanical engineering insurance through Simply Business has saved professionals thousands of pounds when the unexpected happened.

Thomas saved more than £10,000

Thomas (not his real name) was working on site when heavy machinery fell onto his leg, fracturing his femur in three places. The optional personal accident cover in his engineering insurance policy helped cover ongoing medical costs and lost income.

Insurance payout

£10,036.06

Covering the cost of personal accident

Insurance payout

Covering the cost of personal accident

Covering the cost of personal accident

Chosen by nearly 1 million small businesses and landlords

We started out as a team of five back in 2005. We’ve grown since then, with nearly 1 million customers across 1,500 trades now trusting us to provide their business insurance.

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Mechanical engineer insurance FAQs

Whether you’re new to buying business insurance or you’ve been trading for a while, here are the answers to some commonly asked questions about insurance for mechanical engineers. You can also check out our business insurance FAQs.

Yes. You may start offering additional services that require you to use different skills or carry out different tasks. If you find yourself in this situation, it’s important to give us a call on 0333 043 8527 to update your policy before you take on this new work. If you don’t have the correct type of cover in place for the work you do, you may be unable to claim on your policy if something goes wrong.

Each insurer looks at CCJs and IVAs differently – some apply stricter rules than others, but having a CCJ or IVA doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t be able to buy insurance.

You can choose the payment type that suits your business and cash flow best. Some customers prefer to pay in one go, while others prefer to pay a regular monthly amount, like you do with lots of other bills. Simply Business offer three ways to pay for your policy:

  • one-off credit or debit card payment
  • BACS payment
  • Direct Debit

If you choose to pay by Direct Debit, our credit provider, Premium Credit, pays Simply Business the full amount for your policy up front. You then repay Premium Credit in 10 monthly instalments.

If you change your business legal structure from sole trader to limited company mid-way through your policy, give us a call straight away on 0333 043 8527. It’ll only take us a few minutes to cancel your existing policy and replace it with one that correctly covers your new legal structure. It’s worth bearing in mind that your insurer and premium amount may need to change.

This will depend on whether you have employers’ liability insurance in place. Public liability insurance is designed to protect your business against the consequences of legal action brought by members of the public for injuries or damage to their belongings. But when it comes to your employees causing injury or damage, this protection only activates if you also have employers’ liability insurance.

If you employ people, you’re required by law to have employers’ liability insurance.

There’s one exception here. Family businesses that aren’t incorporated as a limited company are not legally required to have employers’ liability insurance. The government defines a “family business” as one where all your employees are closely related to you (as a spouse, civil partner, sibling, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, step-parent, stepchild or half-sibling). So if you run an unincorporated family business and you choose not to get employers’ liability insurance, it’s important to know that your public liability insurance wouldn’t cover you against damage or injury caused by your team.

We create this content for general information purposes and it should not be taken as advice. Always check policy documentation for details and seek professional advice. Read our full Terms and Conditions

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