North and South?

It may not be immediately clear what the title of this article is about but, bear with me.

As you all may be becoming aware, we at GroundCover, working with Pitchcare, are continually striving to improve the services and products that the insurance industry provides for our profession. This is a long task but we reckon it's worth it and, when we have a bit of a success or some news, we like to share it with you.

As we all know, insurance is a bit of a minefield and, leaving aside the cost, even if you can get cover, the policy wordings are often difficult to understand - but we'll come back to that later! So, just how do you know that you are always covered and what you are covered for?

The GroundCover approach is to try to persuade insurers to do two things:

1) Use Plain English
2) Understand what we need before we buy insurance so that we don't have to guess later or ask for cover to be extended or, worse, only find out after a claim that we aren't covered.

So, to explain the heading of this issue's article.

North

In the last month we have successfully arranged cover for a member based on a Scottish Island whose business, in grounds maintenance, during the drier and warmer months, is supplemented in the winter by a little snow clearing and gritting. Not the usual sort of activity that we come across I'm sure you will agree. But the answer was simple, tell the GroundCover insurers and get them to confirm those activities are covered. Job done - and no additional premium!

South

An existing GroundCover customer has landed a contract in the South of France. Nice work if you can get it, especially at this time of year and, again, the issue is cover, particularly for some very expensive machinery being hauled back and forth across Europe by a haulier.

So, what about cover? Well, this time, we were well ahead of the game as ALL machinery has EU wide cover and the machinery and equipment is covered all of the time, 24/7, whether it's on a trailer, on a truck, or being used, because we put that in the insurance cover at the design stage.

You can see a specimen machinery cover wording on the GroundCover website - and it's only one page long because it's in plain English. So, it's nice and comforting for you when the cover is just there when you want it, and you don't have to pay extra for it!

Now, this is all very nice but there is another key ingredient that we use to make sure that you get the cover you need, and which recognises that you all may have different issues. It's rather an old fashioned ingredient in these modern, automated times and it is called "people". These "people" as we call them, actually know about insurance and can advise you on what you need.

That is how GroundCover, working with Pitchcare, can help you get cover whether you are snow clearing in the far north or getting a suntan whilst working in the far south.

These "people" are: Neil Ramsdale or Sarah Brooker at Allison & Partners on 01621 841991 or email neil@allisonandpartners.co.uk or sarah@allisonandpartners.co.uk and remember to say that you are a Pitchcare member and/or GroundCover customer so that they can give you the right service. Or fill in the contact form at www.groundcover.co.uk/contact-us.php

So, at last, insurance that is specifically designed for grounds managers, groundsmen, grounds maintenance managers, greenkeepers and other professionals involved in the groundscare industry.