Malaysia Burglary Insurance – An Introduction.

There’s been a noticeable increase in the rates of theft claims in Malaysia — especially in the last few years. As a result, majority of businesses that do not own Malaysia Burglary Insurance have experienced downfall in its business sales due to stolen goods and assets. If your company keeps expensive goods or equipment inside your business premise, there is a likely chance of your business becoming a target for thieves.

When burglary occurs, holdings costs can quickly accumulate due to a number of reasons. Such reasons include loss of stock and/or cash, disruption to daily business dealings and damage inflicted to the building and assets.

That is why any individual, firm, company, association or corporate society who are engaged in commercial activity, or whose property is exposed to the risk of burglary, loot, robbery and hold-ups, are required to have the Burglary Insurance policy. Besides Fire Insurance, Burglary Insurance is one of the core insurances that businesses with offices are required to have. 

WHERE: Types of Business Burglary Insurance For Business.

TOP INDUSTRY WITH BURGLARY INSURANCE PACKAGE.

Retail: Past trends have shown that burglary in Malaysian retail stories are more likely to have at isolated areas with poor security features. The thefts also usually occur at night, outside regular business hours, where burglars will enter through the doors or windows and leave by grabbing as many items as possible while leaving a mess in their business area.

SME Manufacturers: Malaysia Burglary Insurance is also widely bought by SME Manufacturers, with its staff size ranging between 15–30 employees. This is to ensure coverage for raw materials that can result in a huge loss when and if stolen.

WHAT: TYPES OF ITEMS INSURED.

Malaysia Burglary Insurance policies issued to business premises cover stock-in-trade, goods in trust or on commission, fixtures and fittings, tools of trade such as computers, laptops, printer, internet router modem and other similar properties, cash and currency notes that are locked safe against the risk of burglary.

HOW TO INSURE.

With Business Burglary Insurance, you will be compensated up to your Sum Insured value. The types of Sum Insured that are applicable are I) Full Value or II) First Loss Basis.

1. Full Value Insurance: Items are insured at Full Value. For example, a normal sundry shop has an estimated goods value of RM1 million at any one time. Hence, the premium rates are calculated based on the Sum Insured.
2. First Loss Basis Insurance: Items are insured at a First Loss Basis. For example, if the items are valued at RM1 million, the client can revise the sum insured to RM150,000 at any one given time prior to burglary. For example, when theft occurs in at a sundry shop, the items stolen are high-valued items such as cigarettes, expensive food items, cash in machine & etc. At any one theft claim, the maximum amount that can be claimed is RM150,000.

The Burglary Insurance policy covers the insured against loss or damage to the insured property consequent to actual, forcible and/or violent entry into or exit from the business premise. It also covers damage inflicted on to insured property and/or premise due to theft as well as threats including armed robbery/hold-up.

Filing Claim for Business Burglary Insurance.

During the time of claim, there are various issues faced by the client to recover their losses with the insurance company. Such issues are as follows:

• The Burglary Insurance Policy is considered a Contract Of Indemnity. The client would need to prove what items have been stolen and provide invoices or photographs to prove ownership of lost goods.
• Misplaced or incomplete documents such as invoices, provided by the client to the insurance company in proving the items have been stolen during burglary. Hence, photographs of items are necessary to prove theft of goods.
• An up-to-date stock count is important for businesses such as sundry shops, trading firms, and etc. to ensure ease of claim. For instance, a break-in occurs at a restaurant and the burglar has stolen money, stock items such as ingredients, machineries and equipment before vandalising the property. Whilst majority of reported cases relating to burglary claims have had history of claiming loss of stocks and food equipment, the insurance company was not able to pay out the claims due to lack of supporting documents as it was not covered and mentioned clearly during policy issuance.
• Aside from photographs of stolen goods, the business owner would also need to provide photographs to prove the breaking and entering of the business premises. It will show a clear path for the appointed adjuster to verify that an actual burglary took place.

Due to the aforementioned situations above, the process of claims has gotten longer — causing the client to settle for a lower claims amount from the insurance company.  If the claim amount is higher than RM5,000, an cost of repair estimate should be submitted to the insured via an official quotation. The adjuster appointed by the insurance company would also request for additional documents that are not listed above.

Scenarios not covered in a burglary policy:

EXCLUSIONS

• Damage occasioned by fire or explosion: Since the Burglary Policy only covers for mishaps in the event of theft, damages caused by fire and/or explosion to the items insured will not covered. Sprinkler damage to the items will also not be covered by the policy. To protect your business against fire-related damages, you may also sign up for Business Fire Insurance.
• Theft by insured: If the adjustor in charge of the claim has found the claim to be fraudulent, the adjustor has the right to request for additional documents such as Audited Annual Report, bank statement for past 6 months and etc. to prove the authenticity or falsification of filed claim.
• High value of property: High-valued property may need to be ‘scheduled’ individually for it to be covered in the Malaysia Burglary Insurance policy. This means, the value of items such as prized artwork, machinery and/or other high-valued property in the office, should be stated explicitly in the Malaysia Burglary Insurance policy for it to be covered.