Owners of small businesses who intend sign up with NRMA’s new EasyBiz commercial insurance have been warned to take care. NIBA CEO Noel Pettersen says NRMA’s new product, which promises to reduce a commercial insurance application form from more than 24 pages to zero, could leave small businesses left exposed to a wide range of risks.

“NRMA’s experience is in domestic insurance, where standardisation and simplicity are easy enough to deal with,” he said. “But you can’t do that with small business. Each particular small business has its own particular quirks, and this is where the brokers’ expertise comes in.”

NRMA CEO Eric Dodd says 20% of small businesses have no insurance at all, and “NRMA wants to help reduce this figure to zero by taking the hassle, cost and confusion out of business insurance”.

EasyBiz has been made available to 34 trade occupations and 75 retail, professional and hospitality occupations in NSW. It was developed in consultation with the NSW Small Business Insurance Committee.

Mr Pettersen agreed with NRMA’s contention that small business owners are concerned about “confusing, complex and time-consuming” insurance policies. But he warned: “The risks small businesses face today are changing all the time. They need the expertise of a broker. You can’t reduce those risks down to a single telephone call.”