Trade Direct Insurance is one of the UK’s top specialist insurance providers, focused on offering coverage to construction workers and tradesmen. The UK insurance market is highly competitive, so you might be wondering what exactly they have to offer you—this review will aim to help, deep-diving into what their customers think about them and who/what they cover.

In This Review

• Trade Direct Insurance Business Insurance: Overall Review
• How Much Does Trade Direct Insurance Cost?
• Customer Reviews and Ratings
• How to Claim

Trade Direct Insurance Overall Review

Trade Direct Insurance operate in the highly competitive tradesman and construction insurance market. Size-wise, they’re considerably smaller than the likes of AXA or Direct Line—which has benefits and disadvantages that’ll be discussed further later on. As of writing, they hold an exceptional 4.8 star rating from customers over the past 12 months on Feefo, with customers often complimenting their excellent customer service and competitive pricing.

5 reasons to buy insurance from Trade Direct

Buying insurance can be a daunting task at first. You’ve got a huge number of options available to you, from comparison sites to going direct, so it’s important to make sure you’re well informed before making a decision. Here are some benefits of going with Trade Direct:

Types of cover available

Trade Direct Insurance services most of the UK’s most popular trades, so whether you’re a plumber, carpenter or welder you should be able to find what you’re looking for. As with many other insurers, you’re able to build a policy to your specification, meaning you won’t ever need to pay for any insurances you don’t want or need.

To keep things simple for their customers, they have three main combo policies for trades people:

Plus, the following extras are available:

Trade Direct public liability insurance

Without a doubt, public liability insurance is the staple of Trade Direct’s product offering. It forms the foundation for all Trade Direct policies, representing both the strength of Trade Direct’s public liability policies (and pricing) and the importance of public liability to those working as a tradesperson.

Policies start from just £75 annually for £1M of cover, with customer reviews often praising the prices Trade Direct offer, especially when compare to larger providers. Our own independent research into the cost of tradesman insurance seemed to corroborate this, with quotes for £2M of public liability around £5-15 cheaper, depending on your profession.

What kind of businesses do Trade Direct cover?

As a specialist insurance provider, it’s fair to say Trade Direct are more focused on supporting smaller businesses, with a focus on sole traders, contractors, partnerships and small limited companies. Their front page even advertises that they specialise in covering businesses with “up to 15 employees” or “turnover up to £3 million”, so if your business exceeds either of these you may be better looking at a larger provider.

How Much Does Trade Direct Insurance Cost?

A basic public liability insurance policy for £2M worth of cover starts from just under £90 annually through Trade Direct according to our research. A more well-rounded policy, including £2M of public liability, £100,000 of professional indemnity and £1,000 worth of tools coverage comes in around £115 for the year for our sample tests.

Keep in mind that insurance costs can be highly variable, and any quote you receive (either through Trade Direct or other sources) might be different due to a number of factors, such as your location, your experience in the industry and how much cover you need. If you want to get the best price possible, shop around a little and see what’s on offer. Here is a sample of some of their insurance coverages:

Trade Direct Insurance customer service reviews and ratings

We’ve sifted through each review site to understand how Trade Direct’s customers rate their pricing, customer service and overall product offering when compared to others in the market. Here’s what they had to say:

Trade Direct Insurance Feefo

It’s fair to say Feefo is the review site of choice for Trade Direct’s customers, with well over 1,500 reviews built up over the past few years. They boast an exceptional 4.8-star rating out of 5 from reviews left in the past year, with comments focused on market-leading customer service, competitive pricing and an easy application process.

There aren’t many negative comments to choose from, but common themes include delays in sending out policy documentation and missed callback requests. Everyone’s experience is different, so we’d suggest making sure you provide Trade Direct with a couple of ways they can get in touch with you if you’re expecting them to contact you to discuss further.

Here are a few of the most common themes we found when reading comments regarding Trade Direct.

Easy application process: “Very easy to navigate the website and sort my public liability insurance no frills no extras exactly what I need”

Great customer service: “The person was extremely helpful on what I actually required and made the purchase very quickly and cheaper than my current quotation for insurance”

Competitive pricing: “Really good price, was recommended by other landscapers beat any quote I was getting by £150!”

Valuing existing customers: “I have been with Trade Direct for years, they are very good and helpful.”

Simplifying complicated insurance: “Made it very easy for me. I called to get a quote and the agent made it so easy for me and before I knew it I was all done and paid”

Negative comments were focused heavily on missed callback requests:

“Next day, Tuesday, again wrote requesting a ‘call back’ for Wednesday afternoon as I work Wednesday mornings. No ‘call back’.”

“To-date, 8 days later, despite asking someone to call me, on more than one occasion, I'm still waiting for that call.”

Trade Direct Insurance Trustpilot

It probably isn’t fair to judge Trade Direct from their Trustpilot reviews, since there are only 3! Negative reviews are focused on being contacted by Trade Direct (as with Feefo above), and not the actual product or customer service itself, so it’s difficult to judge too harshly.

Like any business, if you share your details with Trade Direct then you can expect them to follow-up—if you’re not comfortable with this, you’re always free to unsubscribe whenever you like.

“Very polite and professional”

“Say they will call you back and never do”

Trade Direct Insurance Tool Talk

Tool Talk reviews, while limited in number, generally echo the thoughts of those found on Feefo. Many comments come from customers who have been with them for a number of years, suggesting people are happy with the service once onboard.

"I have used Trade Direct for years for my insurance and find there bundle if you can call it that that comprises of liability, professional indemnity and tool insurance very competitive, if I can give anyone any advice is when it comes to tool insurance always check the terms as most do not insure your tools in a vehicle over night. This seems to be the case with every insurer I checked."

"Very impressed with trade direct. Very competitive prices and customer service is really good. Very helpful staff to answer all my questions when I started my business 6 years so. Still with them now and wouldn't swap."

“This company is great I had these guys for my liability insurance for a few years.”

“Always seem to be the cheapest, and will constantly let you know when your renewal is due.”

“These guys have saved me loads compared to other quotes I had, us they understand what we need as most don't I've found. Highly recommended.”

How to claim with Trade Direct Insurance

Trade Direct are part of Kelliher Insurance Group, a broker, so don’t insure you themselves. In the event you need to make a claim you’ll need to contact the insurance company directly—Trade Direct’s insurance policies are provided by Zurich. This doesn’t mean that Trade Direct won’t support your claim at all, however, and they do have a hotline to support you if you need help while making a claim, manned 09:00-17:30 Monday-Friday.

What professions does Trade Direct Insurance Cover?

Simply put, if you’re working as a tradesman or construction worker then Trade Direct will almost certainly have a policy for you. This includes, but isn’t limited to: