Plate Glass Insurance
Replace Broken Glass Fast, Without The Bill
Large glass panels make showrooms, clinics, offices and lobbies look inviting, but they are expensive to replace and easy to break. A stray cricket ball, a reversing car or an attempted break-in can leave you with a shattered shopfront and an open premises overnight. Plate glass insurance pays for accidental breakage of fixed glass, including fitting charges and temporary boarding. MILES helps you list every panel at its true replacement cost and finds an insurer whose wording fits your building.
What Plate Glass Insurance Covers
Accidental Breakage
Sudden and accidental breakage of fixed plate glass in shopfronts, doors, windows, partitions and facades.
Fitting And Removal
Cost of removing broken glass and fitting the replacement, including frames where the wording allows.
Temporary Boarding
Reasonable cost of boarding up the opening so the premises stay secure until new glass arrives.
Lettering And Films
Signwriting, etched logos, decorative films and tinting on the glass, when declared as an extension.
Society Common Areas
Glass entrance doors, lift lobbies and clubhouse panels in residential societies and commercial complexes.
Quick To Arrange
Simple proposal based on panel sizes and values, often added to a shop or office package policy.
What is plate glass insurance?
Plate glass insurance is a policy that pays for the replacement of fixed glass broken by sudden and accidental means, such as shopfronts, glass doors, display windows, partitions and facade panels. It covers the cost of new glass, fitting and, usually, temporary boarding while the replacement is made.
It is one of the smaller covers in our specialty and other insurance range, but for a showroom or clinic with a full-height glass front it answers a very practical question: who pays when the glass breaks?
Why a fire policy is not enough
A standard fire and special perils policy pays for glass damaged by fire, explosion, storm or similar named perils. It does not pay when glass simply breaks by accident, and many fire wordings exclude glass breakage outright unless caused by an insured peril. Plate glass cover fills exactly that gap.
What plate glass insurance covers
- Accidental breakage of the glass described in the schedule, whatever the cause, subject to exclusions.
- Breakage from an attempted burglary or malicious act by outsiders.
- Damage caused by a vehicle, a thrown object or a customer walking into a door.
- Removal and fitting charges for the replacement glass.
- Temporary boarding or shuttering until the new glass is installed.
Optional extensions
- Lettering, painting, embossing, etching and decorative films on the glass.
- Frames and fittings damaged along with the glass.
- Riot, strike and malicious damage, where not already included.
- Damage to goods in the display window caused by the broken glass, with some insurers.
What is not covered
- Breakage caused by fire, lightning or other perils that your fire policy should cover.
- Scratching, chipping or cracks that do not go through the full thickness of the glass.
- Breakage while the glass is being fitted, removed or while the building is under alteration.
- Glass in a defective frame, or glass that was already cracked when cover started.
- Breakage caused deliberately by you or your employees.
- Loss of business while the shop is boarded up.
Who needs it
Shops and showrooms on busy roads, car dealerships, restaurants with glass fronts, banks and ATMs, clinics, gyms, corporate offices with glass partitions, and residential societies with glass lobbies or clubhouse facades. For housing society insurance, glass in common areas is a frequent small claim that the society’s main policy may not pay.
How the sum insured and premium are decided
The sum insured is the full replacement cost of each panel, including glass, fitting and any lettering. Insurers ask for a schedule of panels and look at:
- Size, thickness and type of glass, such as toughened, laminated or float.
- Location of the glass and how exposed it is to road traffic or crowds.
- Whether shutters, grilles or bollards protect it after hours.
- The nature of the business and its claims history.
Imported or specially processed glass can take weeks to source and costs more than people expect. Undervaluing the panels means the insurer may reduce the claim in proportion, so we recommend getting a current quotation from your glazier before you insure.
How MILES helps
- Build the glass schedule. We help you list each panel with size, type and replacement value so nothing is missed.
- Check the values. We compare your figures with current glazier rates to avoid underinsurance.
- Compare insurers. We place business with 16+ insurers and weigh deductibles, extensions and exclusions, not just premium.
- Bundle efficiently. We can add glass cover to a shopkeeper’s or office package alongside burglary and money sections.
- Handle claims. Our claims team coordinates with the surveyor and your glazier.
How a claim works
- Make the premises safe and arrange temporary boarding.
- Photograph the broken glass and its surroundings before clearing it.
- Inform MILES or the insurer promptly, and the police if the breakage was malicious or from a break-in.
- Obtain a replacement quotation from a glazier.
- The insurer or its surveyor approves the estimate, and the loss is settled on replacement or reimbursement.
Cover, exclusions and premiums depend on the insurer’s policy wording and underwriting. MILES Insurance Brokers Pvt. Ltd. is an IRDAI-licensed direct broker (Life & General, Reg. No. 954); the insurance is issued by the insurer. Insurance is the subject matter of solicitation.