What is an Insurance-Backed Guarantee (IBG)?
An Insurance-Backed Guarantee (IBG) is an insurance policy designed to cover the warranty on a system provided by the original installer. The idea of an IBG is to provide extra peace of mind that the warranty of your Solar Panels will still be valid if the original installer ceases trading.
Why do I need an Insurance Backed Guarantee?
A solar panel system is often a fairly big investment, designed to be in place for a long period of time. Typically, warranties on Solar Panels can be in place for a decade, or sometimes more. Smaller businesses, and occasionally even some larger solar panel companies and contractors can unfortunately cease trading in this timeframe.
If your installation company were to cease trading, this would leave you with nowhere to go to claim on your warranty if there were to be an issue with the system, often leaving you with a bill to rectify the problem.
This is where an IBG can step in. If your original installer has registered you with an Insurance Backed Guarantee, then this can protect the original warranty even if the company that provided the solar system no longer exists. A claim under the original warranty will be dealt with by the insurer in this instance.
Here at SolarTherm UK, we are a HIES Accredited installer. As such, our warranties are covered by the HIES Insurance Backed Guarantee. If you would like to know more about this, don’t hesitate to get in touch – our team will be happy to explain more.
What do Insurance Backed Guarantees cover?
As an Insurance Backed Guarantee is an insurance policy on the original installers warranty, the IBG will cover the same terms as the original warranty. These will vary from one installer to another, so it is important to check exactly what is written in the the warranty terms. An IBG will only cover the warranty if you have received your IBG certificate.
In the case of the HIES Insurance Backed Guarantee, HIES state that to benefit from an IBG:
- Your installation must be fully completed to your satisfaction, free from defect and you must have paid all outstanding monies directly to the Supplier named on the certificate
- You must have a contract with the Supplier named on the certificate
