Auctioneer Professional Indemnity Insurance

PI insurance for auctioneers covers claims arising from professional negligence in auction services. This includes errors in cataloguing, authentication, valuation estimates, condition reporting, and sale advice that cause financial loss to consignors or buyers. Coverage typically extends to legal defence costs and compensation for negligent auction services.

PI insurance is strongly recommended for practising auctioneers. Consignors and buyers rely on your professional descriptions and advice. Errors in cataloguing or authentication can result in claims from buyers who purchased misdescribed items, or consignors who received less than expected due to description errors.

Key risks include catalogue description errors affecting sale prices, authentication mistakes in lot descriptions, provenance research failures creating ownership disputes with buyers, estimate errors that lead to inappropriate reserves, and condition report inaccuracies that mislead buyers.

PI insurance typically covers claims arising from negligent authentication statements in your catalogues and lot descriptions. Authentication errors can lead to buyers paying for misattributed items, and coverage generally includes legal defence when your professional cataloguing is challenged.

Coverage requirements depend on the value of items you auction and the volume of sales your house conducts. Major auction houses dealing with high-value pieces may need higher aggregate limits than regional auctioneers handling mid-range items. As part of the quoting process, we look at your typical lot values and sales activity to help identify appropriate limits.