Are you addressing all of your business insurance needs?
Every business is unique and possesses a different set of characteristics when it comes to the scope of work, the size of the business, and the different assets the business possesses. Whether you’re a one-man landscaping operation with a single lawn mower or a multiple location auto body garage with millions of dollars in sales each year, it’s important to assess the unique insurance needs for your business.
The one aspect that tends to be consistent across all businesses is the desire to be financially stable. Having the correct policies and coverages in place is a step in the right direction for maintaining a favorable financial position. Below we’ll highlight a few policy types that likely overlap with the needs of your business.
General Liability
Arguably the most import of all coverages, Commercial General Liability (CGL) provides coverage for bodily injury, personal injury, and property damage caused by the business’ operations, products, or injury that occurs on the business’ premises. That may sound like a lot
of jargon, but by securing a CGL policy, you’re essentially contracting another entity to pay damages on your behalf should your negligence lead to a loss. Let’s face it, accidents happen- and the lack of a CGL policy can be catastrophic for any business. Securing this type of coverage can provide peace of mind for not only you, but your customers too!
Property
A common misconception about property coverage is that if you don’t own a building, you don’t have a need for it – which is certainly not the case! Even as a tenant in a building, you likely have a variety of items that would be considered Business Personal Property. Items like computers, inventory, documents, and furniture are all exposed to different types of losses and should be covered. Other property types that you may not have considered are exterior signs, fences, and improvements and betterments. Having these assets properly insured can protect you and your business against a large unexpected expense.
Business Auto
Whether you own, lease, or rent vehicles for business use, it’s imperative
that business owners consider a Business Auto Policy before the rubber meets the road. There is also coverage available if your employees are using their own vehicles. These policies offer coverage types like Liability, Collision, and Comprehensive coverage.
Liability coverage applies when you’re at fault for an accident. Whether you’ve backed into another contractor’s trailer, rear-ended a stopped vehicle, or caused something as minor as a door ding – this coverage would be available to pay for the resulting damage to others’ property. Collision coverage can be purchased in conjunction with liability and would provide coverage for damage to your vehicle in the instances previously mentioned. Comprehensive coverage can be thought of as “other than collision” coverage and would be there for you when you strike an animal, a tree falls on your vehicle, or a rock damages your windshield.
It’s vital that we consider these possible losses before they happen. It’s easy to have the attitude that “it won’t happen to me” but, they’re called accidents for a reason!
Umbrella
Umbrella coverage, also known as Excess coverage, is available when the General Liability limits of your underlying policies may be inadequate. Commercial General Liability policies often go up to $1,000,000 or $2,000,000 but, a given insured may require limits well beyond that. An entity that requires such a high limit often has a large amount of assets or they’re exposed to catastrophic losses.
Nobody wants a loss of this magnitude to happen, but when it does, the Umbrella coverage kicks in after the underlying liability limits have been exhausted. You may be thinking that adding millions of dollars in coverage wouldn’t be affordable, but that is far from the case. These losses occur so seldom, that the cost to obtain these higher limits is surprisingly low. This is yet another way to add peace of mind to business owners- allowing you to focus on the job at hand!
As the weather improves and business picks up, don’t let your business’ insurance needs fall through the cracks. Consult your Independent Insurance Agent and make sure your piece of the world is protected.