Many types of coverages may be applicable to your business:
Business Owners Coverage
A business owner's policy is known as BOP for short, a combination policy that brings together two types of coverages. The first type is property insurance. Property insurance covers risks associated with your business’ premises, equipment, and vehicles. Additionally, it often includes any associated loss of business. The second type is liability insurance. Liability insurance covers damage to people you deal with and their property. But, it’s important to note that liability insurance usually doesn’t cover risks related to professional services–meaning damages that result from you giving clients inaccurate advice, for example.
Builders Risk
Builders risk insurance is effectively a form of property insurance that covers the period while the property is still under construction. The property owners can take out such a policy, though more commonly it’ll be a policy they insist the contractors take out. The key areas of coverage are damage caused by events such as fire and hailstorms. You’ll also normally be covered for theft and vandalism (though not by your employees) and damage caused by vehicles or aircraft hitting the building. To make sure coverage levels are adequate, policies are often set at a fixed percentage of the total construction budget. You’ll need to check how long the policy runs as it typically won’t allow repeated extensions of the construction timeline. It’s important to be aware of what builders risk insurance doesn’t cover. Unless specifically stated, it won’t cover increased risks such as flooding on a beachfront construction or earthquakes near a fault line. It also doesn’t cover injuries suffered by workers, meaning you’ll still need any legally-required workers compensation insurance coverage, as well. If builders risk insurance sounds right for you, contact us today for a quote.
Workers Comp
Workers’ compensation insurance, or simply workers’ comp, is not just a legal requirement in some states–it’s an investment in your staff’s security. The precise rules vary from state to state, but the general rule is that your business must take out workers’ compensation insurance for employees that pays out if they are injured at work. In principle, the workers’ comp payouts will cover medical bills, care costs and a portion of any lost wages. Plus, in the worst-case scenario, workers’ compensation insurance will cover funeral costs and death benefits.
Commercial Auto
A vehicle collision is never good news, but when it’s one of your business’ cars or trucks, the consequences are more complicated.Business auto insurance, also called commercial auto insurance, takes all the elements of normal auto coverage and adds on extra protection. For example, when obtaining commercial car insurance, you can usually get much higher liability coverage to reflect the fact that a business typically has more assets at risk than an individual would. Additionally, with commercial auto insurance, you can get collision insurance. This type of coverage pays out for damage to your commercial car or truck no matter who caused the collision–a protection that’s often a must if you lease or finance commercial vehicles. It’s also worth considering employers non-owned car liability coverage. Employers non-owned car liability coverage is an add-on or a separate policy covering those instances when your staff use their cars or trucks as part of their work for your business. This type of protection can help reduce the risk of messy legal complications if they are injured or if their vehicle is damaged during this time.
Commercial Property
Fire, flooding, theft or accidental damage are unfortunate incidents that could not only damage or destroy your property, but could also devastate your business. Whether it’s buildings, commercial vehicles or equipment, losing these assets would be a potentially critical setback for your business.
A commercial property insurance policy can protect against the cost of replacing lost or damaged property. Additionally, commercial property insurance can cover any associated losses–such as lost income–that are caused because part or all of your business is temporarily knocked out of action. It’s worth exploring the options available to you with a commercial property insurance policy, as they may cover risks you hadn’t thought of. For example, some policies protect against the additional costs you face if rebuilding a damaged business facility means no longer being exempt from local building codes.
Other points to check include whether a policy covers the cost of removing debris before reconstruction begins, as well as whether the business property is covered against weather event damage while being rebuilt.
Commercial property insurance is a great way to ensure that your business’ location and assets, as well as your income, are protected. Have questions? We’re happy to help!
General Liability
When you look around your business, it’s obvious that you need to protect against damage to your buildings, equipment and staff. Less obvious–but no less important–is the risk of damage to other people and businesses, which could leave you paying out large sums if you are held liable. General liability insurance mainly covers bodily injury to people outside of your business and physical damage to their property. A few exceptions to this principle include data loss and reputation damage (for example, if one of your business’ staff members defames a client).
It’s important to note that general liability coverage doesn’t apply to cases where you are sued for giving inadequate professional advice. Errors and Omissions insurance (E&O) can help protect your business from that specific type of risk. Your business needs general liability insurance if you ever meet clients (at your business or theirs), or have any physical access to their equipment. Additionally, general liability insurance is a requirement before some businesses will sign a contract with you. General liability insurance is a common necessity for most businesses.
We can help you find a policy that works for your unique business.
