When starting a business or managing a growing one, one of the most confusing issues a business owner faces is the annual business insurance process. What type of Business Insurance coverage do I need to get started? What liability limits should I carry? How should I insure my properties and which coverage can I safely reject?
All these questions arise as today's business owners encounter new hazards and an increasingly litigious public. Business Commercial Insurance helps you manage the risks that arise as you develop and grow your business.
Here are just some of the problems that today's business owners encounter.
Commercial insurance can provide you with essential coverage to protect your business and your assets in the event of a claim or lawsuit. Finding the right coverage will help you reduce the possibility of losses. It is vital that you choose the right insurance carrier, one that offers programs designed to manage your risks more effectively. The right insurer will help ensure that your claims are handled promptly and accurately.
A well-designed commercial insurance package offers you peace of mind, so that you can focus on managing your business and improving your bottom line.
While one business may operate very much like another, no two business owners manage the same risks identically. Each business sector encounters highly specific threats and differing amounts of assets at risk. In today's legal environment, you face risks that are specific to the type of business that you operate. A one-size fits all commercial policy may leave you confronting a loss with limited or no coverage.
To protect your business's property, income stream and your assets, you'll need at least three types of coverage, listed below.
While many business owners choose one Commercial Insurance policy to protect against all three types of losses, others choose a customized approach. We offer many insurance product choices and multiple quotes through one, single-entry process. Your online agent can help you determine how to best protect your assets in the event of any number of common loss scenarios. While we're "online," we're never more than a phone call or email away.
Today's business owners need Business Commercial Insurance for many reasons, including obtaining collateralized loans, defense against liability or property damage losses and protection against lost income or other catastrophic events. Here are some of the loss exposures today's business owners face and the coverage that provides peace of mind.
Even when a claim or lawsuit is groundless, a business encounters the costs to investigate, defend and pay jury awards. Bodily injury and property damage losses that arise from business operations, completed projects or manufactured products are examples of business exposures that could cause injury or damage resulting in claims or lawsuits. General liability insurance provides protection for the following risks.
The commercial umbrella policy provides an additional layer of liability coverage above your underlying liability policies' limits. For example, if a claim exhausted a $1,000,000 limit on your primary general liability coverage, a $2,000,000 umbrella would provide up to $2,000,000 in additional liability coverage on a covered claim.
With claims settlements on the rise, the commercial umbrella policy provides peace-of-mind coverage at a competitive premium. An additional benefit of the umbrella policy is that it may provide “drop-down” coverage when your primary policy excludes a type of loss.
The Business Owners Policy or “BOP” provides a robust package of coverage for the small-to-midsize organization. Rather than purchasing several different policies like liability, property, inland marine and crime coverage, the BOP packages your coverage in one policy and adds some unique features.
Other coverage such as employment practices liability or hired and non owned auto liability may also be available by endorsement, depending on the carrier. Businesses that qualify for the BOP can bundle many of their custom insurance needs into one, easy-to-manage policy.
Commercial auto insurance protects you against the threat of auto-related claims and lawsuits. All business owners face commercial auto exposures. Even if there are no vehicles registered to the business, you'll need auto liability coverage when the business needs to rent a car or when your employee drives their personal vehicle for business purposes like going to the post office or business supply store on your behalf.
As today's vehicle technology evolves, the cost of repairing today's vehicles continues to grow. Your organization can manage the cost of physical damage and loss of use with Comprehensive, Collision and Rental Car coverage on a commercial auto policy.
Whether you have one delivery truck or a fleet of commercial vehicles, the business use of your autos exposes you to the risk of big jury verdicts.
In many states, hiring just one employee requires workers compensation insurance. Workers compensation coverage protects your business when your employee is injured or becomes ill from a work-related condition. The policy provides medical care, earning replacement and rehabilitation services. It also protects you against employers' liability from employee lawsuits.
Employers' liability coverage defends your organization and its officers against allegations of employer negligence. Employer liability claims can arise when the employee alleges the employer failed to provide a safe workplace for the employee. For example, the failure to advise employees of a dangerous work environment or provide adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) can trigger an employer liability claim. Employers liability coverage also can provide defense if the spouse of your injured worker files suit for loss of consortium caused by the accident.
Commercial property insurance covers your buildings and your business personal property. You may have only one location. However, when you have many locations, the need for blanket or more specialized coverage is only one consideration in covering your property. Inventory, furniture and equipment,accounts receivable all require protection that commercial property or crime coverage can provide.There is also coverage available for your intellectual property such as patents or copyrights.
Employee theft insurance is a critical coverage because many small businesses experience employee theft or fraud. Commercial crime coverage can help manage these types of events.
The proper package policy or a mono-line property policy can provide you with the protections you require in today's rapidly evolving business landscape.
After a covered loss, a business shutdown can be financially devastating. Business income insurance helps replace that lost income. It provides reimbursement for loss of income when there is direct damage to your premises caused by a covered peril. For example, after a fire damages your premises, you will be unable to open and conduct normal operations, there for losing the income you would have earned had the fire not occurred.It can also offer protection for lost income if a dependent property, perhaps an anchor storeis damaged in a shopping center where you lease.If the anchor store is closed, this will reduce customer traffic which then causes a reduction in your sales. By including the contingent business income endorsement, you are protected when your main supplier has a loss and can't produce the raw material you need to make your product, creating lost income. The supply chain endorsement provides even broader coverage for lost income.
Indirect costs, such as the cost to expedite new equipmentor find a temporary location to operate from can be a big-ticket items after a loss. You can include extra expense with business income coverage to pay for these types of additional expenses incurred after a loss.
Many businesses do not survive after a major property loss or supply chain disruption. Business income coverage can help get your business operational and profitable again.
From hair salons to engineering firms, professional practices involve special risks that your general liability policy won't cover. Professional errors and omissions can occur in a variety of ways, so professional practices require specialized coverage. We can help you choose the appropriate coverage for your unique business exposures, better managing your professional liability exposures.
Employment practices liability coverage can protect you against a variety of employment-related claims, including sexual harassment and discrimination. No matter the size of your business, you can be the target of wage-and-hour claims, wrongful termination and other employment actions. These are expensive to defend. Employment practices insurance can help protect your business against employment-related charges, including Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaints.
Business insurance evolves to meet society's changing risks. With emerging threats facing business owners, other business insurance coverage can help prepare you for a variety of losses. Here are a few specialized coverages your business may require.
This important coverage helps respond to a variety of cyber incidents such asprivacy breach, deceptive email, ransomware attackor a sophisticated wire fund transfer fraud. Response costs and liabilities arising from one cyber incident can be over a million dollars. One estimate for worldwide cyber-attack costs in 2018 was $45 billion. Don't think because you have a small business that you are safe from cyber-attack,the numbers are on the rise for businesses ofall sizes.Let our business insurance specialists help you tailor the right policy for your company's unique network and data protection requirements.
No matter how well you manage your employment practices or how carefully you choose your employees or locate your business, the risk of an active assailant attack now threatens many businesses both large and small. Instead of relying solely on general liability coverage in the event of an attack, many business owners turn to active assailant coverage for added protection. Active assailant coverage offers comprehensive and surprisingly affordable coverage to protect against the unique risks of an attack.
Today's business owners want a competitive quote at their convenience and want to avoid the high pressure of many insurance sales pitches. At Insurance Advisor, we'll ask the questions and you can provide the answers online, at your convenience. No high pressure, no waiting for return phone calls.
Don't wait to contact us. A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow. Begin your enquiry to know the best cheap Commercial Insurance quote process here. We'll walk you through some of the most important decisions you'll make in opening or managing your business. Privately owned, we hold licenses in almost every state. You'll be working with highly experienced business commercial insurance professionals who can help guide your business today and as it grows. We'll earn your trust through the easy application and binding process and the follow-up attention your business deserves.