Business Insurance
Business insurance is a category of insurance that includes a variety of products pertaining to owning and operating a company. If you are a business owner, you might find yourself to be in need of more than one type of business insurance. Throughout your workday, you and your employees perform various tasks in different situations, and many of them involve risk of financial loss. We’ll discuss some of the common ones here.
One type of business insurance that is usually thought of first is a policy to cover the loss of your company’s building and anything inside the building. This could be due to fire, flood, hurricane, tornado or really just about anything that would damage or destroy the structure. Consider the total value of your equipment, office furniture, computers, etc. – replacing all of that property would be a huge expense. This type of policy is simply called property insurance.
Related to property insurance is commercial auto insurance. Do you use a car or truck for business? This doesn’t mean just to haul equipment or products; it can also include just the transportation of people (you or your employees). Your personal auto insurance policy may have limitations on coverage if you are using your vehicle(s) for business purposes, and it’s worth checking to see if a business insurance policy would be more appropriate. A good policy will also include coverage for vehicles that you rent for business purposes.
What if your business has to shut down for a period of time? This could be due to vital equipment that needs to be replaced or repaired, or a variety of other reasons. Perhaps you operate a retail store and a hurricane comes through our area. Business interruption coverage is a type of business insurance that covers the expenses incurred as a result of storm damage, and even covers your ongoing expenses until you are able to open your doors to customers again.
Some of the property owned by the business may be stolen or destroyed by someone maliciously. This could be simple vandalism, or it could be a disgruntled employee. You want to have coverage to protect against that type of risk. This would include any loss due to criminal activity.
Most business owners today are keenly aware of the increasingly litigious nature of our society. No matter how careful you are, you will always have the risk of facing a lawsuit. There are a variety of situations that could bring that about:
- A customer slips and falls while in your store
- Someone uses your product and injures themselves as a result
- One of your drivers causes an accident and the other party is injured or killed
- One of your crew accidentally damages a customer’s home or vehicle while doing residential work
That list could go on and on, but the point is that you need business insurance to cover your liability in the event of a civil lawsuit. Even if the suit comes out in your favor in the end, the legal fees to defend yourself and your company can be enormous. Liability coverage is a must-have to protect against this type of risk.
We have really only touched the surface on the variations of business insurance available to you as an owner. There are other things to consider, such as claims made by your sales staff that were unintentionally misleading, damage to property by someone using your product, or advertising copy that infringes on the copyright of another person or business. To discuss your specific situation and needs, give us a call.
We offer free quotes. Contact us today for business insurance in Sarasota, Bradenton, Venice, Port Charlotte, Parrish, Punta Gorda and North Port, FL.