When preparing to start a business, one of the most important projects an entrepreneur has is finding commercial insurance. Your commercial insurance policy will serve as a safety net for your business. Should a disaster strike, a new business may not be able to recover financially after the blow. In order to find the right insurance policy, you have to know what is available and how it can affect your business. To prepare you for the search, we will review the most common aspects of a commercial insurance policy.
Nearly every commercial insurance policy includes coverage for property damage. This coverage is used when there is structural damage to the building in which your business is housed. If you are leasing the space currently being used, you should let your commercial insurance agent know this. They will recommend a slightly different policy for you. The commercial insurance policy that would be more appropriate in your situation would be commercial property insurance. This will cover the costs of any damages done to the improvements that you’ve made to the space you rent. For example, you just repainted the walls and hung new shelving. One of your employees barges through a swinging door, toppling a nearby ladder, which smashes into the wall you’ve just redone and tears away the shelving. Such an incident would be covered by your commercial insurance policy under your tenant’s insurance.
Liability is the next form of coverage that may be seen on a commercial insurance policy. It is also one of the most significant. Let’s say you own the local corner store. You’ve just hired a new cashier and he’s being trained on how the store operates. Since the store closes at 10 pm, the two of you begin to mop at 9 pm. Your new cashier can’t find the “Wet Floor” signs. Instead of finding you and asking you where they are, he begins to mop. The store has been slow all day. He figures that he’ll be done and the floor will be dry before the next customer comes in. Just as he turns his back, a young lady in high heels steps through the door, and slips on the wet floor. She suffers a broken ankle.
The liability coverage on your commercial insurance policy protects you when a third party is injured because of the negligence of an employee or during an accident caused by an employee. Sometimes this type of coverage is called agency commercial insurance or simply agent commercial insurance, the concept is that the person is an agent acting on your behalf, so look for those terms in your policy. The presence of good liability coverage in your commercial insurance policy will protect you against lawsuits, and will take care of any financial obligations that would have otherwise fallen to you. Looking at the situation from another perspective, what if the employee had been hurt? If he decides to sue the store for having him complete a task for which he didn’t have all of the appropriate materials, the settlement could be the end of your business. Adding a worker’s compensation clause to your commercial insurance policy protects you against the very notion.
Another very important type of is commercial vehicle insurance coverage that protects the vehicles you use to keep your business operating efficiently. Let’s say you own a very popular flower boutique. It is June, the month for weddings, and you have two events to deliver flowers to this afternoon. You send one guy out in one van bearing the shop logo, and the other guy in another. Because so many people are in town for the weddings, you know that traffic is going to be heavy, but you also don’t have to worry. Your commercial insurance policy protects your vans, your flowers, and your employees. Both deliveries make it to their destinations safely, but you were never worried because you were prepared for anything. Update your commercial auto insurance policy regularly. Keep ‘worry’ from becoming a part of your career. And don’t forget that all commercial insurance is not of equal value so take time to read the fine print.