Business Insurance Overview
Whether you’re the owner of a business operating out of a garage or the owner of a multi-million dollar corporation, life happens and it’s in your best interest to protect the livelihood of your business through business insurance. Business insurance can protect the machinery and equipment you need in order to stay in the business. It can offer you a guarantee that your employees are completely protected from the risks that you might face as a business owner. Business insurance can also provide financial support if your business is unable to operate due to an unexpected event such as natural disaster or fire.
Could your business survive if your equipment, inventory or property were badly destroyed or damaged? Could you recover from a huge financial loss? Insurance companies provide different policies that are designed to provide maximum coverage for your business; this applies to professionals, tradespeople, hospitality operators and much more. Different businesses require different sets of policies in order to protect the company’s assets as well as against any legal liabilities. You need to ensure that the kind of insurance you receive is perfectly suited for your business needs.
Commercial Property Insurance
Commercial Property Insurance can help you recover from disasters that may jeopardize your business assets and properties. The covered events include vandalism, theft, windstorms, or fire depending on the policy coverage provided by the insurance company. The payout from your Commercial Property Insurance Policy can replace or repair items such as equipment, inventory, furniture, computers and even the office building itself.
Many of the policies in Commercial Property Insurance also include the Business Interruption Insurance which covers up to 12 months of income lost when certain events forced your business operation to be put on hold. For example, if a fire has destroyed your workplace, this kind of insurance can pay the ongoing costs that will keep your business afloat even if it can’t produce revenue.
General and Excess Liability
General liability generally includes indemnity and defense against any legal actions that are brought against the insured for the contractual liability, property damage, bodily injury, or damage to rented or occupied property. Some insurance companies offer special protection that may even include your blogs and websites.
Excess Liability will increase the limit of your insurance while offering similar or more restrictive coverages in comparison to the primary policies. If the limits on primary policies are already exhausted, this policy will be activated.
Workers Compensation Insurance
Workers Compensation Insurance, also known as “Workers Comp” is a state-mandated insurance program that consists of payments required by law for the employees who become disabled or injured in connection with their profession. The state and federal government also offer their own workers compensation insurance for their employees however each individual state has their own insurance program for workers compensation. You can check your state’s workers compensation law benefits by visiting an appropriate state office.
In most situations, the injured employees are guaranteed to receive workers compensation regardless of who was at fault for injury. Because workers compensation benefits serve as an insurance type, they prevent the employees from suing their employers for injuries covered.
Statutory Disability Insurance
Statutory Disability Insurance is coverage that generally provides non-occupational weekly benefits payable to employees for accident or sickness not within the scope of workers compensation laws. This can also cover disabilities that may be brought on by pregnancy.
Any employer who has more than one employee is required to have this Statutory Disability Insurance for their employee except if they are sole proprietors, member and partners of a limited liability company, a minor child of employer, or farm, maritime, railroad, or government workers, ministers, sextons, religious order members, rabbis, priest, or Christian Science readers.
Business Automobile Insurance
As a business owner, driving a vehicle may be essential to the growth and exposure of your company. As is true for vehicles used in personal travel, it is recommended that you get coverage for the vehicle you use primarily for your business because individual auto insurance may not offer enough protection for your business in the event of an accident.
Umbrella Liability Insurance
Umbrella Liability Insurance is an extra liability insurance designed to provide extra coverage if your business is sued and the damages granted exceed what is covered by general liability coverage.