Whether it’s for property or liability, the best business insurance companies will cover your company against many common risks. Consider reviewing your coverages, especially as your company grows.
Chubb offers bundled policies that include the general property and liability coverages most small businesses need. It also offers specialized coverages such as professional liability, commonly known as errors and omissions (E&O) insurance.
Property Insurance
The property insurance coverage that is available through business insurance protects your company’s physical assets like buildings and furniture as well as personal belongings such as computers and inventory. It also provides liability protection if someone is injured by your company’s goods or services. You can purchase property insurance coverage as a standalone policy or it may be included in a comprehensive package policy such as the business owner’s policy (BOP).
This is one of the core types of small business insurance that every company should have. A commercial property insurance policy will reimburse your business for the cost of repairing or replacing your property that has been damaged by fire, vandalism, floods and other hazards. It also covers lost income if your business is forced to close because of damage to your property. In addition, your policy may cover the cost of removing debris and cleaning up after a disaster.
The type of commercial property insurance you need will depend on the value of your business’s physical assets, your comfort level with the risk of a damaging event and your budget. For example, a company with expensive computer equipment will pay higher premiums than a firm that has less costly items. You can also choose between actual cash value or replacement cost coverage, which will affect your premiums as well.
Liability Insurance
The liability portion of business insurance protects your company from claims that it caused injury or damage to a person or another entity. It’s important to have this protection, because even small businesses are at risk of being sued. Some types of liability coverage include general commercial liability, professional liability and errors and omissions insurance.
While some people may think that only large corporations need to worry about being sued, the truth is that any business can be sued for any reason. This is why all businesses should have liability insurance, which can pay for legal costs and other expenses incurred as a result of a lawsuit. Liability insurance is often offered as part of a package policy along with property and workers’ compensation insurance.
A package policy is a good option for many small businesses. For example, a business owner’s policy (BOP) is a type of liability insurance that includes both property and liability insurance in one package. This makes it easier for small business owners to manage their risk.
There are also specialized policies available for certain industries. For example, Hiscox offers policies that are specifically tailored for small businesses with 10 or fewer employees. This includes professional liability insurance, which provides coverage if your business is sued over the quality of your work or if someone is injured on the job. Other specialty policies include employment practices liability insurance, which protects against allegations of wrongful termination, sexual harassment, discrimination and more.
Business Auto Insurance
A business auto policy, also known as a commercial car insurance policy, provides liability and physical damage coverage for vehicles owned by your company or used by employees on business. These policies typically cover cars, trucks and vans. However, your business may need a special rider or endorsement to insure unique types of vehicles. Some of the coverage available through business auto includes collision, which pays for accident-related damage to your insured vehicle, comprehensive coverage, which reimburses you for repairs not covered by collision, and rental reimbursement, which covers a portion of your lost income if you or your employees are unable to drive your insured vehicle due to an accident or other covered reason. Some states require businesses to carry a certain amount of liability insurance and uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage.
The separation between home and work can get a little blurry for small-business owners, especially when it comes to vehicles. When you add up all the ways your employees use their personal vehicles for business-related purposes — to run errands, pick up supplies or deliver products to clients — it can easily add up to more than a single company car. That’s why many business owners opt to include hired and non-owned auto coverage in their business insurance policy.
Many of the same household names that sell consumer auto insurance offer New York business auto insurance, as well. NerdWallet’s business car insurance ratings consider each insurer’s financial strength, complaint ratio, digital features and customer service availability, among other factors.
Business Interruption Insurance
Business interruption coverage helps compensate your company for lost profits when you are forced to close because of a physical loss or damage covered by the policy. This type of insurance may also cover ongoing expenses, such as rent or mortgage payments for the space you are working out of, tax payments, payroll to employees who cannot work because your business is closed and relocation costs if necessary.
Generally, there is a 48- to 72-hour waiting period before the coverage will activate after an insured loss, but this timeframe varies by insurer. To qualify for this type of coverage, the interruption must be directly caused by the loss or damage to your property and cannot have been self-inflicted.
There are several different business interruption policies available to meet your specific needs. These include contingent business interruption coverage and extended business interruption coverage. These are offered as riders on commercial multi-peril property policies or can be purchased as stand-alone policies.
If you have a leader location, such as a popular restaurant, sports or entertainment venue or other well-known destination that draws people to your area, business interruption coverage may be helpful to ensure your business can continue operating if it is interrupted by an event such as Covid-19. This can be a valuable tool to help you attract and keep customers when other locations close due to the pandemic.assurance pro
