Whether you are contemplating starting a new business, are a new business owner, or have owned a business for many years, commercial insurance can be one of the most important ongoing financial investments you make in the life of your company. Operating a business is extremely challenging without having to worry about suffering significant financial loss due to unforeseen circumstances. Commercial insurance can protect you from some of the most common losses experienced by business owners such as property damage, business interruption, theft, liability, and worker injury. Purchasing the appropriate commercial insurance coverage can make the difference between going out of business after a severe loss or recovering with minimal business interruption and financial impairment to your company’s operations. At Parker Agency, we make an often times complex product offering seem simple by helping our clients comprehend how these various policies all work in an easy to understand manner.
Here are some of the common insurance coverages businesses have:
General Liability
Every business, even if home-based, needs to have liability insurance. The policy provides both defense and damages if you, your employees or your products or services cause or are alleged to have caused bodily injury or property damage to a third party
Property Insurance
If you own your building or have business personal property, including office equipment, computers, inventory or tools you should consider purchasing a policy that will protect you if you have a fire, vandalism, theft, smoke damage etc. You may also want to consider business interruption/loss of earning insurance as part of the policy to protect your earnings if the business is unable to operate.
Commercial Auto Insurance
Commercial auto insurance protects a company’s vehicles and the liability that exists in driving them. You can protect vehicles that carry employees, products or equipment. With commercial auto insurance you can insure your work cars, SUVs, vans and trucks from damage and collisions. If you do not have company vehicles, but employees drive their own cars on company business you should have non-owned auto liability to protect the company in case the employee does not have insurance or has inadequate coverage.
Worker’s Compensation
Worker’s compensation provides insurance to employees who are injured on the job. This type of insurance provides wage replacement and medical benefits to those who are injured while working. In exchange for these benefits, the employee gives up his rights to sue his employer for the incident. As a business owner, it is very important to have worker’s compensation insurance because it protects yourself and your company from legal complications. State laws will vary, but all require you to have workers compensation if you have W2 employees. Penalties for non-compliance can be very significant.
Professional Liability Insurance
This type of insurance is also known as Errors and Omissions Insurance. The policy provides defense and damages for failure to or improperly rendering professional services. Your general liability policy does not provide this protection, so it is important to understand the difference. Professional liability insurance is applicable for any professional firm including lawyers, accountants, consultants, notaries, real estate agents, insurance agents, hair salons and technology providers among others.
Directors and Officers Insurance
This type of insurance protects the directors and officers of a company against their actions that affect the profitability or operations of the company. If a director or officer of your company, as a direct result of their actions on the job, finds him or herself in a legal situation, this type of insurance can cover costs or damages lost as a result of a lawsuit.
Data Breach/Cyber Liability
If your business stores sensitive or non-public information about employees or clients on its computers, servers or in paper files you are responsible for protecting that information. If a breach occurs either electronically or from a paper file a Data Breach policy will provide protection against the loss.
Commercial Umbrella Policy
A smartly crafted umbrella insurance policy is one of the main lines of defense in today’s increasingly litigious society. The rise in the number of lawsuits and size of jury verdicts impose a heavy financial burden on many businesses large and small. Purchasing a commercial umbrella policy is often a wise decision to make as a business owner as the policy provides a large amount of liability coverage for a comparatively very small cost