Do business owners need insurance, even if they’re running a small operation out of their home? Absolutely. All business types and sizes need coverage to protect themselves, their employees, customers, and business finances. If you’re not sure what type of insurance you need for your business and when you need it, find out here.
You Own Equipment
As soon as you start purchasing equipment, you need to protect it under a commercial insurance policy. Commercial property insurance will cover the equipment from loss due to damage caused by fire, water, and weather. But you will also need equipment breakdown insurance to cover accidents caused by internal sources such as electrical shortages or explosions.
You Sell Products
If you sell products to customers or other businesses, you’ll need to protect your business from claims or lawsuits that could arise from product design, manufacturing or marketing defects. Product liability insurance will protect you and your business from legal costs if your product causes bodily injury, illness or property damaged to a third party.
You Have Company Vehicles
Your personal auto policy won’t also cover your commercial vehicles. So if you or any of your employees use your vehicles for business purposes, you should have commercial auto insurance to protect your fleet and those who drive them.
You Employ Your First Staff Member
As soon as you hire an employee, you will need commercial general liability insurance to protect yourself from a loss if they happen to injure themselves on or off your property and you’re found liable. The CGL policy will also cover injuries to a customer on or off your property.
You Lease or Buy Space
Keeping your business up and running at all times is your number one priority. If you rent or buy space, the best way to prevent downtime from occurring is to have the right policy to get you back up and running as fast as possible if damage occurs. Commercial property insurance will help with the repair costs, replacement costs and income supplement to help you get back on your feet faster. Even if you work out of home, you should still arrange for home-based business insurance that will help you deal with any unexpected claims or liability lawsuits that arise.
You Rely On Tech
If important document management and accounting systems are run on company computers and servers, your business is at risk from cyber-attacks. Many businesses today have gone bankrupt trying to prevent data breaches from leaking. To ensure this never happens to you, obtain cyber risk coverage to help mitigate some of the expenses if a breach does occur.
These are just some common examples of when you should call an insurance broker to talk about your commercial insurance options – there are many more. If you own a small business, large operation or work from home, call us today to find out if you have the proper insurance in place to keep you protected from unexpected damages, lawsuits and claims.