Commercial Lines
Business Owner’s Policy
If you’re operating a small business, own or rent your business space, you most likely need business owner’s policy. Business owner’s policy is a policy that combines both commercial property insurance and general liability coverage into one package. The idea is to pay less than if the policies were purchased separately.
Even if it’s not required, it’s a good idea to consider business owner’s policy to protect your valued property and office building against financial losses from customer accidents and incidents like fires and burglaries.
Commercial Property
Commercial property insurance is a key coverage to operate your business. As a business owner, even to rent an office space, you are required to carry commercial property insurance coverage. Not only it helps protect the costly physical assets of your business such as the owned or rented property and its contents; but also, any outdoor fixtures such as signs and fencing.
Commercial property insurance is also known as business hazard insurance. Small businesses rely on it to protect their assets against unforeseen events, such as fire, explosion, storms, theft, and vandalism. Additional coverage is also available for earthquakes and floods and can be added as perils.
Determining how much coverage you need will depend on the value of all your business assets and the level of protection you seek. The size of your business plays a big factor. Hence, the best way to determine the cost is to contact your professional insurance agents. Property insurance policies for small businesses may be purchased as a stand-alone or as part of a comprehensive Business Owner’s policy that includes property and general liability coverage.
General Liability
General liability insurance, also called business liability insurance, is this type of liability coverage that helps protect your business from claims of bodily injury, property damage, personal injury and others that can arise from your business operations.
People go to your place of business daily, you or your employees interact with customers face-to-face, have access to customers’ property, advertise or market your services, work on job sites or enter into contracts with them. At any point, one could claim that your business has caused them bodily injury or property damage and seek legal compensation. Without general liability coverage, you’d have to pay for medical expenses, property damages, or legal compensation out of pocket.
General liability insurance policy accounts for your business being at fault for bodily injury, property damage, personal or advertising injury. Professional liability insurance coverage, however, protects businesses and individuals against claims made by clients for wrongful acts resulting in economic damage.
Workers Compensation
Workers’ compensation insurance, also referred to as “workers’ comp,” is another type of insurance coverage that could help run your business safely. A serious workplace injury could financially devastate your business. Just as many other small businesses, you don’t want to pay medical bills out of pocket or be fined for breaking the state law. Besides, workplace accidents tend to happen, and employees can get sick from their work. If any of these situations occur, you’ll want peace of mind knowing your small business is covered.
Worker’s comp is designed to cover your employees’ medical expenses and sometimes also a portion of lost wages, for employees who are injured or ill while at work. Coverage also includes rehabilitation provisions and a death benefit when necessary. Worker’s comp also includes liability insurance coverage. So, if your business faces lawsuits from injured workers or their families, workers’ comp can help pay for your legal costs.
Workers’ compensation insurance is required by law in almost every state. Florida workers’ compensation law states that most businesses with four or more employees need workers’ comp coverage.
Commercial Auto
Just like your personal auto, your business vehicles need to have commercial auto insurance to help you cover for unforeseen accidents.
A commercial auto insurance policy covers injuries that you or your employees may cause to other people and their property while driving. It is designed to help pay for repairs to your company vehicle or a driver’s medical bills after an accident. Commercial vehicles require a higher coverage limit because they’re typically exposed to more risk than personal vehicles. Commercial auto insurance policy typically includes:
- Liability
- Physical Damage
- Medical Payments
- Uninsured Motorist
- Hired Auto
- Non-Owned Coverage
- Any Auto
Keep in mind that a covered claim will be subject to your policy’s deductibles and limits.
Cyber Insurance
The rise of data breach and other related cybercrimes have recently become a headache for nearly every business. Whether framed as ransomware, phishing emails with embedded malware, or even social engineering attacks, companies are finding themselves to be the target of a cyber-attack all too often.
A cyber security incident can not only damage your small-business computer system. It also can damage your reputation and put your customers and employees at risk. Hence, to you as a business owner and your entire operation, cyber insurance policy should hold tremendous value.
No single business size is exempted from cyber-attack, the smart decision is to protect your business against it. Cyber insurance policy is generally designed to protect your business from:
- Network security and privacy liability
- Network exposures and interruption
- Digital media liability
- Errors and omissions
Cybercrimes aren’t going away and, in fact, continue to soar. They are more frequent and increasingly expensive. The cost of a cybersecurity incident could be in the low hundreds to millions of dollars. As a business owner, you need to be prepared in the event that a cyber-attack strikes.