As a business owner, you should be aware of the ways you can do to protect your investment. However, no matter how you try to ensure that your business is safe, you can never run away from the risks of the business industry. Fortunately, with the help of business insurance, your business can still thrive even if it encounters risks.
However, before obtaining business insurance, you can hire an insurance broker to help you assess your risks, and identify the needs of your business. When looking for the right insurance broker, you should consider their knowledge and experience about both the specific industry your business belongs to, and how the world of business insurance works.
Once you’ve found the right insurance broker, the next is to ask them for their recommendations. But although reliable business insurance can explain each coverage option you can add to your policy, you should at least have an overview of them beforehand.
In this article, we’ll list some of the most common business insurance coverage that insurance brokers often recommend.
1. General Liability Insurance
General liability insurance is the most essential coverage for business insurance and one of the first ones that brokers often recommend. It covers claims related to property damage, bodily injury, and other types of injury. However, since it’s not specific, brokers also recommend adding more coverage on top of this.
2. Commercial Property Insurance
Whether you’re operating your business online or on-site, you still need to have commercial property insurance. It covers the financial assistance for your commercial space, furniture, tools and equipment, and inventory. So, in case of fire, theft, or natural disasters, you can still be financially covered.
3. Professional Liability Insurance
Are you operating a service-based business? If yes, you should also include professional liability insurance. It covers claims against failure, negligence, and mistakes that your business may commit while offering your services. Besides, you can never be sure that you’ll never commit any mistakes in the future, so it’s better to be safe than sorry.
4. Workers’ Compensation Insurance
Whether you’re working with just one employee or a hundred, availing of workers’ compensation insurance is a must. It covers the wages, medical expenses, and rehabilitation costs of your employees in case of unexpected instances.
It’s not just beneficial to your employees, but also the company because if you don’t have this type of insurance, you’ll end up paying out of pocket instead.
5. Business Owners Policy (BOP)
Are you looking for bundle deals? Your insurance broker may mention the business owner’s policy, which combines general liability and commercial property in one package. However, you should ask your broker if it costs less than if you’ll avail of the insurance separately. Additionally, check the coverage. If the package won’t cover as much as when availed individually, you should also think about it.
6. Cyber Liability Insurance
Nowadays, most businesses rely on the benefits of using digital applications and software. But although it can significantly help with efficiency and data storage, it also comes with risks. Some of these risks include data breaches, identity theft, and other cyber attacks. Fortunately, with the help of cyber liability insurance, you can protect your business against these digital threats.
7. Commercial Auto Insurance
If your business owns vehicles, even if for deliveries or employee use, availing of commercial auto insurance is necessary. It covers liabilities and damages from accidents involving business-owned vehicles. Additionally, commercial auto insurance has more coverage than personal car insurance, including third-party claims.
8. Product Liability Insurance
Meanwhile, if your business focuses on manufacturing and retail, having product liability insurance can significantly help in times of trouble. For instance, if a product gets damaged, this insurance can cover lawsuits and other finances that you may encounter. Besides, in some cases, it can be difficult to trace where an item gets damaged, especially once they’re done with quality control.
9. Directors and Officers (D&O) Insurance
Even the higher positions need insurance. Usually, directors and officers make decisions on behalf of the company. Unfortunately, sometimes these decisions are supported with facts, and may not be beneficial to the company. When this happens, they should have protection against lawsuits, and other financial problems they may encounter along the way.
10. Business Interruption Insurance
Operating a business is risky, and you can never predict when disasters strike. With business interruption insurance, you can still move forward even if your business gets interrupted due to various reasons, such as natural disasters, theft, and fire.
During the interruption, you can file for claims, and get the financial assistance that can cover the rent, bills, salaries, and other things that you need to keep the business running.
Final Thoughts
Business insurance is essential for the betterment of the future of your company. But although this article can help you understand the basics of business insurance and its most common coverages, you should still consult with your insurance broker for a more accurate recommendation.
