Commercial insurance covers property, employees and customers that enter your property. Having an adequate amount of insurance is important because if your business is ever sued due to an accident, or if natural disaster strikes-you will want insurance to cover the entire claim. Commercial insurance provides protection against theft, property damage and liability in case of a customer or employee accident. Operating without insurance can be a huge financial mistake, as if any injuries, disasters or accidents occur, you as a business owner can be sued for thousands, if not millions of dollars.
Commercial insurance covers losses or damages to a building and the property it is on, covers all machinery and phone systems in the building, supplies and furniture. Commercial insurance offers two different options for coverage: actual cash value (of damaged items) or replacement cost of the items. The actual cost of an item is what you paid for it, minus depreciation and replacement cost is how much it would cost to put something of similar value in place of the damaged item(s). Commercial insurance will also cover lawsuits from employees or customers injured on your property. This means paying for medical bills, lost wages and punitive damages in personal injury cases against your company.
There are many types of commercial insurance, and depending on your business you may not need all of these types. If you own a pizza shop you may need both commercial property insurance and commercial auto insurance, whereas if you owned a book store you likely wouldn’t need the commercial auto insurance. Sometimes policies need changes, like dropping certain types of insurance or increasing a deductible. Your insurance agent should be able to assist you with these policy changes, making it easy and stress-free.
Finding commercial insurance agents and companies can be as simple as a quick internet search or perusal of the phone book. Any commercial insurance agent should be able to discuss all types of commercial insurance programs that are offered. Since there are many different levels of coverage, an insurance professional should discuss your options with you, and give advice about what your specific company needs. If an agent cannot discuss your options with you or instill confidence, you can speak with another agency. With the large amount of commercial insurance agents available to you, there is no reason to settle for an agent that you’re not comfortable with.