Commercial auto insurance needs to be specific to your business.

Most business owners know the risk involved with their product and service but often assume their auto coverage is sufficient.  Any vehicle owned or operated by the business may put the business at serious risk financially in the event of an accident caused by that vehicle or the operator.

Commercial auto insurance needs to be take out anytime the vehicle is titled to the business.  It doesn’t matter the size, make or even if it is used strictly for pleasure.  The business name on the title brings the business into a lawsuit in the event of an accident or personal injury.  Even if the car is used by the business owner’s spouse or family member exclusively, the titleholder (The business) is may be sued.  It’s important to review driving records of those who may be driving your vehicles.

Obviously, vehicle classification, motor size, use, must all be noted and will impact both premium and coverage.   Work with your insurance professional in determining the proper coverage and policy.  It may make sense to opt for fleet insurance for your business.

Make sure you work with your insurance professional on the liability limits covered by the policy.  Taking just state minimums again may expose your business to financial risk in the event of a lawsuit or judgment higher than the state minimum. We often see business owners assuming way to much risk in having minimum coverage in place. Work with your agent and perhaps your corporate attorney to review the coverage and potential for risk.  We often see business owners assuming way to much risk in having minimum coverage in place.

You insurance professional will review other coverage’s available for commercial auto insurance.  Comprehensive coverage, under insured motorist, medical payments and others may be available.  Together, design a policy and coverage that provides adequate protection and minimizes the exposure for your small business.  Don’t assume you have good coverage without having a conversation and review with your insurance professional.  Make sure to review this insurance annually, or when any changes occur, including adding or dropping a driver.

Am I required to provide any insurance for my employees?

It can be confusing to small business owners what is required in regards to insurance when hiring employees.  The only insurance required at the time of this writing for employees is workers compensation insurance in all but 5 states.  While standards vary somewhat, for the purpose of this article and protection of your business, when you hire an employee, it’s important to purchase workers compensation insurance and if your business is in Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Hawaii, or California, check on Disability requirements.  Your licensed insurance professional should help you sort through the specific requirements in your home state. In addition, check with your state department of insurance for the specific requirements in your location.  Remember, the ultimate responsibility rests with you as the owner of the business.  For discussion purposes, we are not including unemployment as a mandatory insurance.

The first thing we need to do is define what workers compensation is and how it works.

Workers compensation insurance will cover medical expenses and at least some partial wages if an employee is injured on the job.  This protects the employee from financial disaster from a job related injury.  In return, the employer is protected from being sued by that employee for the injury.  Obviously, this is a very generic overview and should be reviewed with a licensed insurance professional regarding your specific business.  Some states may require some type of disability insurance as well.  Your insurance professional and state department of insurance will guide you to the specific requirements of your state.

There are lots of other types of insurance and coverage options available for employees of a business. These employee insurance programs, or employee benefits, are at the discretion of the business.  When a business starts an employee benefit program, medical insurance is usually the cornerstone of the benefits package.  The health insurance benefit may include dental insurance and vision insurance as supplements to the health insurance.  Group life insurance and group disability coverage may also be offered.  Costs may be shared between employees and the business for these benefits.

In this day and business environment, a growing business may want to consider adding group insurance benefits.  While not required, a good benefits package will help in recruiting and retaining good employees for your business.  Your licensed insurance professional can work with you in determining the requirements of your state for workers compensation and also developing an employee insurance benefits program.

As a veterinarian, your chosen profession is truly a noble one.  Providing care and remedy to animals while providing direction, support, and comfort to their owners.  It’s important to provide direction, support, and protection for your clinic and its employees and owners as well through a good veterinary insurance plan.

Whether your practice consists of house pets, large animals, or a specialty clinic, you need to have the proper coverage in place.  It’s important to work with your licensed agent to customize a veterinary insurance package for your specific practice.

First, consider a business owner’s policy to combine your general liability coverage with your property insurance which is customizable.  Then, consider your veterinary malpractice insurance has the correct endorsements.  Let’s look at these three types of coverage  separately.

Your veterinary malpractice insurance or errors and omissions insurance will protect you and your staff should an animal die or contract an illness in your care and the owner brings a lawsuit against you.

Your veterinary malpractice insurance will cover legal fees, and any damages awarded up to the limit of the policy.  Certain other coverage may be specific to your practice and discussed with your licensed insurance agent.

You may also want to discuss whether a business liability umbrella policy should be considered should there be potential for large claims and damage awards.

The general liability coverage within your business owner’s policy will cover your clinic’s liability for damages and personal injury at your clinic.  For example, a pet owner slips on floor and is injured.

The property insurance portion of the business owner’s policy will insure the equipment and furnishing in the event of a disaster such as a fire.  In addition, business income insurance and equipment breakdown insurance can be added to the business owner’s policy for additional protection.  You may also want to consider adding coverage for valuable records and papers.

Your professional associations, the state department of insurance and your licensed insurance professional are available to help determine what coverage is needed for your veterinary clinic and practice specialty.  Take some time to determine the level and type of coverage needed for your peace of mind.

What types of risk do I really face as a business owner, especially just starting out?

This question speaks to a number of articles we’ve shared in the past.  Frankly, the question really boils down to this, “Why do I really need business insurance, especially as a start up company?”

I mean really, isn’t that the real question behind our title?  Don’t you really want to ask that same question yourself?  What follows is a list of real scenarios documented with insurance carriers across the country.

As you read through this article, I am sure you’ll run across enough to make you say, “Ahhhh, I get it now.”  Let’s get started and look at some possible situations and decide if you and/or your business may be exposed to these types of risk:

One of your employees is interviewed by a publication without your knowledge.  In the interview, your employee refers to a competitor as, “A sleaze ball who gouges his customers every chance he gets.”  That competitor immediately sues you and your business.

You walk into your office the day after your grand opening and discover the back door wide open and all your computers and phones are gone.

You old toaster oven causes you’re newly leased office and the building to burn down.

You meet prospective clients for lunch, one has to leave and you volunteer to give the other a ride home.    Driving back to their office, you run a stop sign and get hit by another vehicle in which everyone involved gets seriously injured.

A customer  walks into your store, slips on a just mopped floor and breaks their ankle.

Forty-five days into your retail store being opened, vendors start calling demanding payment on bad checks.  You discover your bookkeeper made deposits to her account and has now disappeared.

Are there risks assumed the minute you start a business? Absolutely.  Getting business insurance in place must always be a priority for a new business.

Your licensed insurance professional can work with you to determine what coverages you need go ensure that you are covered completely.

Commercial restaurant insurance covers restaurants, bars, doughnut and coffee shops, pubs, bistros, delicatessens, and more.  A good commercial restaurant insurance policy should cover employees, buildings and equipment, loss of income, liquor liability and general liability.

Owning and running a restaurant comes with plenty of headaches.  Don’t let your commercial restaurant insurance be one of them.  Having a good commercial restaurant insurance policy in place will reduce stress and worry down the road.  One factor is certain in running a restaurant; the risk exposure regarding liability is higher than many other types of retail businesses.

A restaurant insurance policy needs to provide coverage for a variety of risks.  The policy should cover employment practices liability, valet liability and liquor liability.  There are a number of coverage options with varying limits and deductibles.  Talk to your licensed insurance professional to review what is available.  It is important to insure if alcohol is served that liquor liability is included.

This insurance will protect the business if a customer gets intoxicated and causes damage or injury to themselves or others.

In addition to these unique coverage options, your restaurant insurance should cover workers compensation, property, and general liability.  Other specialty coverage that is available includes plate glass and signage.

If you have fine art displayed, there is coverage available as well as parking lot and valet insurance.  The commercial restaurant insurance policy should also cover food-borne illness.  Business income insurance is also an option to be considered by a restaurant owner.

Talk to your licensed insurance professional about whether a business umbrella policy makes sense to further reduce the risk of financial ruin from a liability damage lawsuit and award.

The restaurant business is a complex business.  Make sure you discuss the distinct aspects of your business with your licensed insurance professional so they can help you determine the appropriate coverage and deductibles to customize your restaurant insurance policy.

Insuring your business is one of the most important things you will do as a business owner.  The peace of mind which comes with having insurance in place to protect your business is very rewarding.  What’s just as important, is knowing that your insurance will do what you believe it will.

A term important for you to understand is exclusion.  Almost every insurance policy will have exclusions written into them.  For instance, most general liability polices for business exclude professional liability.

While the general liability policy is written to cover bodily injury, personal injury and property damage, as well as some types of advertising injury, something is missing.  It doesn’t cover claims against professional failure of performance or negligence of professional standard.

One lawsuit relating to professional liability can devastate a business.  Professional liability insurance or errors and omissions insurance is needed to protect against this exclusion of coverage.

Another exclusion generally found in a general liability policy is unfair or discriminatory employment practices.  This includes hiring and termination claims as well as disciplinary, job title and responsibility changes, and charges of harassment.  Again, separate employee practices insurance is needed.

Property insurance will also have exclusions written into them.  For instance, flood damages are generally excluded.  Other weather disasters such as wind may also be excluded and need separate policies written such as flood insurance.  Debris removal and business interruption insurance often aren’t covered.

Take a close look at your commercial business insurance and look for exclusions.  If you have any questions, talk to your licensed insurance professional.  Have them point out exclusions and coverage options available if needed for your business.  Then, you are able to really have peace of mind.

We often hear this question: What’s product liability insurance and do all businesses need it?

If your business is a retail or internet provider of goods and services, or if you make and deliver products through distribution, you should consider purchasing product liability insurance. This coverage will protect you and the business from claims of damage caused by your product or its use.

Product liability insurance will cover against claims of damage from goods, foods, medicines or other products sold and used by the public. This insurance covers manufacturers, distributors, suppliers, and retailers in the event of a claim. It’s important to note that claims of damages or injury may come from product defect, packaging, design, labeling, storage, or handling of the product.

It’s important for a retail business or supplier to remember that they may handle hundreds or thousands of different products and claims can be brought against them even though they didn’t manufacture the product. Your business may be part of ‘the stream of commerce’ which will hold your business liable for a ‘part’ of a claim.

Work with a licensed insurance professional to determine the specific coverage needed. In most cases, a million dollar limit is considered the minimum that should be carried and what options are available to best protect your business.

What is landlord insurance?

A business is defined as providing goods or services in return for payment. As a landlord, you are providing a place to live or conduct business in return for the rent check. Any business is exposed to risk and should have insurance in place to protect the property and assets of the business and its owner.

It is extremely important to the responsibility and accountability you hold to your tenants, your property, any lien holders, and yourself by the financial risk assumed as a landlord. whether you’re renting out an apartment, a home, an office or an entire building, a landlord policy should be put in place to reduce the risk inherent with being a landlord.

Insure you have proper liability insurance in place. A landlord can be held liable for negligence. Make sure your property is maintained and eliminate safety hazards. Fix problems quickly and periodically check your property.

Review your liability limits and insure you put than minimums in place. Discuss the option of adding an umbrella policy if necessary. Understand that liability is not subject to just physical problems with the building. if you have tenants with a dangerous animal or performing dangerous activity, the liability can fall back to the landlord.

Make sure to insure the buildings or buildings at full value. If not, you can be subject to shared loss or coinsurance in the event of a claim. work with your licensed insurance agent to determine which coverage options work for you.

There are way too many reasons to list as to why you should have landlord insurance.

Whether starting with a duplex, or purchasing an office or apartment building, take the exposure to risk seriously from the start. Owning a property and building equity is a great way to start building assets.

Just don’t risk that hard work by not getting landlord insurance.

What is key employee or key man insurance?

Key person insurance is a business insurance policy which is taken out to protect the business from the loss or long term incapacity of a key executive or employee of the company. While there is no clear definition, this form of business insurance has become very popular and sometimes required by a lender to secure financing for the business.

By purchasing key person insurance, a business compensation for financial losses in the event of the death or disability of a key employee.

This insurance will also allow for business continuation during the hiring and training of a replacement. By minimizing the impact of the death or loss of a key employee due to disability, creditors, customers, and employees are assured the business can continue to operate with minimal impact and operating as usual.

Often used to insure management and ownership, key person insurance is being used more and more to insure employees whom make significant contributions to the operation of a business.

For instance, a top sales person who represents a high percentage of the company’s revenue may need to be considered for key person insurance. Another example may be a service person that outperforms their colleagues or may have a specialty no one else may have.

Key person insurance is sold as life insurance and also as disability insurance. The business is the beneficiary of the policy which may then use the proceeds as necessary to continue operation of the business.

It may be time to ask your licensed insurance professional about key person insurance and business continuation planning. Your insuran

Proper business insurance coverage doesn’t have to be complicated.

Putting business insurance in place can be a daunting task. Many business owners starting out often put business insurance on a back burner. They often do this because they either think purchasing insurance is overwhelming, or worse yet, unnecessary.

Either path is the wrong path to take when considering insuring your business.

First, let’s drill down to the basics of business insurance.  Every business should have general liability insurance, property insurance, and if there are employees, most likely workers compensation. While there are a multitude of additional coverage options and types of business insurance, these three cover the basics.

General liability insurance covers damages to third parties such as customers and customer’s property. Property insurance covers the physical assets of the business. Worker’s compensation insurance coverage protects against losses from on the job injuries to employees.

Every business, no matter how small or large, have assets to protect and are exposed to liabilities while conducting business. Therefore, any business owner needs to recognize the importance or securing business insurance.

Life is full of unseen and unplanned mishaps and the main purpose of business insurance is to maintain and protect the ‘life’ of the business. Any of these potential mishaps could literally destroy the uninsured business, and worse, the personal assets of the owner of that business.

In simple terms, one single event could put a business owner at risk to lose their livelihood and income stream, as well as losing everything they presently own. This is why the second path makes absolutely no sense.

Seek out a licensed insurance professional and discuss the options available to insurance your business. Make it a top priority and work with your agent to develop a comprehensive insurance package that makes sense for your business.