If you are a small business owner, there are additional considerations to insurance needs that you must consider. Commercial insurance is not static, and large businesses have different needs. As a small business owner, are you aware of the various types of insurance available to you? Is your fledgling business properly protected against any potential liabilities? If not, you may find yourself facing a major risk without any commercial insurance to back you up.
That’s why we wanted to take some time in today’s blog post to cover the various types of insurance that could cover your small business in the event of a catastrophe or other unexpected problem. Did you know that there are over ten varieties of commercial insurance available to small businesses? If not, it’s time to start the lesson.
General Liability Insurance
This should be a no-brainer to almost anyone running a business, whether big or small. Even home-based business owners understand the importance of having liability insurance on the books. Even if you are a business with just one person, don’t you want to protect yourself and your valuable assets? General liability insurance defends your business against damages to property, products, services or bodily injury.
Professional Liability Insurance
This type of insurance is far less known, but is no less important, than general liability insurance. Professional liability insurance is a type of commercial insurance that insulates your small business from risk associated with improperly rendering your services or other damages, whether intentional or not, that your business may cause – or incur. Professional liability is especially important for law firms, accountants, and notaries, but it also applies to businesses such as hair salons and gyms.
Data Breach Insurance
In today’s modern technological age, where identity theft and cyber attacks are almost as ubiquitous as computers themselves, data breach insurance has become that much more important. If your small business stores sensitive or non-public information and a breach occurs, whether electronically or not, this type of policy will insulate your business against major losses.
Worker’s Compensation Insurance
Do you have employees? Whether you have two employees or ten, worker’s compensation insurance provides coverage for situations where an employee is injured on the job. Commercial insurance of this type covers against lost wages and medical expenses. While state laws vary regarding worker’s compensation insurance it is vitally important that your workers – and by extension, your company – are properly protected should an injury or accident occur.
Auto and Homeowners Insurance
If you are a small business owner working from home, these types of insurance matter. Many people do not consider home or auto policies to be types of commercial insurance. But if you are working out of your home, if you have no employees, or if you use your car to get the job done, then you need to consider homeowners and an auto policy as part of doing business and not as just “regular” insurance.
Commercial Auto Insurance
You may be wondering, “but didn’t we just talk about auto insurance?” If you operate a fleet of vehicles or even just a few, then you need to consider having commercial auto insurance. No matter the number of vehicles you are operating, if you have employees driving your vehicles, you want to make sure they are insured from collisions or other unexpected challenges like breakdowns and flat tires.
Commercial Insurance for all your needs
If you are a small business operating in today’s marketplace, investing in one or more of these kinds of insurance policies can help you prevent downtime and risk. If you are a commercial insurer offering these types of insurance, consider looking to COST Financial to offer premium financing services and add a new revenue stream to your business!