Starting your own business is a thrilling time, as you now get to realize that your dreams have finally yielded fruit! Hanging up the sign with your hours of operation and installing your first card reader are exhilarating milestones in your life story. This exciting time calls for a small business insurance policy that works to keep your company safe from the costs of claims, damages, and legal action. Here’s a comprehensive list of various small business insurance policies and how they assist with your most valuable asset.
Business Liability Insurance:
General liability insurance will protect you as a small business owner from claims of bodily injury and heavy property damage. It can be scary to think that you may be legally responsible if anyone’s property is damaged while they are temporarily on your site. Any type of visitor to your storefront or company could suffer damaged property, and your business could also be held liable for someone’s injuries that occur while they are there. General liability insurance pays for their medical bills as well as their lost wages.
Other claims covered by general liability insurance are damage to reputation, advertising injury, and copyright infringement. With a business liability insurance policy’s help, your small business can remain somewhat stable if you are sued by a customer or any other business owner. A general liability policy also pays for your legal representation, along with judgments and granted settlements. Lenders, landlords, and various clients see general liability insurance as a requirement before they open their doors. A general liability policy usually costs an average of around $50 per month.
Commercial Property Insurance:
A commercial property insurance policy is in place to protect your business’s physical location. It also protects your furniture, business equipment, and computers. Both leased and owned business equipment are covered under these types of policies. It takes a lot to make a small business functional, such as tools, inventory, valuable documents, and various supplies.
Commercial property insurance also protects vital outdoor fixtures such as sheds and signs. A commercial property insurance policy will apply to any loss such as fire, hail, and lightning. This valuable policy type will also cover random acts of vandalism and theft. A commercial property insurance policy usually has a median cost of $70 per month.
Business Interruption Insurance:
A business interruption insurance policy will replace lost income from a small business if you are forced to temporarily shut down. Suddenly falling objects, lightning, and fire are also covered by this type of policy. If your business falls prey to any of these occurrences, business interruption insurance pays for lost income and items such as moving expenses. This is also called business income insurance and costs between $40 and $130 per month.
Business Owner’s Policy:
A business owner’s policy provides a valuable combination of commercial property insurance, general liability insurance, and business interruption insurance together. This is an excellent option for purchasing small business insurance because acquiring these separately will mean adhering to higher prices. An average business owner’s policy costs around $53 per month, and companies with 100 employees or fewer and an annual income of up to $5 million are ideal candidates.
Commercial Auto Insurance:
Commercial auto insurance is necessary to cover the fleet of vans, cars, and trucks used for your small business. Coverage from a personal auto insurance policy will usually exclude any business use of a vehicle, with services such as DoorDash and Uber sometimes existing in a gray area. If your business delivers samples, makes repairs, or is dispatched on house calls, it’s important to get a commercial auto insurance policy.
If you fail to procure business auto insurance for your work vehicles, any claims you make could be hastily denied. This could cripple your cash flow, as you would end up paying for the damage on your own, which would eventually become exorbitant. Commercial auto insurance costs a median of $142 per month, and a hired non-owned auto liability policy is necessary to have for a rental.
Cyber Liability Insurance:
This valuable type of policy helps with the costs of serious data breaches and cyberattacks. If a customer’s valuable private information is leaked from your company database, cyber liability insurance pays for the customer’s claim. Cyber liability insurance will also cover the cost of official notification, and credit monitoring provisions for those affected. The median cost of cyber liability insurance is around $150 per month for small businesses.
Errors and Omissions Insurance:
If your small business offers any form of advice, this type of coverage could be very valuable for you. Errors and omissions insurance pays for costs resulting from a mistake you made while performing your duties. It’s also known as professional liability insurance. Errors and omissions insurance will pay out to customers who make a claim against your small business such as misrepresentation, or fair dealing.
It also covers negligence and the potential for giving inaccurate advice. If you forgo this form of coverage, you will be fully responsible for reimbursing customers on your own and covering the cost of a lawyer. Here are some examples of business types that would benefit from errors and omissions insurance coverage:
- Accountants
- Advertising agencies
- Graphic designers
- Interior decorators
- Consultants of any genre
- Tax preparation specialists
- Technology professionals
- Travel agents
The average cost of errors and omissions insurance is $60 per month.
Technology Errors and Omissions Coverage:
Working in the technology field poses unique challenges with infrastructure and the need for accuracy. Technology errors and omission insurance will pay for legal and other costs if customers make claims against a technology business. Some of the issues at hand are breach of contract, missed deadlines, data breaches, and coding errors. Poor advice and undelivered work are also a few scenarios that this coverage also assists with.
If an SAAS company suffers an outage, the client may initiate a lawsuit to recoup financial losses. A mobile app developer or data analyst may be forced to leave a job site halfway through a project, which leaves the business in question with a missed deadline. Your tech E&O policy would help you with the costs of a lawsuit claiming you failed to fulfill your end of the bargain. Tech companies that build apps should be sure that their tech E&O policy includes coverage for all-inclusive media liability. Intellectual property claims include lawsuits related to software copyrights and trademarks. Newly released content’s build qualities, design traits, or business publishing details all fall under the guise of media liability insurance. The following are some of the factors that determine the cost:
- What services are offered, such as cloud computing, IT training, or PC repair
- Business equipment and property
- The size of a tech company
- Annual business revenue
- Insurance products purchased
- Coverage needs, such as specific policy limits
- Number of employees
IT businesses pay an average of $70 per month for tech E&O coverage, which could vary depending on any of the factors above.
Commercial Umbrella Insurance:
Commercial umbrella insurance is a unique and very useful extra layer of protection for your business. It exists above the other liability insurance policies you have. When your liability limit is reached on one of your other policies, commercial umbrella insurance steps above and beyond to provide more liability protection. Your business could be sued for a staggering $2 million but you only have $500,000 worth of coverage in your business liability policy. Commercial umbrella insurance would cover the urgent shortfall. Commercial umbrella insurance costs about $50 per month for each $1 million of additional insurance coverage you procure.
A Lifeline For Long-Term Resilience & Success:
The last thing any business owner wants is to feel vulnerable. With the right coverage from us here at The Alexander Insurance Agency of St. Charles, you can claim control over your business’s future and security. Since there is no shortage of tasks to juggle as a business owner, you may be doing a lot of things for the first time. Even though this may seem like an added expense at first, these precautions will protect you from the many curve balls running a business throws at you. Contact us for a quote today and prepare to protect everything you have strived so hard for!