Entrepreneurs with businesses need the right business insurance. Business insurance is just a general term for various insurance policies covering financial losses. Depending on the insurance policy, it covers anything from legal liability to medical expenses and property damage.
Although many states need business owners to at least have workers’ compensation insurance, you can consider other types of business insurance. Some of these are:
1. Professional Liability Insurance
While it isn’t always legally required, professional indemnity insurance is among the business insurance policies that are important for businesses providing advisory or expert services.
Smart Professional Indemnity Insurance can protect a business against financial losses from actual or alleged negligence while fulfilling professional services. It can also cover the following:
- Unfinished work
- Breach of contract
- Personal injuries
- Budget overruns
- Misinterpretation
- Service-related oversights and mistakes
- Inaccurate advice
2. BOP (Business Owners Policy)
If you need property coverage and general liability insurance, you may package them together in a business insurance policy referred to as BOP. This type of insurance covers property, product-related claims, and customer injuries.
Most BOPs include business interruption coverage that pays lost revenues for covered claims. This kind of coverage is suitable for mid- and small-size businesses, such as wholesalers, retail stores, and restaurants.
3. Commercial Auto Insurance
A commercial auto insurance policy works like personal auto insurance. However, this kind of insurance is only designed to offer protection to business vehicles.
The kind of coverage you will need, as well as the coverage limits needed, varies from one state to another. In general, it can protect you against damage associated with theft, accidents, or vandalism of company vehicles.
4. Home-Based Business Coverage
In contrast to common belief, homeowner’s insurance coverage doesn’t cover home-based business risks and losses. Based on the risks in your home-based business, you might add riders to your own homeowners’ insurance policy to cover normal risks, like property damage.
However, homeowners’ insurance policy may only go so far in covering a home-based business, and you might need to buy additional insurance to cover other losses and risks, like professional liability and general liability insurance.
5. Commercial Property Insurance
Commercial property insurance policies protect the physical locations of small businesses as well as their office furniture, computers, and equipment. Leased and owned business equipment are all covered by this type of policy.
Apart from that, commercial property insurance can also cover tools, supplies, inventory, business records, valuable papers, and outdoor fixtures, like fences and signs.
6. Data Breach Insurance
This kind of insurance can help your business respond to data breaches if identifiable data gets stolen or lost. Some insurance companies call this cover cyber insurance policy. With data breach insurance, you may pay your costs to:
- Create public relations campaigns
- Provide monitoring services for identity theft
- Notify impacted people
Final Say
By having the best business insurance, your business will avoid major financial losses against catastrophic events or lawsuits. So, make sure you check with your insurance company to determine which types of insurance policies are more suitable for your business.
