Whether you have a small business or a large company with over 100 employees, business insurance policies are something that you must look into. Business insurance covers a lot of financial burdens that may occur due to lawsuits, vandalism, or even natural calamities.
However, it’s crucial to understand your business’s specific insurance needs to ensure you secure the appropriate coverage. As a small business owner, paying extra attention to your insurance needs is essential to protecting your enterprise effectively.
Here are some of the business insurance policies you can explore as a small business owner:
1. Commercial Vehicle Insurance
Commercial Vehicle Insurance is an insurance policy for commercial vehicles that covers the cost of damage caused by or to that vehicle. This kind of damage can be caused by natural calamities like floods, fire, etc., or man-made negligence and accidents.
Commercial Vehicle Insurance is needed for trucks, buses, tractors, vans, etc. Third-party commercial Vehicle Insurance also pays for lawsuits and other legal costs if the vehicle causes damage to a third party.
However, these instances are not included under the Commercial Vehicle Insure:
- Coverage under the mechanical breakdown of the vehicle
- Driving under alcohol influence or without a valid driver’s licence
- Driving in a flood or fire-like situation that is already existing and the driver is aware of it
Also read: Top Reasons Every Business Owner Needs Commercial Insurance
2. General Liability Insurance
General Liability Insurance protects your business or organisation from any claims that it has caused physical harm or damage to someone. For example, if you run a store as a part of your small business and a customer slips in the store, injuring themselves, this insurance can cover their medical bills.
A segment of this insurance policy is Product Liability Insurance. This helps with claims that the product the business is selling has caused physical or property damage.
3. Professional Liability Insurance
Professional Liability Insurance covers claims related to any professional advice the business provides to the client. This helps cover the legal costs if the client files a lawsuit regarding your provided business.
For example, you run a finance firm responsible for the client’s accounts. In the financial statement, your business made an accounting mistake, which caused a financial setback, and the client filed a lawsuit. This insurance helps cover the cost of that legal course and helps you save money.
4. Workmen Compensation Insurance
Workmen Compensation Insurance mostly benefits employees as they get financial assistance if they are injured or disabled while doing their jobs. This insurance helps pay the medical bills and ensures that the worker retains his/her job.
Renowned insurance companies like Digit offer this kind of insurance to their clients and ensure they have all the facilities they need in a medical emergency caused by work-related matters.
5. Data Breach Insurance
Data breach Insurance, also called Cyber Liability Insurance, is essential for many businesses, especially those with a strong digital presence. This insurance helps the business address any data breach when personal identification information is stolen.
This insurance can help you pay to notify clients whose data has been compromised, run a PR campaign to restore the company’s reputation, and pay for monitoring services.
Read more: What is Cyber Insurance?
6. Commercial Umbrella Insurance
Every liability policy has a certain timeline that may exceed the timeframe, and in those cases, you might have to pay out of pocket. Commercial Umbrella Insurance helps you pay for the claims that have exceeded the policy timeframe.
This insurance policy can help your small business pay for legal, medical, settlement, and property damage bills. Some of the liability policies that Commercial Umbrella Insurance covers include General Liability Insurance and Commercial Auto Insurance.
7. Business Owner’s Policy
A business owner’s Policy is a combined policy of business property and liability insurance. It covers the costs of claims arising from fire, flood, theft, other natural calamities, and sometimes even operational issues.
This insurance policy also covers the cost of claims regarding physical harm and property damage. An advantage of the BOP is that you can customise it to fit your business and enable it to cover additional sectors, such as claims caused by data breaches.
8. Commercial Property Insurance
Businesses take Commercial Property Insurance to protect the property, tools, and equipment they have rented or taken on lease. This also includes instances like on-property theft or lightning issues that have caused the loss of tools or equipment.
This kind of insurance can be a game changer for small business owners, especially home business owners, as it can help protect your physical assets.
Any kind of business insurance has many advantages. Not only are your business and physical tools and equipment insured, but this also helps stakeholders invest in your business. Clients and stakeholders are mostly interested in businesses with good financial stability or fallback options, which makes your business more credible and trustworthy.