What Business Insurance do you need?
There are a lot of things that can go wrong when you run your own business so it is important that you have insurance to protect yourself. Nobody likes to pay for insurance but if you ever need you it you will be glad that you have it. There are a lot of different types of insurance that you will need when you run your own business, it can be confusing to figure them all out. Usually it is best to talk to an insurance broker who can help steer you in the right direction.
The first type of insurance that you absolutely have to have is liability insurance. If you sell a product or if customers visit your companies premises you need to be protected in case somebody gets hurt. Even if you think that there is no way that somebody could get hurt with your product you need liability insurance, you would be shocked at the ways in which people have managed to injure themselves. If somebody gets hurt with your product or on your premises you can be assured you will get sued, whether it was your companies fault or not. Even if you win the lawsuit the legal fees will be enormous, you need to have liability insurance to protect yourself and your business.
If you have employees you need to have workers compensation insurance, this is a requirement of law and a good idea to protect your company. If somebody gets hurt while working for your company you will be responsible for the medical expenses and lost wages, regardless of who's fault the injury was.
You will also need insurance for any property that you own or lease, you will also need insurance for anybody else s property that your business uses. This includes any company vehicles that your business uses. There is a pretty good chance that at some point there will be damage to your companies property you will need to have coverage to protect yourself. If you have any vehicles in businesses name you need to make sure that you have liability insurance on those and if you or your employees use their own vehicle for company business you will need to make sure that they are also covered.
Business income insurance is also a good idea as it will protect you in the event that your business gets shut down for a period of time. If there is a fire or some other disaster that destroys your companies property it can take a long time to get your business back up and running again. Property insurance will cover the cost of rebuilding but it won't provide you with an income while you are doing it. In many cases it can take up to a year to get your business back up and making a profit again after a disaster, you need to have money to tide you over. This is what business income insurance does, it provides you with a source of income until you get back in business.
