Don't let short-term disaster disrupt your long-term success.

Commercial liability insurance covers you, your business and your employees from claims involving bodily injury or property damages resulting from accidents on your premises or from your products, your operations, or advertising, up to the limits of your policy. Policies shield you from the expense of out-of-court settlements, litigation and judgments awarded by courts.

Why general liability insurance is important

Every single business needs coverage for their general liabilities. The simple action of being in business creates an environment of liability, and this exposure will typically exist before any other in the business development cycle. As a business operator, you take on liability. It is your responsibility to provide appropriate support for that liability.

What to ask

Having a policy is great, but knowing your policy is critical. Pay special attention to the exclusions in a general liability policy. For example, do you know whether or not you have limited errors and omissions coverage? This protects you from carrying the full weight of damages awarded in lawsuits triggered by alleged failure to perform or financial loss caused by an error or omission in your service or product.

Basic property insurance usually covers losses caused by fires or explosions; theft; damage from vehicles or airplanes or acts; and vandalism. Additional coverage can be added for events such as earthquakes and breakage of glass.

Why property insurance is important

Property insurance will protect your company’s financial strength by covering cost to repair, replace, or rebuild property. As available, coverage can be added to allow business operations to continue at an alternative location during the restoration period. Property is extremely expensive to replace. Having the proper coverage in place ensures limited impact to your cash flow in the event of a loss.

What to ask

Have you looked beyond the basic limits of your property policy? What do the sub limits say? Do they provide adequate coverage? For example, if an electrical disturbance causes a power surge that causes significant damage to your property, are you covered appropriately?

Cyber insurance protects you in the event of a data breach or other cyber threat. In some cases, coverage may exist for human error while sharing sensitive customer information.

Why cyber insurance is important

Cyber liability exposures have become more common with increased dependence on technology for business operations. Hackers are specifically targeting small businesses due to the higher likelihood that less resources are spent on cyber attack prevention, such as firewall security.

What to ask

Cyber liability coverage is integral to covering the exposures created by your employees performing their daily operations. This insurance can limit the impact of an employee accidentally sharing personal information or clicking on links that contain viruses.

Workers’ compensation insurance protects your employees, business, and assets. Coverage will pay for an injured employee’s medical treatment and can assist in replacing lost wages.

Why workers’ compensation insurance is important

Legally, there is an obligation for an employer to provide this insurance to their employees. Additionally, it is integral in promoting and sustaining a productive, and supportive, working environment. Employees commit to coming to work everyday, and this coverage protects them on the job.

What to ask

Coverage points beyond the workers compensation policy should be considered. What are you doing before a loss? Does your insurance company offer resources to support the development and implementation of safety and return to work programs?

Business auto liability insurance helps cover the financial responsibility if you or an employee is at fault in an accident and people are injured or their property is damaged. A minimum amount of commercial auto liability insurance (or proof of financial responsibility) is required in most states.

Why commercial auto insurance is important

An accident may occur while using a vehicle for a business operations. This coverage will help cover costs to repair damaged vehicles, as well keep transportation in place while repairs are being made.

Auto accidents can be very costly occurrences; commercial auto insurance alleviates some of the pressure and cost during the process of repairs or replacement of vehicles. Aside from medical costs, a big ticket item to consider is the litigation costs that the insurance company will cover.

What to ask

Do your employees rent vehicles for travel? If so, do they rent the car in their name or the company’s name? This important distinction can be the difference between coverage responding—or not responding—in the event of a claim.

If you have a covered property loss and your business is forced to close temporarily, business income coverage can help you replace lost net income, pay for continuing expenses, and cover relocation expenses and advertising fees.

Why business income insurance is important

Cash flow is critical to all businesses. Business income can provide an important element of protection for your business cash flow both during and following a loss. Even if a loss is covered from a property perspective, you must consider the money lost while you are unable to generate revenue.

What to ask

Losses outside of your direct operation can occur and impact your bottom line. Does your business depend on another business for supplies or for general success (think supply chain analysis/contingent income)? If so, this can be insured against. For example, if the flagship store in a strip mall suffers a loss, other businesses will likely see less foot traffic while repairs as a result.

Professional liability insurance protects your company against claims that a professional service you provided caused your client to suffer financial harm due to mistakes on your part or because you failed to perform some service.

Why management and professional liability insurance is important

Mistakes happen, and sometimes deadlines are missed, because of factors outside of your control. Human error and extenuating circumstances are a normal situations in business; covering them is an effective way to secure protection for claims against your for not fulfilling customer promises.

What to ask

Are your employee’s duties correctly classified? On a management and professional liability policy, every employee is specifically classified based on his or her operation. Incorrect classifications could result in coverage being negated.

Umbrella liability insurance protects you when accidents happen and your existing liability insurance policies cannot cover all the expenses. Essentially, it picks up where your business auto liability, general liability or other liability coverage stops, providing extra protection against bodily injury and/or property damage

Why commercial umbrella insurance is important

Some losses are much larger than the limits established on the underlying policy. Umbrella policies will provide coverage for losses in excess of this limit. Losses covered by commercial umbrella policies are generally catastrophic. If not covered, they will have significant impact on your business’s cash flow and survival. In the event that a multi-million dollar claim exceeds your underlying insurance limits, an umbrella policy insures that you will not be paying for excess losses out of pocket.

What to ask

Take a minute to review your underlying limits. For example, if you have $1 million liability limit for your auto insurance, it may not be enough to provide sufficient coverage. An umbrella policy will provide coverage above and beyond what you have currently in place.

Commercial flood insurance helps protect your business from the costs of damage from floodwater. A commercial flood insurance policy will not only protect the location of your business, but also the physical contents and assets. This policy is designed to protect your business from floodwater damage to floors, walls, ceilings, equipment, fixtures, furniture, inventory and business property.

Why flood insurance is important

Coverage for damage from floods is generally excluded from a property policy. If your business is located in an area susceptible to flood damage, this coverage will be very important in protecting your building and assets. Not everyone needs this. It is a matter of location. However, if you have the exposure, a flood policy is the only way to be covered.

What to ask

Location, location, location. Because flood is excluded from the property policy, it is extremely important to know whether or not you have a heightened risk for a flood.