Business Owner's Insurance Usually, the policy primarily applies to your business facility, not your
home. But if you operate a business out of your home and can't get your business covered
by way of a rider to a homeowner's policy, you'll need
to purchase business owner's insurance.
Damage to business
owner's property. A business owner's policy covers the same kind of perils that the
typical homeowner's policy does, but it does so for business property. In addition to this coverage, you can receive coverage-at extra cost-for
income lost as a result of the business's property. Bodily injury and property damage liability. This is probably
the most important part of the business owner's policy certainly so if you have
business visitors in your home workplace. It will cover injuries to your business
visitors, whether they were injured in the "personal" or in the
"business" portion of your home. Another type of coverage that you can add to a business owner's
policy for extra cost is for product liability. If your business includes the selling of a
product, you may be sued if someone is injured using the product. This can happen even if
you just distributed the product, and had nothing to do with its design or manufacture.
Depending on how potentially dangerous the product is, who the user will be, and in what
part of the country it will likely be sold or used, the cost for this additional coverage
could be reasonable or extremely expensive. Commercial policies. A business owner's policy is often the
most economical way to protect against a broad range of risks that may befall your
business. This type of policy is available for many specified types of lower-risk small
businesses (such as retail shops and professional offices). If your business does not
qualify for a business owner's policy, such as if you operate a restaurant or
manufacturing business, you'll need what is known as a commercial policy. A commercial policy is usually more expensive than a business
owner's policy, but is more flexible. It's also more difficult to understand, since unlike
a business owner's policy, a commercial policy is written to protect against certain basic
risks, with protection against other risks to be accomplished through the purchase of
additional coverage, based the specific needs of your business. Because obtaining adequate coverage under a commercial policy
depends on identifying, and specifically insuring against all risks beyond those covered
in the core policy, your selection of an insurance agent or broker becomes more important
if your business needs a commercial policy. In this case, it is vital that your agent or
broker is familiar with the operation of your business, as well as knowledgeable about the
commercial policies that he or she offers. Different insurance companies have their own rules for what types of
businesses will qualify for their business owner's policies (which will usually be
significantly cheaper when compared to identical coverage under a commercial policy).
So
if one insurer won't cover your business under a business owner's policy, ask your agent
or broker to check whether it could be obtained through another company.
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