How can business owners protect their commercial assets to ensure the longevity and prosperity of their businesses? Nesbit Agencies has compiled a list of 3 ways to protect your commercial assets you can start looking into today.
1. Business Income Insurance
Business income insurance protects against loss of earnings if your business is affected or shut down by an insured peril. An insured peril could be something like fire or theft, leaving your business unable to operate at full capacity. One reason that business income insurance has become increasingly popular these days is because of significant supply chain issues. For instance, certain things like building materials or replacement machinery may take two or three times as long to arrive as they have in the past, thereby extending the length of time your business is affected. Having business income insurance can help cover you for your loss of income in that operation for a specific amount of time.
Besides considering adding business income insurance to your policy, there are some regular checks you can complete to ensure you’re optimizing your current coverage. For example, our specialists recommend fully reviewing and updating your equipment list and building values at least every six months. This due diligence can save you from major headaches down the line. There’s nothing worse than purchasing a new piece of machinery, procrastinating on adding the proper insurance to it, and then the next thing you know, because it’s improperly insured, you can’t make a claim on it.
At Nesbit Agencies, one of the common things we see is when owners of underinsured farms or commercial enterprises don’t think to update their policies until renewal time. It’s critical to review and constantly update your policy as necessary to ensure that your business is covered in the case of an unforeseen accident or event.
2. Business Interruption Insurance
Having business interruption insurance can help you cover your operating costs and loss of income should you suffer a covered loss at your business location. Although it is similar to business income insurance, business interruption insurance covers a wider range of things, including loss of revenue (determined by the previous year’s financial records), mortgage, rent, or lease payments, employee payroll, and taxes or loan repayments due during the coverage period. In addition, business interruption insurance can even help cover relocation costs if the company must move to a new or temporary location due to the covered claim.
One aspect of business interruption insurance that you may be unfamiliar with is that some policies have a “waiting period,” which means there could be a specific number of days you have to wait after making a claim before it kicks in. Furthermore, you’ll want to be familiar with your “period of restoration,” which is how long the policy will compensate you while your business is being restored. Once again, it’s critical to understand what kind of coverage you have and what’s covered by your policy. If you’re unsure, we recommend reviewing your policy or contacting your Nesbit Agencies agent for more information.
3. Umbrella Liability
If neither business income insurance nor business interruption insurance sounds like the right coverage for you, an umbrella liability policy is another option to consider to further protect your commercial assets. Umbrella liability is essentially excess liability that you add to your existing policies to provide an added layer of protection to your operation. This type of policy can provide coverage for injuries, property damage, certain lawsuits, etc. Umbrella policies are also available for personal liability situations to provide further coverage when your home, auto, or boat insurance policy limits have been reached. This makes it an excellent option not just for business owners but for anyone looking for additional coverage.
In previous times, a $1 million liability policy was enough, but now it is recommended to look at higher levels of coverage in the range of $5 million or more to ensure you’re covered. But why so much? If an accident occurs and you’re being sued for more than you’re covered, you may be responsible for the additional amount not covered by insurance along with having to pay a lawyer to represent you. However, with umbrella insurance, you would have additional coverage from your insurance provider to avoid or limit your exposure.
Final Thoughts
At Nesbit Agencies, we understand that you’re bombarded each day with decisions that affect your business and your livelihood. That’s why we compiled this list of three different ways to protect your commercial assets so that even if something happens, you know you’re covered. We know that no business owner wants to think about their business being affected by an unforeseen event or accident that causes them to shut down or to run at half capacity. But just because you don’t want to think about it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be prepared. Ultimately, it’s better to be safe than sorry when it comes to your coverage, so be sure to review your policy and update it based on your current situation and needs.
