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Understand Business Insurance for Small Business

Many small business owners rely upon their personal insurance to cover their small business. This is, especially true, of home business owners. However personal insurance is not designed to cover a business, and if you do need to make a claim, you may find yourself under insured, or even uninsured!

For instance, your home property insurance may have a limit of a few thousand dollars for the contents of your home. If you have computers, other business machines, or especially, business records, a loss can be much larger. It would be tragic to have an accident or damage to your home that also destroyed your business assets, and then to find that you cannot make a claim to cover your business loss.

Another common example is for auto insurance. If you bought a personal insurance policy several years ago, you may not remember the mileage or use you claimed. If you claimed that your mini van was only used for errands and soccer games, and then had an accident while using that vehicle to transport business supplies, the insurance company may have a reason to deny the claim!

Many small business owners even allow employees to use their personal cars for business. But if an employee is involved in an accident while doing your business, can you rely upon their auto insurance to cover it? This is a risk you probably do not want to take.

Now you may be able to go back and adjust your personal auto insurance policy to include business use, or you may need a commercial insurance policy.

And if you do business, you are always vulnerable to liability claims. If you do not have proper business liability insurance, one cliam can ruin your business. Even if your business is innocent, the cost of lawyers can run into thoousands of dollars. When you have a liability policy, you also have an insurance company who will work on your side to fight claims.

You really need to look into the common types of business insurance. Commercial car insurance, business property and liability insurance, and if you have employees, workers comp insurance, are three policies you should look into.

If your business depends upon the talents of one or more key employees or partners, a key man life and disability policy can protect you from ruin in case of a death or accident. Personal group life insurance provides a benefit that will attract and retain quality employees too!

And of course, we can hardly talk about business insurance without talking about group health plans. Now if you are the only employee of your small business, you will not be able to get a group health plan. You must take out an individual policy or rely upon a spouse’s health plan.

However, if you have two or more employees, you can find group health insurance. You need to look into the need for a business health benefit plan. A good group health insurance plan can be the one benefit that qualify employees are looking for, but it can also be a major expense for your business.

Learn about the common types of small business insurance, and then get a quick business insurance quote.

Also find out if you need commercial car insurance for your own small business.

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How to Know When Your Small Business is Ready For a Commercial Car Insurance Policy

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we are living in the era of the reemergence of the small business. Thanks to the power of the Internet small, independently owned companies are once again on the rise, and we’re seeing an absolute boom of small niche stores the likes of which haven’t been seen since the department store came to town! If you’re a small business owner, congratulations. You’re a part of a new era in history. Now what are you doing about your car insurance?

Most of us don’t think a whole lot about car insurance when we’re starting a small business. Sure, commercial trucking companies and rental cars need a commercial car insurance policy. That’s just a given. But what about the little guy? What about the private contractor or the Mary Kay sales professional? You might be surprised to find out small businesses like these need commercial car insurance coverage just as much as the next guy.

What’s the Difference Between a Commercial Car Insurance Policy and an Everyday, Ordinary, Run of the Mill Policy?

One of the questions insurance agents hear the most is, “What’s the difference between a commercial policy and a regular one?” The differences are subtle, so they’re a little tricky. First and foremost, a personal car insurance policy won’t cover accidents that take place while you’re on company business. Picking up the boss’s dry cleaning once a month doesn’t usually send too many red flags up, but if you’re on the road all day, every day you need to make sure you’re covered by a policy that’s going to do its best to keep you safe out on the highways.

Commercial policies are designed specifically for businesses and offer not only a convenient paid claims service for drivers out on company business but also higher liability limits, which is good news when you’ve got a flatbed full of lumber. And they’re almost always more cost effective at this higher level of coverage than just about anything else on the market, meaning your car insurance rates are going to be considerably lower than they would be if you’d simply tried to cover your car under a regular car insurance policy.

Not to mention a full fledged commercial car insurance policy is going to cover your employees if and when they have to take a company vehicle out on the job, saving you from the inevitable employee that decides to re-enact “Thelma and Louise” during their lunch hour.

Who Needs Commercial Car Insurance?

The people who need commercial car insurance include (but are not limited to):

• Catering
• Newspaper Deliver
• Door-to-Door Sales or Consulting
• Landscaping/Snowplowing
• Day Care
• Real Estate

In other words, if you’re going to be spending even part of your day out on the roads you’re going to need a commercial car insurance policy standing by keeping your car safe. Remember, a commercial policy isn’t just something as nice to have (although it is). It’s a necessity for any business whose profit and loss sheets have a healthy sense of self preservation.

As a small business you’ve got enough expenses. Do you really want to add to them because you didn’t pick up the right kind of car insurance?

Michael McDonough is a National Account Representative for QuoteScout.com. For more information on purchasing a commercial car insurance policy for your small business, visit them on the web at http://www.QuoteScout.com.

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Commercial Car Insurance – Does Your Small Business Need It?

Many small businesses rely upon personal vehicles for their transportation, hauling, and appointments. This is true of stores, financial professionals, and many other professionals. While it may be ok to let a personal vehicle do double duty, is it also ok to rely upon a personal auto insurance policy?

Check your personal policy. Is business use excluded? If it is, you certainly need to upgrade or change it. But even if business use is not specifically excluded, you still may be taking a big risk by expecting your personal auto insurance policy to cover business use.

If you are a small business owner, do you allow employers to drive your car for work? Many owners do this, or even worse, they expect their employees to use their own cars. Now you are depending upon other people to have adequate personal auto insurance to cover any claims that may occur while they are using their own car or truck to work for you.

Are your policy limits big enough for business use. This is a serious question. If you purchased your personal policy a few years ago, you may not even be aware of the limits you have. You may have answered application questions as if this car was just used for infrequent shopping or carpool duties. Now that you use your own vehicle for business, the application could be very wrong.

If you rely upon a personal policy to conduct business it is important to take a few steps to protect yourself.

Examine your policy to see if it is adequate to cover business needs. If you transport inventory or tools, you risk loss or theft. The policy limits may not be large enough to protect it.

Sometimes you can upgrade your personal auto insurance policy so it covers your business. This may be particularly true if you run a very small business and you, or family members, are the only employees.

You should discuss this with your insurer. You should also compare quotes to make sure you are getting the best deal on business car insurance. The best personal policy may not be the best commercial car insurance policy.

If you do transport expensive business items, use your car a lot of business use, or if you have employees driving for work, you really should consider a commercial policy. One accident can cause tens of thousands of dollars worth of damage, and it would not be prudent to risk your business like this.

A lot of business owners do not bother to get proper coverage because they are just too busy Even though they have considered this issue; they just put off a decision. Some think it is too complicated, not their area of expertise, or will take too long to compare quotes.

You can find business insurance by speaking with a qualified local agent. You can also compare quotes from multiple companies by running online quotes. It is very simple to enter your basic information into an online quote form. Then you can click the submit button and relax. The top commercial vehicle insurers will use your information to deliver competitive quotes and policies.

Does your business need commercial car insurance? If you are unsure, visit us for more information. We can also provide fast commercial vehicle insurance quotes.

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