How Much General Liability Insurance Do I Need?
Owning a business means considering all the details that keep it afloat. If you want your business to thrive, you must always protect it with a quality insurance plan.
Since the insurance coverage you need can vary, it’s important to get to know what sort of protection is included under each policy. This will let you customize your business insurance to your needs.
Here’s what you should look for in a general liability insurance plan.
1. Workers’ Compensation Insurance
Once you hire employees, you are legally required to maintain a workers’ compensation insurance policy.
Having one of these insurance plans protects everyone involved. Your employees don’t have to worry about whether or how they will pay for their medical bills if they get hurt at work, and you won’t have to worry about your business being ruined by expensive lawsuits.
When you talk to some business insurance providers, they’ll let you know how much insurance you need for your business to be properly covered. It’s a matter of both the size of your business and the work that happens at your business. If you work in a risky field or setting, consider a larger and more comprehensive plan.
2. Car Insurance for Any Vehicles That You Use
If you use work vehicles, always make sure you have plenty of work vehicle insurance.
This will protect you if your employees get into a wreck while on the clock. The amount of car insurance that you need will vary based on the vehicles you have, how many people will use them and in what nature.
3. Protect For Damages to Your Property
When you operate a business, you are always at risk for damages to your property. This could mean anything from weather-related to damage to the cost of office repairs.
The value of the plan you get is contingent upon the property value of your workplace. Always thoroughly check the specific types of property damage instances that are covered, so that your plan protects you from all risks.
4. Insurance Clauses That Make Up for Downtime
There are certain situations that can cause your business to go through downtime.
This could result from construction or remodeling work that you need, or you could lose access to your office or resources for circumstances out of your control.
If you don’t have the resources or cash flow of a larger company, downtime can be hurtful to your business.
A business insurance plan is like a safety net for your small business, so it’s important that you purchase the policy that will be helpful to you in that regard.
The insurance plan you get can provide you some cash flow to help you during this gap, and can also provide you temporary infrastructure if you get displaced from your office building.
5. Liability Insurance to Help if You Get Sued
Personal injuries make up some 96 percent of all civil litigation, so you always need to be protected against these sorts of liabilities.
If someone gets hurt when they visit your property, they may have grounds for a lawsuit, from which an insurance plan will be necessary to protect you. You’ll want to be prepared to get the insurance company involved when you are gathering records of the injury and engaging in settlement talks.
Since lawsuit payouts can be costly, having your insurance plan active every day is essential.
6. Protection From Advertising Claims
Today’s society is very litigious, so you must have insurance that covers you from false advertising and other marketing-related claims.
You may get sued by customers who feel mislead and claim false advertising, or you may get taken to court by another business that thinks you infringed upon their intellectual property. These sorts of cases require a response whether or not you are guilty of these issues, so you will always want to have an insurance plan that will pay your lawyer fees.
7. Industry-Specific Insurance Protection
There are always certain types of business insurance that help you with industry-specific liabilities and protections.
For instance, medical malpractice, libel and construction liabilities are very specific and require policies that account for variables within those industries. Think about the industry you’re in when you’re looking to sign up for a business insurance plan.
Shop Around for the Best General Liability Insurance
Buying a general liability insurance plan is your best bet if you want your business to stay protected.
Because the area of business is so vast, you must dive into some research to know the exact protections that you will need. Above we’ve laid out a few of the most common types of business insurance, so you can use these points of information to guide you as you shop around.
There are plenty of insurance professionals that can help you find the right plan for you, so you can consider these points to get the help you are looking for.
We’re the best in the biz and would happily help you find whatever kind of business insurance you need.
If you need help or have some questions, you can get in touch with us in a few different ways.
You can contact us online by using the web form, or give us a call at (732) 383-7158.