What is Commercial General Liability Insurance?

Commercial general liability insurance is a form of business insurance that financially protects your company from the damages resulting from an accident that is the fault of you, your equipment, or one of your employees during the course of the performance of the services offered by your company. It is an often overlooked, but vital component of the general insurance coverage for your business.

Let's assume for the moment that your business runs a service that cleans carpets in people's homes. During the cleaning process, you routinely use various soaps, shampoos, and equipment in the performance of your job in order to ensure that you leave everything as clean as possible..

Now, let's assume that in the process of a cleaning, your commercial carpet shampooer breaks down and spews huge amounts of water and cleaning chemicals in all directions. In the process, damage is done to the building you are cleaning. Legally, the customer has the right to sue you for damages and you are entirely liable for the cost of repair.

That is the beauty of liability insurance. If you have good coverage, all you have to pay out of your pocket is the deductible you agreed on when you set up the policy. After that, your insurance carrier will pay the remainder of the damages awarded, as well as any lawyer and court fees that have accumulated as a result of the accident if your customer took you to court over it.

So, it may seem like an extraneous expense because it is not used very often, but in the event that something does, liability insurance will seem like the greatest financial decision you ever made.

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What is Commercial Insurance?

Between all the other preparations involved in starting up a new business, commercial insurance is very easy to overlook. Between finding a location, remodeling it to suit your particular needs, setting up equipment, hiring employees, and everything else, finding the right insurance is a step that is very easily forgotten. This is unfortunate and dangerous, because maintaining the three forms of commercial insurance may be the only thing that saves your business in the event of an unexpected tragedy that would otherwise result in its closure.

There are three parts that make up general commercial insurance. Each of them provides protection from particular types of damages and unexpected expenses that may befall your business. They are all important, and together provide a significant amount of protection that no business should be without, particularly if it provides services to the public or has employees.

General liability insurance protects your business from any potential damages incurred by a customer as a result of your employees or business in the course of running your business.

Worker's compensation provides financial support for employees who are hurt on the job. It will cover the medical expenses that result from that injury, and will provide them with a portion of their regular pay while they recover from that injury.

Property insurance provides you with financial protection from any damages that may befall your physical place of business. Fire and flood insurance are common forms that are familiar to most people. Since there are so many different climates and locales, the particular forms that you will need for your business will vary considerably according to where you are located.

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Is Commercial Business Insurance Necessary?

When you are trying to save money wherever you can in the course of running your business, commercial business insurance may come up as an unnecessary expense that does nothing for you. The reason most people feel this way is because so few businesses make significant use of it to the point where it basically becomes an anonymous check that is written every month that has never shown itself to be of tangible benefit to the business. When this goes on for so long, you may start to wonder whether commercial business insurance is something you can simply do without.

If you do, it may well be the biggest mistake you ever make in the running of your business. While it may not seem like it's something you need because you have run your business so long and have never once used it, just keep in mind that that one time you do need it, it may make the difference between continuing with your business and allowing it to collapse beneath a mountain of unexpected expenses.

This is because accidents can happen at any time, and you can only do so much to prevent them. Consider the possibility that you have an employee, and that employee is involved in some kind of work related accident that results not only in damage to the property of one of your clients, but physical harm to the client as well. Legally, you are responsible for all incurred costs as a result of that accident. Compare your monthly premium with the potential costs of having to pay all those damages, then ask yourself again whether you should cancel your policy.

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Risks Covered by Business Insurance

If you’re starting your own business there are many things you need to consider. Not only you need to hire a professional accountant and a lawyer, but also look for an insurance agent. This may be neglected by some but it is only reasonable to have an insurance agent of your side to help you with things related to your business insurance.

There are many types of business insurance packages that can be customized or tailored to fit your business needs, regardless of whether you have a small one or a medium size one.

Insurance will be important not only for your own business safety but also for your relationships with other businesses. For example, if you choose to lease office space, the owner of the property usually requires a certificate of business insurance. The owner wants your policy to ensure that your company will not disappear overnight in case of an accident.

Business insurance generally covers the following risks:

The most important and standard kind of business insurance protects your company's property. Make sure that your policy states clearly what it will be covered. It should include buildings, property and protection against natural disasters (which may be optional). Coverage for buildings is required if you own the building where your business is located. If you are leasing the property, your landlord can give this coverage.

Business insurance commonly will cover under property everything that the company owns and that allows it to operate. Therefore desks, machinery, tables, etc.. are also covered. When and if you made modifications to property your company is leasing, those changes should be covered as well.

Protection against natural disasters may be optional in some business policies. The truth is, when a flood or earthquake happens you wish you have it. Computer equipment is vital for the functioning of business. Policies that protect computers not only cover hardware but also software. This means that you will be compensated for the machine you lost, the information contained in it, and how much its absence cost you.

Company cars and trucks can also be insured. You can also provide health insurance for your employees because there are plans that can be customized to the size of your business.

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Cover Your Plumbing Business With Plumbers Insurance

Whether you own and run a small one man plumbing business or a massive firm with many employees you need to cover your plumbing business with plumbers insurance which usually falls under the category of business insurance.

This type of insurance could be classed as essential if you run your own business. As you are in the plumbing business you will go into people's home and do work for them. In the event that something should go wrong due to work by you and someone should get hurt then they would want to claim liability damages. Without insurance you would have to find this money yourself. However if you have a policy then it would generally include public liability insurance. Liability insurance would also work in your favour as it would also provide you with cover for those you trade with. For example if you were to place an order of a substantial sum for materials and you never got them you would probably be able to make a claim on the policy and get back your losses. You would have to check the small print of any policy you were considering taking out as there could be limitations in the cover.

When considering public liability you would have to check how much the policy would payout in the event you had to make a claim. The amount would go towards how much you would need to pay for your insurance. Some policies would come with a higher payout than others which of course would mean that you would have to pay more for your policy. For instance should you be offered £2 million in liability insurance then you would have to pay out more in premiums for the policy than if the policy paid out £1 million. If you could get away with the lower amount then you would save on your insurance.

When considering your insurance also take into account that you will want protection for your tools and these could add up to a substantial sum of money. Some insurance providers will include a loss of tools in the standard policy, up to so much, but other insurance providers could ask you to pay more to add this protection in. A loss of tools is the number one reason for claims so therefore the excess can be a substantial sum. This would be the amount of money that you would need to pay out of your own pocket in the event that you should need to make a claim on the policy.

When taking out plumbers insurance ensure that you know where you can work. Some insurance providers will only allow you to take out cover if you only work within the UK. Others might not insure you if you should work outside of the EU so you would have to tell the insurance company where you plan on working otherwise you could find out that you could not claim on your insurance if needed.

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Factors to Consider When Looking For Office Insurance

Office insurance can be taken out with a specialist broker and generally this can be the best way to get the most suitable policy for your needs. Anyone who works in the office business, no matter how big or small, their business can benefit from this type of insurance. The insurance covers a wide range of things which would include liability insurance and stock.

Imagine for a second what would happen if there was a fire in the office and it destroyed a great deal or even all of your stock. You would have to replace everything from envelopes and writing paper through to copier and even computers. If you totalled this up then you could be left with a whopping bill in the thousands. If you did not have insurance for your office then where would you get the money from to replace everything you had lost? You could have to take out a loan just to get back in business and working again! If you had insured your office then you could make a claim on the policy and after paying the excess the insurance company would take over the rest of the claim.

If you have staff then it is essential that you have liability cover for them. If anyone was to become injured whilst at work they would be entitled to make a claim and if you have insurance then the insurance company would pay all the associated costs which could all add up to a great deal of money. Without liability insurance behind you this money might have to come out of your own pocket which could break your business if it is only small.

The insurance policy would also be there to fall back onto if you were to order stock and supplies and they never turned up. For example you could place an order with a relatively new supply company and they could go bust before they sent your order. Depending on the size of the order this could be hundreds or even thousands of pounds which again would have to come out of your own pocket if you did not have insurance. An insurance policy could mean the difference between you being able to keep your business up and running smoothly or going under.

Check the amount that you could claim on your office insurance as some providers will allow you to insure more than others. You might want to check the small print thoroughly before taking out the policy as this is where the limitations and exclusions can be found. Again some providers could include more limitations and excess than others so you might also want to compare this when looking at policies.

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Why You Might Need Electricians Insurance

If you are working for yourself as an electrician then you should give thought to taking out electricians insurance. This generally comes under the category of tradesman insurance when looking for companies that provide this type of cover. Without a policy you could be left with many financial problems if a problem arose as you would have no source to claim from nor would any third party.

Or for instance, if you travel about - and electricians usually do as part of their everyday business life - then you will have a van and tools that you take with you. Tools generally cost a great deal of money and you could have thousands of pounds worth in your vehicle. In fact the biggest reason for claiming on insurance is down to the fact of stolen tools. Without insurance to fall back onto if your vehicle was to be stolen or broken into and your tools stolen then you would have to pay to replace them all. If you have electricians cover behind you to rely on you could claim on the policy.

There will be a certain amount of excess to pay out when making any kind of claim and this amount would be dependent on the provider. However if you should have £2,000 of tools stolen or damaged and you had to pay for instance £200 in excess then this would be better than having to pay out the whole amount. The excess could work in your favour as you could offer to pay more than the minimum amount that is asked by the provider. If you do then you could keep down the cost of your premiums for the insurance. However give some thought to the fact that should you have to claim you would have to find the amount of excess you chose in a lump sum if you were to have to make a claim.

Of course the insurance policy would not only protect your tools. It would also allow you to make a claim in the event that you should for example order parts and materials and you did not receive them. Again without insurance to back you up you would have to find the money needed out of your own pocket which again means you are working at a loss which is not good for business.

Your electricians insurance would also provide you with liability cover which is essential. If for example you should go into someone's home and do work for them and they were to get hurt through something you had done and sue you through court it would be very costly. Your insurance would payout costs for court and solicitor up to a pre-defined limit. This would have to be checked as the amount you could claim up to could differ with insurance companied and their policies.

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