To buy, reword midterm, or trigger insurance on a small business: contact us. We contractually guarantee results including net cost for tailored coverage that we structure and trigger independently of any insurance broker or company for best value to the business and its investors.
Preamble
This content is independent of any content coming from insurance brokers, insurers, or any insurance lobbyists. Commercial insurance is rarely taught in schools, and when it is, it’s mostly done through the lens of brokers or insurers. There are many misconceptions around insurance for small businesses, like many other topics in commercial insurance, due to bad habits acquired through the over reliance on brokers, insurers, and information providers who are lobbied by them. It is also important to note that insurance for small businesses has both an operational aspect and a legal aspect, on which we put weights of 95% and 5% respectively in terms of importance to protecting the business and its investors (the point is that going to court to enforce coverage defeats the purpose of buying insurance, so you want to make sure that whatever insurance you buy protects your business right, based on operational data, and pays out fast on large losses).
Types Of Insurance For Small Businesses
There are various types of insurance for a small business depending on whether you are looking to comply with your contractual obligations from your Landlord, Suppliers, or other third parties, or you are looking to protect a specific aspect of your operational risk. To view a complete list of commercial insurance products and their use, visit our products page. Generally speaking, the following are the most frequent types of insurance for small businesses:
- Property insurance: protecting the physical assets of a small business (equipment, inventory, leased or owned premises, etc.).
- Business interruption insurance: protecting profits of a small business in case they are lost due to a physical damage.
- General liability insurance: protecting the small business from liability arising from their operations (ex. customers or suppliers suing).
- Directors and Officers insurance (D&O insurance): protecting the individual directors and officers and the business itself from shareholder suits.
- Professional Liability insurance (aka E&O insurance): protecting the business and its employees for customer suits as a result of services performed.
- Commercial Auto Insurance: protecting damage to vehicles used in the course of business operations as well as any resulting liabilities.
Health Insurance For A Small Business
Group health insurance can be tailored for a small business. This would entail pricing advantage for health insurance that is offered to the employees of the business instead of them individually buying such insurance. There are various providers for group health insurance and it is important to make brokers compete for your business in order to get the best premium for the coverage you want to offer to your employees. Typically the insurer or broker would require you to fill out an application and a schedule with details of each individual employee (including but not limited to age, marital status, gender, claims and medical history, etc.). Based on the answers you provide as well as the coverage you seek (ex. increased limits for dental and eye care), the insurer would then price the group health insurance for your small business. That said, brokers typically have contracts with specific insurers, so it is worthwhile to hire more than a couple of brokers to source you quotes.