The world is an unpredictable place. This is why we must take extra steps to insure our lives and personal possessions against loss. The same precaution should be taken when venturing into the business world. This is because starting up a business is an exciting, yet scary time, and sadly as much as we try to avoid disasters, they sometimes find their way to us. Here’s everything you need to know about taking up small business insurance.
Know Your Needs
Before you even begin to look at potential insurance companies; be sure to first take a look at what it is that you really need from your small business insurance. The most important factor is the nature of your business. Different sectors each come with their own set of assets, risks and responsibilities.
A great example is a courier company. Since your drivers make up your staff component you may consider offering them medical aid or life/death or disability cover as part of their salary package and deductions. You would also need to take into account that you are transporting goods, so your vehicles would need to be insured against accidents and theft. Then there is the fact that you’re transporting goods that belong to other individuals and companies, so you would want to insure those goods against damage or theft in transit.
Get Background Information
Once you have an idea of what your possible insurance needs are, you can then start looking deeper into these. Besides the obvious insurance options such as life and vehicle insurance, there are a few other insurance options that are relevant to small businesses that most people forget.
Public Liability
There’s public liability insurance which protects you and your employees in the event that you’re found liable for third party property damage or bodily injury caused during the course of business.
Employer’s Liability
Then there’s employers’ liability insurance which provides a pay-out in the event that one of your own staff is hurt or incapacitated while on the job.
Money Loss
There’s also money loss insurance which covers you against losing money through theft, dishonesty or physical destruction.
These are just a few insurance options that many business owners don’t know about. This is why it’s vital to get thorough information regarding all the possible insurance covers you can have for your business. The more protection you have, the better!
If you already have personal insurance you should know that when it comes to any form of insurance, doing the groundwork with research is key to making a wise informed decision.
Don’t just settle for the first company you find. Always speak to multiple companies and see what they have to offer. While some may offer a number of services, this might be at a higher price, whereas other companies could tailor-make packages to suit your needs and your budget.
Research means that you will find the company that suits your needs at a price that you can afford.
Finally, Disclose Everything!
It is extremely important to advise your insurer about everything that should be covered. Your honesty will work in your favour as this avoids claims being turned down because details were not disclosed. The same goes for new developments. Your business changes on a daily basis and with these changes come new needs and requirements.
It may be that you’ve closed a particular section of the business so don’t need to insure those assets, however you’ve opened a new branch and need to get that staff component on life insurance policies.
Whatever it is, be sure to inform your insurer of new developments immediately so that your policies can be updated. Let Compendium Insurance Brokers help protect what’s important to you with small business insurance. Contact one of brokers today on 087 724 9390 for an obligation-free quote.
