Insurance

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Insurance Coverage For Small Businesses

Testimonial Kelly Davis Insurance Agent "Before starting, you should talk with an insurance professional." Transcription - html

Besides your attorney and accountant, another professional you will need to bring into the start-up process will be your insurance agent. It may be helpful to have one agent who can handle all of your insurance needs. There are policies available that are specifically designed to cover small businesses that, in one package, will cover most of your insurance needs.

Insurance is not only going to be important to you but it will be important to your other business relationships. For example, if you choose to lease office space, the landlord will typically require that you furnish a certificate of insurance or be listed as an additional insured on your policy as assurance that your business will not disappear overnight in the event a loss occurs.

Here are some of the risks that should be protected by insurance:

Business property insurance

Property insurance should include a broad form of coverage to protect you from a wide variety of losses. Your insurance should include:

• Buildings. Coverage would be required here if you own the building your business occupies. In the event you lease a premises, your landlord should provide this coverage.
• Business personal property includes your tables, desks, chairs and equipment. Also, you will want to include the tenant's improvements you might make to leased premises. An example would be a room divider you add, or a display case, or a custom built counter that forms part of reception area for your clients.
• Loss of Income
• Earthquake
• Flood (which may or may not be available)

Keep in mind that an all-risk policy can be structured to cover all of your equipment, including computer hardware and software, plus your valuable records. A properly written policy will include loss of income that might result from breakdowns, as well as loss of income from other hazards that would temporarily close down your business.

Liability Insurance

A Comprehensive General Liability (CGL) policy is designed to provide coverage to third parties for the following:

• Personal and Advertising Injury
• Fire Legal Liability, which is often mandatory if you lease your premises. This protects you in the event your negligence results in damage or loss to your landlord's property. For example: you mistakenly leave a small electric space heater running and go home for the evening. During the night, the heater shorts and starts a fire, resulting in fire and smoke damage to your landlord's building. In this case, the negligent act of leaving the space heater on caused the loss. This is where Fire Legal Liability protects your investment.
• Products and Completed Operations
• Medical Expense or medical payments
• General Liability for your premises. The best illustration is the common "tripping over the torn carpet, resulting in an injury" loss.

On occasion, some policies will exclude Products and Completed Operations and/or Personal Injury and Advertising Coverage depending on the services your business provides. In these instances, a Professional Liability, Malpractice, or Errors and Omissions Policy might be available for your type of operation that will cover the errors and omissions that might result in suits against your company. This is particularly true of professions that are held to a higher degree of care or standard, for example, attorneys, engineering consultants, insurance agents, realtors, doctors and dentists.

Worker's Compensation Insurance

If your business has employees, Worker's Compensation insurance will be mandatory. Startup operations typically find that the State Compensation Fund can accommodate their needs. As the business grows, you can then "shop" for better prices for the coverage. In addition, some worker's compensation insurers provide additional services such as risk management and loss control services that may be beneficial to your business operation. These services are typically helpful in holding down claim costs over the long term. Do not confuse risk management with your taking part of the risk. The insurance company should assume 100% of the worker's compensation insurance risks.

Other Insurance

• Auto coverage for company vehicles. (Liability, Comprehensive, Collision and Uninsured/Underinsured Motorists.)
• Health insurance plans tailored to fit the size of your business (benefit: this coverage helps give you an edge when recruiting good employees).

Excess Liability Coverage

These are liability limits available over and above the maximum limit your carrier of choice may write and can be accomplished in two ways:

• Excess limits can typically be added at extra cost to the underlying package policy in "chunks" of Rs500,000 or Rs1 million Rupees layers sometimes up to Rs5 million.
• Purchasing what is called a "commercial umbrella," which can typically provide excess coverage over and above most underlying package policies, including the business policy, business auto, and worker's compensation.

SOMETHING TO KEEP IN MIND: Your carrier of choice may offer lower limits, which may look attractive from a premium standpoint. But savvy business owners should contemplate liability limits of at least Rs1 million. The additional cost is usually affordable and, in today's litigious environment, makes good sense.

• Example: You, the business owner, suffer an auto accident in which you are determined to be at fault. In addition, the accident results in the victim being rendered a paraplegic. This type of loss can easily result in a multi-million Rupees judgment against you.

Employment Practices Liability Coverage

Employment Practices Liability insurance is a coverage that is starting to be carried by more companies, with premiums exceeding Rs2,000 annually for Rs1 million of coverage. While employment practices are rarely encountered in a small operation, the threat of wrongful termination or sexual harassment lawsuits, which are excluded under most business policies, becomes more prevalent as the size of your organization grows.

Life Insurance

As mentioned earlier, if you have a partner, your buy-sell agreement can be funded by life insurance in the event of the death of a partner. As your business grows this insurance can be increased.

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Suggested Activities:

• Before you start-up, collect referrals to and references about lawyers, accountants and insurance agents so you can select the most appropriate professional advisors well before the time you will need their services. Perhaps they will provide you with initial free consultations for your considering them as members of your professional team.

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Business Plan for Session 5: Insurance

We heartily recommend that you download the individual business plan template for this session Business Plan Template Document 5 and complete it now.

Section 5: Insurance

MS Word

Instructions on filling in the business plan template:

1. Each box has a permanent title in CAPITAL LETTERS
2. Below each title is a sentence starting with an "Insert here…" sentence. This will suggest information to insert. The boxes will enlarge as you take up more room so use all the space you need.
3. After completing each box, delete the "Insert here" sentence, which will leave only the permanent title of the box and the information you have filled in.

We suggest that you fill in each section of the business plan
as you proceed through the course.

The template for all sessions 1-12 can also be downloaded into your computer as a single document:

Section 1-12: All

MS Word

Include sufficient research findings and background materials. Make it interesting up by the use of background data, your biography, charts, demographics and research data. When your business plan is completed, print off and assemble the 12 sections.

Many other business plan formats are available in libraries, bookstores and software.

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SESSION 5 Quiz: Insurance

Proceed to Session 6: Location and Leasing