The first step to this is having a great insurance broker who understands your needs in depth, informs you of all the options, and guides you through making sure you’re covered appropriately. Our friendly and knowledgeable agents will make all of this crystal clear for you. There’s no substitute for the personal touch and the knowledge that an expert can deliver.

However, it never hurts to have a good knowledge base yourself going into making these decisions. In this article, we’ll explore the difference between two types of business insurance: Business liability insurance, and business property coverage. (Note that there are other types of business insurance beyond these two, but these are two of the most common that all businesses will need.)

BUSINESS PROPERTY INSURANCE

This is a policy that is analogous to a homeowner’s policy. It protects your building and grounds from the risks that you will encounter from fire, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, vandalism, burglary, smoke, and other possible threats. For this coverage, you will want to consider the question, “What would happen to my business if my buildings and equipment were to be destroyed or damaged? How much money would I need to recover from such a thing and continue my business operations?”

BUSINESS LIABILITY INSURANCE

This is a policy that essentially takes into account the fact that you might be sued. Liability insurance varies depending on the type of your business and may require you to jump through various hoops in order to cover your bases and provide proof that you were not operating negligently. However, no matter how careful and conscientious you are, in our sue-happy society, any type of business can be threatened by a lawsuit.

There can be no one-size-fits-all policy for business liability. Here’s an example. Recently, a building contractor was hired to build a high school, and they installed large glass doors on adjacent walls at one of the outer corners of the building. This was a load-bearing area that was significantly weakened by the gap created by the doors. Before the first day of school even came, a large crack appeared at this corner, extending from the foundation to the roof, making the building unsafe and unusable until they conducted major repairs. You can imagine how costly this was, and how much liability this particular construction company was facing. No one would want to be without insurance in those kinds of circumstances.

But contrast this with a totally different kind of business, say, a dog training company. They have to be covered for completely different liabilities (for example, if a customer’s dog bites someone, or if a pet has rabies and exposes other animals to the disease).

These two case studies show why business liability insurance is such a diverse field. For this coverage, you will want to consider the question, “What risks are inherent in my actual business activities that may incur costly liabilities?”

With so many different factors and scenarios to account for, your best approach is to talk with a business insurance broker who understands all these factors and how to make sure you have your bases covered. Give us a call to talk with an expert and make sure your business liability coverage is where you want it to be.