Guides & Articles on Business Insurance
Business Interruption Insurance
Cover your downtime when disaster strikes
By Mindy Toran
What would happen if you had to vacate your premises due to damage from a fire, flood, hurricane or other natural or man-made disaster? How would you continue to operate your business and pay your bills? By purchasing business interruption insurance, you can protect your business from loss of income and continue to pay day-to-day operating expenses. When looking for a policy, which...
Business Owner Insurance Policies
Like it or not, insurance is a necessary cost of doing business.
By Mindy Toran
Good insurance coverage is vital when something goes wrong. And eventually, something always goes wrong. For most small businesses, an all-purpose package called a Business Owner's Policy, or BOP, will cover most of your needs. The three main types of coverage every business needs are: Property insurance, to cover tangible assets, such as office furniture, business machines and...
Granting Business Credit
Extending credit for goods and services can bring in more customers
By Judith Earley
When you extend credit, you are lending customers your own money. If you haven't established a good credit policy for your business, you could end up losing money. If you want to grant credit as part of your business plan, remember: Most of the time you don't really need to extend credit to consumers unless you provide a service that's billed monthly or offer contracts...
Reducing Business Risk
Manage your business risks through planning and preparation
By Lou Bortone
Small businesses face a myriad of risks: Property losses, financial losses, lawsuits, workplace accidents, technology issues and product liability claims are just a few. But you can mitigate risks with some smart risk-management strategies. There are four main ways of reducing risk: Risk avoidance: Avoiding the activity that carries risk. But nothing ventured, nothing gained. Ris...
Directors and Officers (D&O) Liability Insurance
Even if they do their jobs well, your top managers - and you - could get sued
By Greg Brown
Corporate counsel will tell you: The more money your firm pulls in, the more people will come out of the woodwork to claim a part of it. Shareholders, former employees, current employees, vendors and suppliers, creditors, even competitors. General business insurance won't protect against claims that hold directors personally responsible for company actions (like in the Enron ...
Commercial Property Insurance
How to get the best rates on business property insurance
By Jeanni Brosius
If you have business property, commercial property insurance coverage is a necessity. You must protect your business and the items you need to run your business, as well as protect yourself against customers and employees who may get hurt while on the premises.One sure-fire way to put your business in jeopardy is to ignore the importance of carrying insurance, or by not carrying en...
Insurance Agents
Secure insurance agent services to receive the coverage you need for your business
By Angela King
In business, insurance is crucial to protect employees, customers and your assets. Sifting through the long list of insurance agents who can meet your needs and general insurance agent information is what most business people do when first looking for insurance coverage from an agent.Business insurance brokers present you with coverage options and can tailor policies to meet the ne...
Specialty Insurance
Where to go for your specialty business insurance needs
By Lori Carver
What is specialty insurance? All businesses will have general business insurance that covers your business premise in the event of fire, vandalism and theft. Basic car insurance covers your business vehicles for accidents caused by your employee or the other driver. So when do these normal business needs become specialty insurance?Specialty insurance providers offer insurance for s...
Insurance Calculators
Decipher the insurance riddle with insurance calculators for all your business needs
By Lori Carver
Insurance is a part of every aspect of life. However, how much insurance do you need and how can you determine some of these costs in advance? Figure insurance the way your agent does by using commercial insurance calculators, mortgage insurance calculators, life insurance calculators and auto insurance calculators.Know in advance what your rate will be and how much insurance you c...
Commercial Umbrella Insurance
Commercial umbrella insurance is an important investment in our increasingly litigious society
By Amy Hunter
Commercial umbrella insurance coverage protects businesses from catastrophic losses to their business. They pay claims that are higher than the coverage limits on a company's general liability, commercial automotive or employer's liability coverage. Until recently, large corporations were the only ones that felt it necessary to include commercial umbrella insurance as part ...
Surety Insurance
Protect your business contracts with surety insurance
By Denise Brown
In the most common type of surety insurance, a surety insurance company guarantees that a contract gets completed. As the underwriter, a surety insurance company examines the contractor's credit history, financial assets, equipment, experience, work history and management skills, then determines whether the contractor is a good risk for a particular bond. If a contractor defaul...
Business Owners Policy (BOP)
Purchase affordable BOP policies for peace of mind
By Erin Wheeler
A business owners policy (BOP) is a form of insurance designed specifically for small businesses. Business owners can purchase policies either as a single policy that combines multiple coverages or as a series of separate policies. Most companies prefer to buy package policies.Business owners insurance, BOP, typically covers your business property against named perils like wind and...
Commercial Insurance Agents and Brokers
Insure your business interests with the right commercial insurance agents and brokers
By Gennifer Harding-Gosnell
Commercial insurance agents and brokers help you find policies and rates for commercial insurance coverage. The coverage fully protects your business and financial future regarding any crisis you may face. It is very important that you trust your commercial insurance agent and fully understand what your policy covers before signing off on anything. Too little coverage won’t c...
Insurance Industry Events
Stay informed of industry news and events by attending an insurance industry convention
By Ann Lette
Insurance industry events take place across the country to help insurance professionals network and stay abreast of industry changes and innovations. Sending staff to gain greater insight into their jobs at insurance industry meetings is a key part of continued career growth and promotes innovative thinking within a corporation. Local and regional conferences are available, but the...
Insurance Consultants
Insurance specialists help walk you through the complexities of insurance policies and contracts
By Katherine Kay
Independent, health and life insurance consultants are available to help individuals and businesses get through the maze of policies and choices. As much as people may want to avoid the whole process and issue, it is not wise to do so. Insurance is a necessary institution.Insurance consultants will help a business think through the loopholes and possible eventualities that could co...
Construction Insurance
Find all the construction insurance your business needs
By Kristina Seleshanko
As a contractor, you already know your state requires you to carry business insurance for construction companies. In most states, you'll need to have contractor liability and workman's compensation insurance. You may wish to add to that construction business insurance by having risk insurance, commercial vehicle insurance or any number of other, more specialized liabili...
Commercial Crime Insurance
Protect your business with the right commercial crime insurance
By Kristina Seleshanko
Your business needs commercial crime insurance. Criminal employees cost U.S. organizations more than $400 billion each year. The average business looses over $9 a day per employee and 6% of its yearly revenue to fraud committed by employees. Out of every ten crimes made against businesses, nine are committed by employees. Frequently, it's long-standing, trusted employees wh...
Liability Insurance Consultants
Liability insurance consultants find plenty of work in uneasy times
By Katherine Kay
Liability insurance consulting is a necessary safeguard if you own a big company. You will want to make sure you, your chief executives and employees are covered. Give your business the coverage and cushion it needs in case of an emergency.Liability insurance consulting firms are in a good business, because businesses want to be covered. There are so many details and specifics ...
Insurance and Risk Management
Protect your business with insurance and risk management
By Kristina Seleshanko
Insurance and risk management go hand in hand. While risk management examines possible risks in your business venture, along with ways to manage it, insurance is one of the most common ways to reduce this risk. Risk management firms provide contingency analysis on protecting businesses from possible loss of property, employees and other assets. They will also tell you what sort...
Builders Insurance
Prevent damage losses for your company with builders risk insurance
By Heather Topham Wood
If you’re in the construction industry, then you’re going to rely on builders liability insurance to protect your company’s assets. With builders insurance, you’re going to reduce your financial losses if an accident occurs during development.A builders risk insurance policy will likely cover all materials, machinery, supplies and fixtures used during a comm...
Directors & Officers Liability Insurance
Protect your firm with directors and officers liability insurance coverage
By Heather Topham Wood
To protect your assets in the case of a lawsuit, you may want to decide to take out directors and officers liability insurance coverage. The insurance is paid out to the directors or officers of a company to cover damages in case they are sued. However, directors and officers liability insurance will not protect against deliberately wrongful acts.Liability insurance for corporate o...
Internet Business Insurance
Find Internet business insurance to secure your business investment
By Nikki Davis
Widened business horizons have opened up the need for more expanded insurance, including the need for Internet business insurance. You have to protect against hackers and viruses, you should protect your online security and you should also look to cover general liabilities of your business endeavor.Some additional risks that might lead you to find Internet business insurance includ...
Commercial Package Policy
Commercial package policy: a tailored approach to business insurance
By Nicole Ricks
Protect your business and your assets with a commercial package policy or CPP. You can tailor coverage for your business by choosing coverage such as liability, property, inland marine, equipment breakdown and crime coverage. When you put policies together into a commercial package policy, you can save money.You may have heard of a Business Operator's Policy (BOP), which requir...
Commercial Insurance Brokers
Obtain competitive insurance quotes from commercial insurance brokers
By Apryl Beverly
Commercial insurance brokers can help you protect your business assets by ensuring that you are properly covered in the event of a loss. The primary difference between commercial insurance brokers and agents is that brokers can provide businesses with competitive quotes from multiple insurance companies. Commercial insurance is not one size fits all. Commercial insurance brokers as...
Commercial Insurance Agents Basics
Use the expertise of commercial insurance agents and brokers for your insurance needs
By Nicole Ricks
Figuring out the difference between insurance agents and insurance brokers is complicated. Both offer insurance to you; however, usually an insurance agent is tied to one company, whereas a broker is generally non-exclusive and can write for a variety of companies. While different in how they get quotes for you, both can fit products to the needs of your business.Commercial ins...
