The Most Important Insurance Policies Small Business Owners Overlook

Let’s face it, securing your small business with the right insurance can make the difference between a crippled or a successful business. While insurance can be costly, it can protect losses that occur on your equipment, inventories, buildings, and other business assets.

That being said, it’s vital that you avoid spending money on coverage you don’t need by communicating effectively with your insurance agent. To help you navigate through the insurance landscape, here is a rundown of the most overlooked insurance policies for small businesses.

Cyber liability insurance

With the internet dominating the business arena, business owners store very sensitive information on their computers. This exposes them to hacking incidents and data breaches. What’s more, hackers have come up with tools to log into the dark web and deploy malware within a very short period. They can gain access to sensitive data and business accounts.

But shockingly, only a few businesses have invested in liability insurance to combat the devastating effects of a cyber-attack. It’s estimated that only 17% of small businesses have put cyber liability policy in place. A good cyber insurance policy covers direct expenses like data recovery costs, security overhauls, business interruptions, and bankruptcies that result from a data breach. This is one policy you can’t miss for your small business because recovering data breach can costs you thousands of dollars.

Professional liability insurance

Professional liability protects your business if it’s used for performing services in a negligible manner. This policy comes in handy when delivering professional services. You should also consider this insurance if you regularly give advice to clients. It can help you pay lawsuits when your clients accuse your business of undelivered services or work mistakes. Ideally, your policy will cover legal defense costs, which vary depending on complexity, duration, and other factors.

Inland marine insurance

While this may sound too much for a small business, this policy can protect your property if it’s shipped by sea. It protects your equipment, tools, and supplies as they are shipped across the unforgiving seas. Other than that, it’s beneficial to business owners who ship high volume items or those who constantly move property from one place to another using airplane or trucks. Also, it can be used if your property is likely to be lost during transit. Without this type of insurance, you’re likely to bankrupt your business in case of an unforeseen event.

In most cases, business owners are not sure whether they need this type of insurance. For this reason, it’s important that you check with your insurance agent because inland marine insurance could be included in your property insurance policy.

Contingent business interruption

If your business income depends on another business, you need contingent business coverage. For instance, if you are an auto dealer that sells specific car brands and then the manufacturer is unable to ship the product to you, you’re likely to go out of business. Another example where this policy kicks in is in the manufacturing business, where your supplier’s shop is damaged by fire. To put it succinctly, a contingent business income policy applies when a loss is suffered by a manufacturer or supplier of business. It also comes into play when there is a loss of a major customer.

Non-owned auto insurance

This policy covers your business liability for accidents that occur when using employee-owned cars to run company errands. This policy also covers the gap in commercial auto insurance when you rent a car for your sales team. You should not confuse this coverage with commercial auto liability policy, as it does not cover an employee who uses his personal car to run a work errand. You need employee, non-owned auto insurance if you regularly rent a car to run errands for your business, like picking up office supplies, sending an employee to the post office, or hiring a limo to pick up important clients.

Even if your business has enough vehicles to run work-related duties, you may need additional cars during the busy season. And with technology moving at breakneck speed, you can get anonymous car insurance without giving all your personal details to your insurer.

Conclusion

While starting a business demands great passion, most people usually overlook important aspects like insurance. And because running a business is itself a risk, it’s important that you take time to insure your investment. By going through the above insurance policies, you can easily understand the threats that can work against your business.