Insurance Options for Your Home-based Business
No matter the type and size of your business, you need to get the right insurance for it. Business insurance shields you from financial and legal problems, should anything happen, and gives you peace of mind in knowing that no matter what happens, you and your business will be financially covered. But what insurance options are available for your home-based business? Below are a few options.
First, Evaluate Your Business
Before shopping around for business insurance for your home-based business, you need to ask yourself a few questions. These include:
- What type of business do you run? When you know this, you will know what your exposure is
- What is the value of your business assets? Do you own any machines? Cameras? Expensive equipment?
- Do you have employees?
- Do clients or customers visit your home?
- Do you store customer’s data on any server or your computer?
Once you have answers to these and more questions, you will have a better understanding of the type of insurance your business needs. If you still do not know what you need, you can visit The Hartford. They have different types of business insurance options, and they will be able to answer any questions you may have and help you get the best insurance for your business.
Liability and Property Insurance
This type of insurance is critical if you want to protect your home and business from loss due to fire, theft, or other misfortunes. If your clients and customers visit your home for business meetings or other obligations, you also need liability insurance in case they get injured there and decide to sue. Liability insurance also shields you against claims of injury as a result of using your product or service.
Although your home insurance policy might protect your business to a certain extent, it is not enough.
Business Vehicle Insurance
Even though you may have an auto insurance policy in place, you also need a business vehicle insurance policy. This is especially important if a vehicle is a large part of your business’ operations. The insurance can cover accidents as well as injuries to you and third parties.
Workers Compensation Insurance
If you have employees, you should strongly consider getting workers’ compensation insurance. This type of coverage will come in handy if any of your employees are ever injured on the job. Workers’ compensation insurance can also provide wage replacement options and medical benefits for workers injured on the job. The only condition is that the worker cannot turn around and sue their employer later.
Because there are different laws in different states, be sure to check if workers’ compensation insurance is mandatory in your state.
Business Interruption Insurance
Many business owners do not know that this option exists. Statistics show that 40% of businesses do not open, and 25% of them fail within one year following a disaster. A business interruption insurance policy can help your business get back on its feet by compensating you for lost revenue due to certain types of closure. This can help you pay for fixed expenses like rent and utilities and also covering the costs associated with operating your business form a different or less than ideal location.
There are a lot of different business insurance options available. A business person just has to choose the option that works best for them and their business.