Figuring out what type of Business Insurance you need doesn’t have to be cumbersome. Our agents at Morris & Spradlin Insurance Group can meet with you to conduct a risk analysis and evaluate the probability of each risk and determine the potential severity of the loss associated with it. Armed with this information, you can decide as the Business Owner, which risks to insure against and the amount of coverage needed.

Most small businesses will need coverage in one or all of the following three areas:

Property Insurance

• Property insurance protects real property as well as the contents of your business from damage or loss. All of the property, plant and equipment located on the premises of your business is protected by property insurance. It is important to take an inventory of all of your business property and determine the replacement value, not the sale value but the amount it would cost to replace the item. Then use the total replacement value of your property when determining the amount of coverage you should purchase.

Casualty Insurance

• Casualty insurance protects the business from lawsuits arising from injury of patrons on the business premises. This type of insurance covers accidents caused by your employees that injure others, as well as injuries suffered through unsafe conditions within your business. For example, a customer slips on a wet floor and breaks her arm. You are liable, and the medical bill will probably be significant. Casualty insurance will cover the costs so you don’t have to pay the sudden expense from your operating budget.

Workers’ Compensation

• Any small business that has employees must carry workers’ compensation insurance to cover the costs of medical bills incurred from on-the-job injuries, as well as the cost of paying the wages for an injured worker while they are recovering. Most states offer a workers’ compensation insurance fund, but many businesses choose to purchase this insurance from a private company to get better coverage or rates.

Eight ways to determine how much coverage is needed for your business:

1. Think of everything that your business does. Write it down so that you can explain it to a total stranger. Your information could be as long as an entire page or as short as a paragraph. Length isn’t important. The important thing is to be able to explain what type of business activity you are involved in.

2. If you own or lease property of any type, you will need property insurance coverages. If you are responsible for the property of others, you will need property insurance coverage.

3. If your business is highly dependent on computers , you should have special computer insurance coverage. If you sell products online, check your contracts to see if your web hosting company provides any protections against downtime for you.

4. If you do not have enough money to keep your business running for up to a year in case there is a major fire or your property is destroyed, you should have business income insurance. Think of this as a type of disability insurance, but for your business.

5. If you make or sell a product, you will need general liability insurance. If any customers come to your work site, you will need general liability insurance. If you think that your product or services could cause harm — physical, mental or emotional — you should have liability insurance to protect you against lawsuits.

6. If you own, rent or lease cars in your business name, you should have business auto liability insurance. If you have a truck and you use it in business, you should have it insured on a business auto insurance policy.

7. If you use your own car, or employees or other people run errands while driving their own cars, you should make sure that you have business auto liability insurance to cover these situations. This isn’t always automatic. If you have to lease your car or have a leinholder, you should carry physical damage insurance on your business vehicles.

8. If you have any employees, you should carry workers compensation insurance. You may even want to carry this coverage on yourself and other officers of the company.

Other helpful hints for small business owners include covering the largest area of exposure first, then adding other coverage as the budget permits; selecting the largest affordable deductible in order to save money on premiums; and reviewing costs and coverage’s periodically or whenever the company’s location or situation changes. With access to multiple Insurance Companies, our agents at Morris & Spradlin Insurance Group can provide different rate options and give you the flexibility to choose a coverage level that matches your needs and budget. Give us a call and let us assist you with providing Insurance Coverage for your Business.