|
Small Business Insurance Simplified
Important Answers to Important Questions About Business Insurance
Business Insurance Questions And Answers
 Business insurance is such a complex subject, yet so important to every company's well being that you'll probably have a great many questions.
Let's look at a few of the most common business insurance questions and the answers to them:
Things That Business Insurance Will NOT Cover
Business insurance will not protect you from loss of business due to competition or changing customer tastes.
In other words, if you are not able to run your business efficiently and keep up with the competition and what the market wants, insurance will not help you. These are normal commercial risks and are not insurable. Also, in most cases insurance will not protect you from changes in laws or statutes.
When the government imposed health warnings on cigarette packets, for instance, the situation was beyond the control of the tobacco companies and their business suffered a lot. But they could not insure against things like this.
Is It Possible To Disaster Proof Your Business?
The simple answer is no. There are two reasons for this.
The first is related to the nature of the risk. You cannot insure your business against disaster caused by management errors. Or if your product or service is suddenly found to be illegal or dangerous and banned.
You can, however, insure against most natural disasters and also against man-made situations that are beyond your control and which will affect your business operations.
The second reason why it is not possible to disaster proof your business is that the cost would be astronomical.
You would have to insure against every possible occurrence imaginable.
If your business is located in a dry desert region, why insure against floods?
If you run a handicrafts business where an electricity outage will not seriously affect your production, why pay for insurance against this?
Yes, there may be a rainfall of biblical proportions that would cause a flood in the desert and there may be a power outage on the day of a total solar eclipse, but is it worth your while to pay for insurance against these and other such occurrences?
How Do I File A Business Insurance Claim?
Filing an insurance claim is not difficult if you know how to go about it and have taken the proper advance precautions:
- Keep cheap but easy to use digital cameras around the office and instruct employees that when anything that could result in an insurance claim occurs, they should photograph it. This is the best form of record and one that insurance companies like.
- Keep standard insurance claims forms easily available and instruct employees on how to fill out the forms while their memory of what happened is still fresh.
- Make sure that all your regulatory compliances are complete. This will prove that you have done all you could to prevent the disaster.
- Contact the law enforcement / fire or other authorities and make sure a report is filed.
- Contact your agent or broker who will be able to guide you through filing your claim form.
- Once the claim reaches the insurance company it will be given to an adjuster. Establish contact with the adjuster and provide all the information and evidence he may need. Your photos will be helpful here. If you have had repairs done, show him the bills, receipts and work orders.
- Keep in regular touch with the insurance company to expedite the release of your claim.
- And that's it. As you can see, being prepared in advance can make the claim process much easier.
What Is The Difference Between Cancellation And Non Renewal?
Cancellation and non renewal are two different things.
An insurance company cannot cancel a business insurance policy, or for that matter any insurance policy, which has been in operation for more than 60 days, unless you have failed to pay the premium or it is found that you have committed fraud or misrepresented facts when applying for the insurance.
Except for these circumstances, the insurance company has to continue with a policy for the assigned validity period. However, non renewal is a different matter.
Non renewal means that a policy period has been completed and it is at the option of the insurance company as well as the insured to renew or not.
Either party can decide not to renew the policy, and there will be no obligations or liabilities towards the other party.
What's Next
Next In This Guide
Part 4:
 Small Business Liability Insurance: Understanding product liability insurance, professional liability insurance and general liability insurance.
Previous In This guide
Part 2:
 Types of Business Insurance: Understand the types of business insurance, such as health, interruption, product liability, and others.
Table of Contents
 Small Business Insurance
Simplified - Table of Contents
More Free Small Business Guides
|
