Taking the time to review to your review your commercial insurance is something you think you don’t have time for, have no interest in doing, and seem like a pain. However, if you just let it update automatically each year and don’t have a comprehensive review with your agent, you could be overpaying, underinsured, and place your business in a state of unforeseen financial risk that you may not be able to come back from.

Filing a claim is the worst time to find out you do not have enough coverage on your commercial insurance policy. So you need to know: WHEN YOUR BUSINESS CHANGES, SO DOES YOUR RISK.

There are many examples of how your commercial insurance policy grows as your company grows. Examples would be:

Increasing/Decreasing the number of employees you have.

Changes in staff mean that’s your worker’s compensation insurance would need to be adjusted. If you are downsizing, you may be moving into a smaller space or growing and moving into a larger space you will need your commercial property insurance adjusted.

Purchasing new commercial vehicles.

When you first started you most likely had just one vehicle that doubled as a work truck and for personal use. But as you grow and hired more employees driving, new vehicles were purchased and those would need to be insured through commercial auto policies for the vehicles. You should of added those vehicles to your policy when purchased but if it’s been a while and your drivers have good records you could be eligible for new discounts.

The business has grown at a good rate.

The more work you do, the more your risks increase. Increase your liability coverage so you don’t pay more out of pocket in the event of someone suing your company or an injury happens on your property.

Major changes in ownership.

If you are bringing in a new partner, a partner quits or passes away, or when ownership changes in any way there needs to be changes to the policy to remove/add names to have proper association on the policy so that no one is hit with unforeseen liability.

You have started using subcontractors.

It is important to be aware of your legal liabilities to them and in the case of any injury, you could be at risk. Make sure that the subcontractors you use have their own insurance policy so that they are responsible for any injury and/or damage that may happen and you’re not responsible for the costs.

We know dealing with insurance can feel like a chore and something you never look forward to. But just know that doing at least a review of your commercial insurance policies annually can help you save money in the long run in the event of claims due to the added/adjusted protection it provides. Additionally, as your business changes, you may start qualifying for larger discounts and help your bottom line that way.

If you haven’t done a full review of your commercial insurance this year. Please give us a call at 614-863-0455 or email at info@arnoldinsuranceagency.com and our agents would be happy to set a time up to see where we can better protect your business.