Types of Commercial Insurance and Their Benefits

The excitement fills you when you open your first business. A bit of trepidation probably sneaks in, too. You can handle it best by ensuring you have the proper insurance. Windgate Insurance Agency, Inc. wants you to understand the policy types your Highland Falls or New Windsor, NY business might commonly need. 

When it comes to commercial insurance, you will need more than one type of policy. Commercial insurance refers to a range of policy types that include commercial property, liability, and workers’ compensation. 

If you own your building, you need property insurance to cover typical perils like the type you’d find in a homeowner’s policy. You’d choose a renter’s policy to include contents if you lease your office space or storefront space. A liability policy pays damages to third parties. Commercial auto covers your fleet vehicles from damage and your liability to others should you or your employees cause an accident. Finally, if you hire employees, not independent contractors, you will need a workers’ compensation insurance policy to cover workers who sustain on-the-job injuries. 

Aside from those main types of insurance policies for a business, you may also find yourself in need of various specialty policies.

• Boiler and machinery insurance, which also gets called equipment breakdown or mechanical breakdown coverage, that pays for the repair or replacement of boilers, machinery, and other equipment. A manufacturing plant would need this type.
• Debris removal insurance reimburses your costs to remove debris from an act of God, such as a fire or tornado.
• Builder’s risk insurance is the policy you need if you build your own office or construct another building or structure. This includes coverage of condo or apartment complexes.
• Glass insurance pays for repairs to broken windows and plate-glass on any commercial building. Many storefront businesses need this if in a neighborhood known for vandalism.
• Inland marine policies insure other people’s property while in transit and on your business’ premises. A dry-cleaning business or shipping service would use this policy type.
• Malpractice insurance provides coverage every medical practitioner needs. It covers losses that result from injuries to a third-party due to the professional’s conduct missing the profession’s standard of care. It also pays for the insured’s attorney and court costs.
• Business interruption policies reimburse the insured for lost income and expenses that result from property damage due to a named peril like fire or tornado. It would cover any salaries, taxes, rents, or net profits the business would have earned while forced to close.

The category of commercial insurance includes many other types of policy, and many are much less common. To learn which policies your business needs, you should meet with a knowledgeable insurance professional at Windgate Insurance Agency, Inc. of New Windsor, NY. Let us help you find the right policy set for your business.