Today, more and more people have a full-time or even a smaller part-time business in their home, but as many as 60% of those don’t have acceptable business insurance, according to Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America.
One reason many home based business owners go without business insurance is because they falsely believe that they are already covered under their home insurance or their renter’s policy. Unfortunately, this is not the case at all.
For example, if the UPS delivery driver drops off a business package at your door and slips on the ice on your sidewalk and gets injured, your homeowner’s policy will not cover the injuries incurred. Even worse, if you try to make a business related claim on your homeowner’s insurance, they may even cancel you all together.
Most homeowner’s policies have some limited coverage for office equipment and computers, however most of them will not cover items such as:
- Lost Income
- Computer Data Loss
- Liability
Typically, home based businesses fall into one of two categories. The one you will require depends on many factors concerning your business, such as size and type, as well as whether or not your have customers coming to your home office regularly:
- Rider to a homeowners or renters insurance policy: This is a lower-cost option that can be as inexpensive as $100 a year and providers around $2,500 of coverage. This is a good option for a smaller business, for example an accountant that has minimal customers on the property and does a lot of electronic sending and receiving of communication and business.
- Business Owner’s Policy: This is the most comprehensive coverage and protects your business equipment and data, inventory and products, as well as any liability claims.
Even if you have already been operating a home based business, it is never too late to get the right coverage and have piece of mind for today and tomorrow.
Give us a call today will any questions that you have and we call help you purchase the correct coverage for your home based business needs!