Author: L Woodbr
Source: articleage.combr
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Its one of those things that home-based business owners often never think about. Many home-based business owners assume that their home insurance policy also covers their business activities. The fact is the standard home insurance policy does not cover most home businesses. In addition to this, your home based business activities can void all coverage provided under your home insurance policy.
Home insurance policies provide coverage for residences, not places of business. Using your home for an activity that your insurance company is not aware of can potentially leave you with no coverage at all.
The type of home-based business insurance you will need really depends on the type of business you have.
For example:
A graphic artist can easily have $20,000.00 in computer equipment and software in their home.
People who sell products often take inventory and samples with them when visiting clients, along with cell phones and laptops.
A customer could slip and fall during an appointment at a home based bookkeeping business.
If you use your vehicle for business, then youll need to make sure your auto policy covers your vehicle while being used for business purposes.
A home-based manufacturer could be held liable if the manufactured product causes injury to a consumer.
If your business provides a service, you may need professional liability insurance to protect your personal assets, pay defense costs and ensure that your customers are adequately taken care of should they suffer damages as a result of your services.
If you provide services away from your home, at your customers premises, you may need completed operations coverage to protect yourself from liability that could occur after youve left the premises and your customer begins to use whatever you were working on and injury or damage occurs.
Not all home based businesses are the same, and neither are their insurance needs.
Take a good look at your business and determine exactly what your insurance needs are. Decide a value on the inventory, equipment, and business contents in your home. How many customers come to your home? How would your business be affected if a disaster forced you out of your home?
Then talk to your insurance agent or broker about your business and get some good advice on what types of coverages you should consider for your business. Ask about home based business insurance packages. If you belong to a business organization or association see if they offer an insurance plan or get group discounts on insurance.
Try to get more than one quote so you can compare coverages and costs. Once your research is done, make a decision and purchase some business insurance. Youre in business and you want to stay that way, so make sure you protect your assets and your customers.
Liane Wood is a chartered insurance professional and registered insurance broker specializing in personal and small business insurance. Visit her website at: http://www.Insurance-Rates.ca.br
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Posts Tagged ‘home based business’
Is Your Home Based Business Covered?
Business Opportunity – Have You Aptly Insured Your Home Based Business?
Author: Tana Hamiter
Source: ezinearticles.com
Would your business opportunity make you able to confront big failures or losses or an accident of some type on the premises? Don’t you think sometimes even the well planned strategies could go terribly wrong? Even with a home based business, accidents can happen.
One of the best means of preventing a major setback in business is by insuring your assets and yourself personally. Some assets will be very critical for your business operations and they are very important for you to be able to purchase new ones when the old ones breakdown. This can easily happen with computer and communication equipment in a home business. You could also take up liability insurance which can give you a protective coverage on many types of business losses.
It is quite evident that many home based businesses are not properly insured. It might work fine when the company is small and the unforeseen liability potentials are lesser. However, when your company grows, you will need to seriously think about insuring the critical aspects of your business in order to ensure a smooth continuity of your company.
To figure out:
If you haven’t included your home business in the insurance plans, firstly you need to do just that. And beware that many home insurance policies do not cover business expenses or liability. You will need to figure out what kind of coverage you require. Consider possible accidents, theft etc, and plan so your business will not be slowed down.
In a home business opportunity if a fire were to destroy your place, consider where you would work until your house is reconstructed. In such a situation, you would probably need to temporarily rent an office space somewhere. Are you prepared with your equipment and back up for your computers? Back up needs to always be off site!
Does your present insurance policy or plan cover this?
Most of the people have a wrong notion about home business insurance and they think that it is an expensive affair. As more and more people pursue home business, insurance firms are starting to offer more comprehensive coverage at good rates. This also depends on what type of business you plan on developing at home.
Before you buy the insurance, it would be wise of you to talk to a number of insurance agents to find out who gives the best options like best prices, and best coverage.
There are number of factors which you’ll need to consider when insuring your home business setup. Talking to your current personal insurance agent can probably get you started in the right direction.
In a home business opportunity you might not even require a separate insurance. By simply upgrading your existing insurance policy, you may be able to receive coverage.
Insurance plays a vital role in home business. If you are seriously involved with your home business, even if it is a small sized firm, it will require insurance coverage. An insurance policy provides protection and security to the business owner. Insurance policy is tax deductible.
What are the things normally needed to be covered under home business insurance plan: