From business liability insurance to health insurance for employees, a business insurance broker will be able to help you decide what you need and work out the best premiums possible.
Even if you know nothing about small business insurance, you can have the coverage that you need within days.
Finding a Business Insurance Broker
The first step is finding a reputable business insurance broker. If you have employees, health insurance is an important benefit and you should offer a plan that works for both you and your employees.
Obviously, as the cost of health insurance continues to rise, it will be more difficult to provide quality coverage. One option is to have the employees share more of the cost.
That way you can still provide coverage without the business having to bear the entire expense.
Don’t Skimp on Coverage
In many ways, business liability insurance is much more important than health insurance. While the lack of health insurance may cause some employees to seek a job with better benefits, the lack of liability insurance can cause you to go out of business.
It only takes one legal action against your business to financially devastate you. This is easily avoidable, though, by purchasing the right amount of coverage.
Shop around as business insurance and contractor insurance rates can vary between brokers. Even before you talk to a few business insurance brokers, do a little research yourself.
Educate Yourself
Learn how much legal actions within your industry have cost other businesses. This will give you a ballpark amount when deciding how much coverage you need.
Talking to other business owners is another way to both find a good broker and learn about proper coverage amounts.
There are umbrella liability policies available that will cover a variety of situations. There are also other policies that are more specific that will cover, for example, actions brought by an employee.
You and your broker will need to take a good look at your business to determine which type of coverage is right for you.
Business insurance rates vary widely depending on a number of factors including the number of employees you have, your location, the length of time you’ve been in business, the type of business and whether or not you have had any legal actions brought against you in the past.
A small business in Virginia with one employee recently purchased $500,000 of umbrella coverage for $300 per year. She is in what is considered a low-risk profession.
That same coverage could cost many times more for someone living in a different area or who is in a line of business that is considered to be high-risk. There is no way to answer the question “how much does business insurance cost” without tailoring the answer specifically to your business.
If you wanted to get a good ballpark figure before talking to a business insurance broker, you could talk to business owners in your area who are the same field as you.
The best thing to do is to find a broker and let him work up a business insurance quote for you. Whatever the cost of your business insurance rates would be, those costs are nothing compared to what you could lose if you don’t have the proper coverage.
