Business Tips

Frequently Asked General Liability Insurance Questions for Small Business Owners

Business Insurance Now — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 22:01:28 GMT

Insurance coverage is on a lot of small business owner’s minds these days, especially in today’s increasing litigious society. Anyone who can sue will, and more often than not, it is the small business owners who see the majority of these suits.

Business owners want to know exactly what General Liability Insurance is, why they need it, and How to determine the proper amount of coverage.

General liability insurance is the most basic of the coverages for small businesses. It generally covers property damages, libel/slander claims, medical expenses and tenant’s liability.

General liability coverage is important for a number of reasons, the most important of which is protecting yourself against lawsuits. Anytime someone slips and falls while on your property is a potential claim. Anytime your company slanders another company in an advertising campaign, you are at risk for lawsuit. Make sure you have the proper coverage in place before beginning your business operations.

Determining how much coverage you need is tricky and will require the involvement of your agent as well as any pertinent industry information. If you own a business in an industry with very low liability, your policy requirements might be much lower than a company in a different industry.

For more information about determining the amount of liability coverage your small business needs, please visit the TechInsurance Small Business Center. This resource provides small business owners with articles and tools to help them efficiently manage and run their companies.

Business Interruption Insurance: What is Covered and is it Necessary?

Business Insurance Now — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 23:49:30 GMT

Unfortunately, many small business owners are not familiar with Business Interruption Insurance. Not only are they unfamiliar with its benefits, but they don’t know whether a claim is able to be covered by their policy if the need arises.

In short, business interruption insurance covers your business in the event that you are no longer able to function normally due to a natural disaster or similar event. For example, if a hurricane damaged your office building, business interruption insurance could cover the expenses of new equipment, moving to a new facility, and any potentially lost income based on historical records. Small business owners operating in certain areas of the country will find this coverage almost a necessity, because of its broad scope and forgiving nature.

It is also important to understand exactly what is covered by the business interruption policy. Business interruption insurance is tied very closely with your property damage insurance. Anytime a property damage claim is made, if that claim is potentially causing you to lose income, you might be eligible to make a claim on your business interruption insurance as well.

For more information on business interruption insurance, visit the TechInsurance Small Business Center. Here we offer tips on how small business owners can operate their businesses more effectively and less expensively.

Error and Omission Liabilities for Marketing Consultants

Business Insurance Now — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 15:47:29 GMT

As a marketing consultant, you are rarely judged on tangible factors. As a result, it is important to have errors and omissions coverage for your company or private practice. Since you don’t technically deliver a tangible product in most cases, it can be very easy for your client to allege that you didn’t actually “deliver” what was promised.

Marketing consultants can be difficult to analyze in terms of risk and liability, so it’s better to be safe than sorry when dealing with insurance coverage. General liability insurance will not be enough to cover your company when allegations of errors or omissions with your work are brought against you.

Thankfully, there is a separate business insurance option known as professional liability insurance for Marketing Consultants. This specifically tailored insurance policy covers you the consultant where you need it most. Hopefully you will never have to make a claim on your policy, but you should rest assured that if you ever need to, the proper coverage will be in place.

For more information about running a successful marketing consultancy, please visit the TechInsurance Small Business Center. Here we offer tips on how to communicate with clients, minimize risk, and properly protect yourself and your business if the need arises.

The Corporate Veil – How to Ensure the Protection of Its Executives

Business Insurance Now — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 17:41:16 GMT

The corporate veil is what protects the executives of a company from being subject to lawsuit based on the actions of the corporation as a whole. This means that if the corporation is being sued for any reason, the individuals cannot be subject to the lawsuit. There are, however, exceptions to this law. As a corporate executive, it is important to understand that circumstances that can allow this corporate veil to be “pierced” and how to take precautions against this ever happening.

First and foremost, the corporation needs to maintain its legal status as a separate entity. Ensuring that finances and activities are separated is crucial to maintaining this legal status.

If the corporation ceases to pay dividends or taxes in a timely fashion, this can open up the corporate veil and the individual executives could be held financially responsible. For this reason, fastidious attention to company records and legal contracts must be kept at all times. If anything slips through the cracks, it could mean that lawsuits could potentially filter through to individuals as opposed to the corporation itself.

For more information on protecting your corporation and its members, please visit the TechInsurance Small Business Center.

Why Management Consultants are at the Highest Risk for E&O Insurance Claims

Business Insurance Now — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 17:39:32 GMT

Errors and Omissions claims only involve claims of professional negligence. For this reason, it is vitally important that management consultants carry this coverage continuously. Since the majority of the work that management consultants provide falls under the category of “professional consultation,” it is errors and omissions claims that will make up the bulk of any suits brought against you or your consultancy.

As a consultant, you must also pay close attention to the factors under your control that can reduce your risk of being charged with an E&O claim.

It is important to note that errors and omissions coverage is not a part of your general liability insurance policy. Failure to make this distinction could result in a lack of coverage, leaving you open to legal suits. No matter how thoroughly and professionally you conduct your management consultancy, there is always the risk of an errors or omissions claim being brought against you.

For more information regarding errors and omissions insurance for management consultants, please visit Business Insurance Now or the TechInsurance Small Business Center.

Does General Liability Insurance Completely Cover My Small Business?

Business Insurance Now — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 17:35:14 GMT

Many small business owners are confused about the coverage they get from their general liability insurance policy. While this is the most basic of all business insurance policies, there are quite a few things that it will not cover you for. It is important to understand what you’re not covered for (commonly referred to as “exclusions”) and take necessary precautions to mitigate the probability of one of these excluded claims arising.

The most common exclusion on your general liability insurance policy is claims of professional negligence or errors and omissions. If the damage resulting from negligence on you or your employee’s behalf resulted in non-physical damage, your general liability insurance will not cover the suit.

If your employees claim that you treated them unfairly or discriminatively, your general liability insurance will not be able to cover you. This exclusion can be covered by purchasing employers practice liability insurance or EPLI.

The last major exclusion deals with your subcontractors. Any subcontracted work that you bring through your doors is not covered by your general liability policy. This means that you should get separate coverage for your subcontractors, or ensure that the subcontractors you use are utilizing their own coverage policies.

For more information on general liability insurance and how it pertains to your small business, please visit the TechInsurance Small Business Center.

The Biggest Risk for Systems Integrators/Programmers

Business Insurance Now — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 17:32:55 GMT

When one thinks of risky jobs, a computer programmer is probably not at the top of everyone’s list. It depends on which list you’re looking at, however. From an errors & omissions insurance standpoint, programmers have some of the riskiest jobs in the world. A single error in a line of code could turn into an exploitable flaw allowing hackers & web criminals to have access to private information. The impending lawsuits could mean millions or billions in payouts and damages.

Although the situation I just painted looks fairly grim, the shining light in this muddled mess is proper E&O coverage. Programmers and systems integrators would be foolish to operate without this most basic of coverages. Do yourself a favor and make sure that your business insurance policy is up to date with the most comprehensive errors and omissions insurance coverage.

For more information on protecting your programming business from lawsuit risk, visit the TechInsurance Small Business Center.

TechInsurance Answers to Most Commonly Asked Errors and Omissions Insurance Questions

Business Insurance Now — Tue, 18 May 2010 15:13:01 GMT

Every day, TechInsurance, the nation’s leading online provider of errors and omissions insurance, fields hundreds of questions from IT Project managers who need to know the basics of liability insurance. Some of them are unsure why they need it, others have questions specific to their active policies.

For the first time, TechInsurance has provided a central location where answers to these common questions, and more, can be discovered. Although you can always speak with a qualified insurance agent at TechInsurance, if you are looking for a quick answer to a common professional liability based question, the TechInsurance Small Business Center has you covered.

TechInsurance has been providing the resources that allow IT Project managers, whether they work for a firm or operate as an independent contractor, the tools to succeed at their jobs while remaining worry-free.

Contact TechInsurance today to get a free, no obligation quote on errors and omissions insurance. Our representatives are standing by to answer your questions.

Avoid Lapses in Your Errors and Omissions Insurance Policy

Business Insurance Now — Wed, 12 May 2010 23:44:10 GMT

The best way to avoid lapses in your errors and omissions insurance policies is to know the specific dates that your policy started and the definitive date of when it ends. There may be some nuances that determine whether your policy covers prior events in which case your inception date might be pushed back, but your insurance agent will be able to help you understand that better.

You must also remember to file the claim while the policy is still active. Even if the event occurred while the policy was active, if you let your coverage lapse and then you try to file a claim, in most cases, you will NOT be covered. A supplement to errors & omissions insurance is what is called “tail coverage.” This allows you to still make claims on a policy even if your coverage has lapsed. There are very few circumstances where you will ever want your policy to lapse, but if you do fall into that category, it will be essential that you append tail coverage to your policy. You can generally purchase this addition to last for anywhere between 1 and 5 years – speak to your insurance agent about the specifics.

For more information about avoiding lapses in your errors and omissions insurance policy, please visit the TechInsurance Small Business Center. Here you can find valuable information that will help with operating your small business, hiring contractors, & managing risk.

How Do I Determine Whether a Risk is Insurable or Not?

Business Insurance Now — Mon, 10 May 2010 23:26:28 GMT

In today’s small business insurance environment, not everything that puts your company at risk is insurable. There are many things that your business owner’s policy just won’t cover and it is important to recognize these risks. There is usually a way to cover these risks, but they might fall outside of your existing policy. Often times, an umbrella policy might help to cover some of these outlying risks.

The first step is identifying what your current business insurance policy DOES cover. It is easier to work backwards by obtaining extra coverage for what your current policy doesn’t cover. Did you recently start using outside contractors to help your business get some work done? You might need some extra insurance to help cover you professionally for the work that was performed by the contractor but still presented to your client. There are a handful of other scenarios that I could rattle off, but it will be best to sit down with your insurance agent and discuss your specific coverage.

Sometimes there are certain occurrences that cannot be covered no matter what. It will be important to pay attention to these areas when interacting with clients and conducting every day business at the office. Just because a risk cannot be covered does not mean that the risk cannot be reduced.

Don’t get caught thinking that you are covered for a certain risk when in reality, you aren’t. Avoid surprises and contact your business insurance agent today!