home Based Business - Have the Right Insurance

SEPTEMBER 11, 2017

Operating a Business from Home: Make Sure You Have the Right Insurance

By Novelda L. Sommers, Marketing Content Manager, The Long & Foster Companies.

It could happen in a heartbeat – a client slips and falls on your property, a hacker figures out how to steal your customers’ data, or any number of other possible hazards – and suddenly your home-based business could be in real trouble if you don’t have the right insurance.

Homeowners insurance doesn’t cover all of the risks associated with doing business from home. There are policies that specifically cover incidents that might come up related to your business.

An insurance agent can help you determine your exact needs. The experts at Long & Foster Insurance recommend that home-based business owners have a commercial insurance policy in place to ensure they are properly covered.

These are among the types of policies an agent might recommend, depending on your business’s situation:

• Business property coverage: It covers property used in business operations.
• Business income coverage: This provides coverage for the loss of income a business suffers after direct damage of the covered property.
• General liability: These are policies for damages that you could become legally obligated to pay due to bodily injury, property damage or personal and advertising injury that occurs on your business’ premises, operations, completed operations and products.
• Electronic data processing: A policy would cover loss of electronic data processing equipment and media that’s owned, leased or used by the homeowner.
• Goods in transit: This covers product that is either owned by the insured or the insured’s customer while it is being transported.
• Valuable papers and records: A policy would cover loss of paper and records which have no duplicates.

Another type of coverage that is becoming more popular is cyber insurance, covering risks having to do with vulnerabilities that come with being online. One example of that is data breach coverage. If a home-business owner stores payment information, social security numbers, etc., and that data is compromised – depending on what type of policy you have – a policy might cover the cost of mailing notifications to customers that were affected, public relations expenses and credit monitoring services, among many other coverages. It might also cover defense and settlement costs if the business is sued by someone who was impacted by the breach.

The U.S. Small Business Administration offers a free online guide to choosing insurance for your business. A Long & Foster Insurance agent can also help evaluate your needs and select a plan that will keep your business safe and sound.