Business Insurance Tips
- Install a monitored burglar and/or fire alarm. Some insurance companies offer a credit for this extra protection.
- Whether you are buying or leasing space, find out construction details of the building such as the construction type, age of the roof, electrical and plumbing. This affects the insurance premium even if you’re just insuring contents inside your space.
- Install a safety program. We’ll even help you do this and you’ll receive a credit on your workers’ compensation policy.
- Business auto - consider a safe driving program. We can help with this.
- Business auto - check a prospective employee’s driving record before you hire them or put them behind the wheel of one of your company owned vehicles. Poor driving history will increase your auto premium. We can help with this.
- Consider a disaster recovery plan. The Southeast US knows hurricanes too well. Closing a business due to a catastrophe has severe financial impacts. Mitigate your loss through insurance and a plan to get your operations running again.
- Protect your business from cyber hackers and scammers. Not only is there insurance for this, but having security protocols (malware, authentication software) in place could prevent someone from draining your bank account.
- Verify your vendors, tenants or sub-contractors have their own insurance. You don’t want to pay for something that isn’t your fault.
- Check your business frequently for hazards that could cause slips, trips, and falls. These are common and costly claims.
Personal Insurance Tips
- Check your homeowner’s policy to see if it extends to libel on social media. Some policies go beyond insuring liability inside the home.
- Protect yourself against uninsured drivers. The chances of being hit by uninsured or underinsured drivers are significant.
- Contact your agent before renovating your home. This could impact coverage under your homeowner’s policy.
- Personal auto - The state required limits aren’t enough to protect yourself and pay for damages to others (i.e. fender bender with an expensive car).
- Conduct a financial assessment. If you find your liability limits on your policies are lower than your net worth, it might be time to increase your limits.
- Protect your property after damage. Most insurance companies require that you prevent further loss to damaged property (i.e. put a tarp on your damaged roof). Keep your receipts and hand them over to the loss adjuster.
- Have a dog? Check your policy for animal liability.
- Construction matters - Generally, block homes are cheaper to insure than frame homes. Older homes with newer roofs, electrical and plumbing make a world of difference when it comes to your insurance premium.
- Are you a collector (i.e. jewelry, coins, wine, art)? Your homeowner’s policy could have limited coverage. This needs to be on a different policy.
