Business Interruption Insurance
You know how your business works, but do you know how your business insurance works? A business owner’s policy covers buildings (outdoor fixtures, building glass, permanently installed equipment and machinery, and personal property you own and use for maintenance or service to the building); auxiliary buildings (storage buildings, garages, and structures such as fountains, pools, and detached canopies); business personal property (computers); and leased business personal property you have a contractual responsibility to insure (copy machines).
Most people wouldn’t open a business without insurance for fire or windstorms, but many fail to think about how they’d manage if a disaster rendered their business premises temporarily unusable. Business interruption, also called business income, isn’t a separate policy. It’s included in the business owner’s package policy or can be added to a business key policy as an endorsement.
This additional coverage provides up to 12 consecutive months for loss of business earnings or loss of rental income due to the necessary suspension of your operations during the period of restoration. Coverage begins 72 hours after the time a covered direct physical loss occurs to your property at your premises—this waiting period can be removed with an increase in your premium cost. This insurance includes up to 60 days of coverage for ordinary payroll expenses and up to 30 days of extended business income starting from the date operations resume—needed when you’ve resumed business, but are not operating at full capacity.
Extra expense coverage is provided for up to 12 consecutive months after the date of loss for extra expenses you incur during the period of restoration that you wouldn’t have incurred if there’d been no loss. For example, while its primary location is being rebuilt after a fire, a mailing service operates out of another location for an additional cost.
This information about coverage is common to the policy I sell; call your agent to find out exactly how well you’re protected and what coverage gaps need to be addressed. You should also prepare a comprehensive business continuity plan and store back ups of important files and records at a second location. TPW
Most people wouldn’t open a business without insurance for fire or windstorms, but many fail to think about how they’d manage if a disaster rendered their business premises temporarily unusable. Business interruption, also called business income, isn’t a separate policy. It’s included in the business owner’s package policy or can be added to a business key policy as an endorsement.
This additional coverage provides up to 12 consecutive months for loss of business earnings or loss of rental income due to the necessary suspension of your operations during the period of restoration. Coverage begins 72 hours after the time a covered direct physical loss occurs to your property at your premises—this waiting period can be removed with an increase in your premium cost. This insurance includes up to 60 days of coverage for ordinary payroll expenses and up to 30 days of extended business income starting from the date operations resume—needed when you’ve resumed business, but are not operating at full capacity.
Extra expense coverage is provided for up to 12 consecutive months after the date of loss for extra expenses you incur during the period of restoration that you wouldn’t have incurred if there’d been no loss. For example, while its primary location is being rebuilt after a fire, a mailing service operates out of another location for an additional cost.
This information about coverage is common to the policy I sell; call your agent to find out exactly how well you’re protected and what coverage gaps need to be addressed. You should also prepare a comprehensive business continuity plan and store back ups of important files and records at a second location. TPW