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Consult with us to review your current business insurance program. Gates Insurance has relationships with multiple, top-rated insurance companies so whether your business needs a basic Business Owners Policy (BOP) or a more complex program including commercial property, general liability, business auto, or specialty insurance protection, we can simplify the process for you. We help businesses recognize what they have at risk, and propose effective, economical programs to manage that risk.
Commercial property coverage pays for direct physical loss or damage to your building, fixtures, permanently installed equipment and machinery and your personal property used to maintain and service the building. It also covers business personal property, items used by the business for the production of goods or services.
As a business owner, you need the same kind of insurance coverage for the vehicle you use in your business as you do for a car used for personal travel — liability, collision and comprehensive, medical payments (known as personal injury protection in some states) and coverage for uninsured/underinsured motorists. In fact, many business people use the same vehicle for both business and pleasure. If the vehicle is owned by the business, make sure the name of the business appears on the policy as the “principal insured” rather than your name. This will avoid possible confusion in the event that you need to file a claim or a claim is filed against you.
Whether you need to buy a business auto insurance policy will depend on the kind of driving you do. At Gates Insurance, we will ask you many details about how you use vehicles in your business, who will be driving them and whether employees, if any, are likely to be driving their own cars for business use.
While the major types coverage are the same, a business auto policy differs from a personal auto policy in many technical respects. Please ask one of our agents at Gates Insurance to explain all the differences and options.
If you have a personal umbrella liability policy, there’s generally an exclusion for business-related liability. Make sure you have sufficient auto liability coverage.
Unfortunately for every business owner, the chances of getting sued have dramatically increased in the last decade. General Liability insurance can prevent a legal suit from turning into a financial disaster by providing financial protection in case your business is ever sued or held legally responsible for some injury or damage.
General Liability pays losses arising from real or alleged bodily injury, property damage, or personal injury on your business premises or arising from your operations. Most of our liability programs extend far beyond the provisions of typical policies, with broadened coverage and increased limits over multiple areas.
Employers have a legal responsibility to their employees to make the workplace safe. However, accidents happen even when every reasonable safety measure has been taken.
To protect employers from lawsuits resulting from workplace accidents and to provide medical care and compensation for lost income to employees hurt in workplace accidents, in almost every state, businesses are required to buy workers compensation insurance. Workers compensation insurance covers workers injured on the job, whether they’re hurt on the workplace premises or elsewhere, or in auto accidents while on business. It also covers work-related illnesses.
Workers compensation provides payments to injured workers, without regard to who was at fault in the accident, for time lost from work and for medical and rehabilitation services. It also provides death benefits to surviving spouses and dependents.
Each state has different laws governing the amount and duration of lost income benefits, the provision of medical and rehabilitation services and how the system is administered. For example, in most states there are regulations that cover whether the worker or employer can choose the doctor who treats the injuries and how disputes about benefits are resolved.
In Indiana, if you have employees, you are required to carry Workers Compensation coverage. Even in non-mandatory states, it is a good idea to carry Workers Compensation, particularly if you have many employees, or if they are engaged in hazardous activities.
Workers compensation insurance must be bought as a separate policy. Although in-home business and business owner’s policies (BOPs) are sold as package policies, they don’t include coverage for workers’ injuries.
