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The experts at Colling Insurance Services Inc. in Lakewood, CO can answer any of your questions about commercial insurance.
If you have a home office, your home insurance is adequate coverage, right? Not necessarily. If you regularly sell at public events, like art fairs, farmer’s markets, or at flea market do you need commercial insurance? Probably. Here are the reasons why having commercial insurance is important.
Innovative Business Models
Entrepreneurial efforts, especially by the age group of millennials are creating a massive expansion in business efforts that are not tied to a specific location. They may work from home-based offices or from shared workspaces.
Just because the work is done in a virtual way, does not necessarily mean that there is no need for commercial insurance.
Let’s take the example of a small manufacturer that sells products on the Internet and display items at the local flea market or farmer’s market to sell them directly to consumers. The order fulfillment for Internet orders is done in the garage of the home of the business owner and one part-time worker is hired to help out. Having a single worker who is not an owner of the company and is paid wages, triggers the need to have worker’s compensation insurance.
The home-based business could also benefit from having product liability insurance and commercial property insurance to cover the equipment and supplies used in the garage for packing and shipping, plus any inventory stored on the property.
Most home insurance policies have exclusions for business uses of the property, so without commercial insurance, if the house burns down and the entire valuable inventory is lost, the insurance would probably cover the home and the personal property, but not cover the cost of the inventory used for commercial purposes. Every policy is different, so check with your insurance agent to understand the specifics.
Any type of commercial operation, even a very small home-based business can benefit from having commercial insurance. Contact the helpful agents at Colling Insurance Services Inc. in Lakewood, CO, to learn more about commercial insurance for your small business.