Insurance is a means to protect the businesses from unforeseen risks; it provides peace of mind to the business owners. However, choosing adequate insurance cover is crucial to leverage the benefits it offers. This article sheds light on the negative impact of under or over insuring a business and the importance of having adequate insurance cover.
Under-insurance or over-insurance – impact
Besides determining various risks that your business is likely to face, you also need to calculate the amount required to cover the risk to determine adequate cover, failing which you may face the following issues –
• Revenue loss: Under-insurance may cost you dearly. The low premium may initially attract you, but it may lead to revenue losses when the risk arises. If any risk arises and your business is not covered with adequate insurance, it may affect your business financially, as you have paid for an insurance cover that is less than its value and you have to bear with the loss of revenue.
• Business interruption: Being under-insured may lead to business interruption, because, if your business is not covered with adequate insurance, you have to endure losses in case of physical property damage or liability claims. Until you spend some money from your pocket to re-build the business, you may not be able to run your business. Business interruption, thus, halts the revenue you are generating.
• High premium rates: Over-insurance results in paying high premium costs, for a coverage that goes beyond the actual cash value of the risk that was insured by the policy holder. If your business is over-insured, and you are paying high premium, which is actually not required, you will be in a loss.
Adequate insurance and its importance: Incidents such as accidents, natural calamities like storms, etc. can result in interruption/closure of your business. Having adequate insurance coverage is, therefore, very critical to protect your business from such kind of risk. Following are two more benefits of having adequate insurance –
• Smooth business operation: If your business is insured with adequate insurance coverage, you can operate your business smoothly. You need not worrying about the risks that may occur in your premises.
• Resume operations after unexpected events: After an unexpected event at your business premises, you need to rebuild your business to resume operations. At this critical time, having business insurance is very helpful; it will cover the loss incurred. It helps rebuild your business and resume operations.
Determining the insurance cover for your business
Before you purchase insurance for your business, it is important to calculate the total value of assets and costs required to repair/replace them when an unforeseen event happens. For this, take help of tools such as property value calculator, replacement cost estimator, etc. which enable you to determine the coverage required for your business. This way, you can avoid the instances of both under and over insurance.
Take expert advice
After knowing the importance of having adequate insurance for your business, purchasing it on your own can prove risky, as you may miss on a few things. Therefore, it is better to take advice of insurance brokers as they will help you in choosing adequate insurance coverage after looking at all the aspects of the business.
Your business may be thriving well; however it might face difficulties which you cannot foresee. Purchasing insurance that covers all the potential risks to your business adequately is, therefore, a sensible business idea.
