Insurance for your Home Office
By USInsurance.com Staff
You work from home, you lucky, lucky soul. Although you may be sitting pretty conducting business in your PJs, home-based business insurance is often overlooked or homeowners assume that they are covered under their homeowners insurance policy. However, this certainly not the case as “nearly 60 percent of home-based business owners not insured,” according to The Independent Insurance Agents of America. This is not something to take lightly as anything can happen in your home office, including accidents, damages, theft, or a lawsuit. The good news is there an insurance policy specific your business needs whose plans vary based on the services you provide.
1. General Liability Insurance: If a client happens to visit your home office and falls or slips, your homeowners insurance will not cover it. This type of insurance will protect you a lawsuit is pursued against you, which depending on the case may result in customers going after your personal belongings (computer, phone, fax machine) that you use for your office.
2. Business Property Insurance: This type of insurance protects you against any damages or loss to items used in your business such as if a computer is destroyed in a fire.
3. Product Liability Insurance: This will protect you if have a home business that sells products.With this insurance you are protected if a customer comes back to you stating that the product did not state what it claims to do.
4. Professional Liability Insurance: Also called Errors and Omissions insurance, this coverage should be taken out if business owners provide a service such as giving advice or therapy. If a customer states that they suffered damages from your services—whether it is physical or mental—this insurance will protect your personal assets, libel or slander, as well as covering your defense or harm to other employees.
5. Malpractice Insurance: This insurance protects you from damages caused by a treatment that goes wrong. For example: medical-professionals such as dentists, doctors, therapists, hairdressers and dog groomers.
6. Business Interruption Insurance: If you home gets ruined in a fire or another unforeseen incident, you will need business interruption insurance. Since you can’t work in your home office, this coverage will enable you to receive earnings when your business reopens or up to12 months.
7. Business Auto Insurance: Different than auto insurance policy, business auto protects your car if you use it to make deliveries, drop-off products, go to customer’s homes, or in any other way in which you use your car for business.
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