3 Types of Insurance Your Business May Not Need

Let’s face it; insurance agents aren’t normally in the business to tell you what types of a commercial insurance policy you don’t need.  In fact, many of our clients tell us that they often felt uncomfortable talking with former agents for fear they’d over sell them on coverage.

At Cleary Insurance, we’re all about risk management: determining where your risks are, and how to best mitigate them through several methods, one of which is carrying insurance.

So in this spirit, we’ve taken a look at some coverages that you should examine closely before jumping in. And if you ever need advice, just give us a call.

Cyber Liability Insurance

In the digital age, information has never been so accessible—and vulnerable. Online hackers threaten many businesses and companies, and Cyber Liability Insurance may provide protection against these types of attacks.

Heinan Landa, a contributing writer for the Boston Business Journal, highlights some alarming facts in one of his articles:

“According to the National Cyber Security Alliance, one-in five-small businesses falls victim to cybercrime each year, and of those businesses 60-percent will fold within six months of an attack.”

This threat and its detrimental effects are formidable, and certain precautions should definitely be pursued. However, is the danger sizeable enough to necessitate the investment of an entirely new insurance policy?

It all depends on the type of business in question (and the exact nature of information stored). For instance, if a business handles sensitive and private information, then owners might consider one of these cyber liability coverages.

On the other hand, consider if your existing insurance can be formatted to cover your needs. If you do not handle customer data, then your Errors and Omissions policy may cover certain company claims.

It is crucial to double check obtained insurances to verify if further coverage is truly required. And as always, it is imperative to remain proactive: invest in secure servers, establish standard processes for passwords and file sharing, and educate employees about cyber-safety.

Employee Dishonesty Insurance

As much as business owners like to trust their employees, there’s always the chance of theft or other crimes. Employee Dishonesty Insurance serves to support owners against such occurrences.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce provides some startling statistics on crime resulting from employee dishonesty:

“The median loss is around $140,000, and small businesses, those with less than 500 employees, suffer as much as $100,000 more in losses than larger companies. Employers only discover these losses an average of 10 percent of the time, and the losses that are discovered result in the employer regrouping nothing more than 40 percent of the time.”

It’s no wonder why small businesses in particular see a need for this type of insurance.

However, employee dishonesty is not offered in most commercial insurance policies and would be considered a secondary coverage. It’s all up to the owner; are there already measures put in place to monitor the activity of employees? Does the size of the business necessitate this extra insurance? If you are at all unsure, don’t hesitate to contact a Cleary agent to discuss the matter further.

Product Liability Insurance and other Industry-Specific Policies

Business owners who do not require Product Liability Insurance can easily avoid it. Product Liability Insurance applies to businesses that make, distribute, or sell a product, protecting you from any losses related to a product defect. Therefore, if an owner’s business does not function in this way, there’s no need to invest in this type of insurance.

There are other industry-specific policies that could be thrown in front of you, but easily avoided, such as Boiler and Machinery, Commercial Auto, and so on. It may seem simple enough, but contact one of our representatives if you feel like you’re signed up for more than you need.