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Business Interruption Coverage

Posted on by @maria

Don’t suffer a total loss if your business is forced to close temporarily

A core element to your business owners policy (BOP) is Business Interruption Insurance, or also known as business income insurance. This policy helps you pay bills, replace lost income and cover payroll in the event your business is forced to close temporarily.

Calculating how much business interruption insurance coverage you will need is based on several factors. Not only considering the “worst-case” scenario, such as a fire or total building loss, consider calculating loss of profits and costs to rebuild or relocate. Other things to consider include:
  • How much your business would’ve grown in that time
  • Costs to move or relocate
  • Inventory replacement
  • Costs associated with being in a temporary location, signage, advertising, communication
  • Costs to keep your employees during a downtime or transition
Determining how much coverage you will need is important and what you need covered. Coverage can include:
  • Loss of profits
  • Mortgage or rent replacement
  • Cost of utilities, taxes and advertising
  • Payroll expenses
  • Relocation fees

Business interruption insurance works along side your commercial property insurance providing more than just physical damage coverage. 

Fire isn’t the only “worst-case” scenario, in Texas we are subject to winds, flooding, tornados, vandalism and more. 

It is important you review your policy every year, that you are always covered to the limits you need to keep your business up and running. The professionals at MMIS are ready to help.

How to secure valuable property at home or while traveling

Posted on by @maria

Having homeowners insurance may not be enough to cover items that have a higher value in the case of robbery, loss or damage. It is important that you consider Scheduled Property Coverage if you have concern. Scheduled property coverage is a supplemental insurance policy that extends coverage beyond the standard protection provided in your homeowners’ policy. By adding a scheduled personal property policy, you can ensure the full-value coverage of valuable items, in the event of a claim.

What type of property should I consider?

If you have any of the following property worth more than $1,000 you should consider a scheduled personal property policy:

  • Artwork and paintings
  • Jewelry
  • Furs
  • Silverware
  • Sports equipment
  • Sports memorabilia

How does scheduled property coverage work?

Since replacement costs of a standard homeowners’ policy don’t take into account the value of these items, the replacement value must be established by a third party appraiser. Once a value is agreed upon, the property is covered at an agreed loss settlement cost. 

What does coverage cost?

Coverage costs are based on the items covered and can vary person to person. However the benefits are awesome, with a Nationwide policy you can have world-wide coverage with zero deductible. That means if your traveling and lose your wedding ring your coverage is in place to replace it. For more information contact Mindi McKinley Insurance Services today and we can help you evaluate if this type of policy will be right for you.

Securing your business with Workers’ Compensation coverage

Posted on by @maria

By now you know, Workers’ Compensation is a form of insurance that provides wage replacement and medical benefits to employees that are injured at work, in exchange for the employee’s right to sue for negligence… but did you know Workers Compensation insurance may also help with:

  • An employee who is injured in an auto accident while running errands on behalf of the employer
  • Can help pay for an injured employee’s medical treatment
  • Replace part of an employee’s lost wages if a job-related injury requires time off work
  • Protect your business and assets
  • Most importantly, Workers Compensation can protect the employees of your business.

Your home loves you. Keep it safe.

Posted on by @maria

Your home loves you. Keep it safe.

You should review your policy annually if any of the following changes have occurred. Major life changes can significantly affect your policy.

  • You’ve married or divorced
  • Had a child or adopted
  • Have a live-in in-law
  • Refinanced your home
  • You’ve upgraded appliances
  • You built a swimming pool
  • Or you’ve come into an inheritance

Basic Homeowners Insurance Coverages

​Your Home

Most importantly…protect your home’s structure, built-in appliances or wall-to-wall carpeting from damage.

Your Belongings

Cover your personal property not attached to or built into your home like furniture, jewelry, camera equipment and clothing.

Personal Liability

Protect yourself from an accident that occurs in your home. Damages to someone or something can be covered by a personal liability policy.

​Medical Coverage

Your policy can help pay for medical or funeral expenses if someone is injured on your property.

Other Structures

Covers additional structures not attached to your house, such as a shed, fence, barn, detached garage or gazebo.

Credit Card Coverage

Pays up to your selected limit for unauthorized transactions on your credit cards and bank debit/ATM card. Also applies to forged checks and counterfeit money.

Employee Benefits Liability

Posted on by @maria

Don’t let a mistake cost you and your business!

As employers we need to protect our employees and ourselves throughout the entire employment process.

Employee Benefits Liability insurance provides coverage to the employer in the case of errors or omissions in your administration of an employee’s benefit program.

For example, if a new employee requests medical insurance and the employer fails to add the new employee to the plan, then the health insurance company later denies coverage for the employee’s medical claim…the Employee Benefits Liability coverage would pay for the benefits that would have been payable under the health insurance plan but for the employer’s error.

This coverage applies to a wide range of employee benefits including health, life and disability insurance, retirement plans, and other benefits offered through plans administered by the employer.

Garage Keepers Insurance

Posted on by @maria

It’s 3am… Thieves manage to break into your shop and damage several vehicles under your control.

Even with a disclaimer or hold harmless agreement, you will likely have to pay to get them fixed potentially costing you thousands of dollars, unwanted headaches, and lost productivity.

There are a number of things that can go wrong with vehicles under the care and supervision of auto dealerships, repair shops, and garages. Taking measures to avoid exposures and claims will help to strengthen your reputation, trust in your company, and its overall bottom line.

If your company deals with attending, servicing, repairing, parking or storing customer’s vehicle, obtaining a GARAGE KEEPERS LIABILITY insurance is a must to safeguard the financial interest of your business.

This policy can cover work three ways:

  1. Legal Liability. The most common protection applies to a customer’s vehicle damaged due to the insured’s negligence – such as the mechanic wrecked the customer’s car while test driving it or the customer’s vehicle was left unlocked and unattended after hours.
  2. Direct Primary. Coverage of the customer’s vehicles regardless of liability. Loss caused by no action of the insured such as a weather or theft.
  3. Direct Excess. This is the rarest option, although it’s the best. This affords protection to the insured for the loss to a customer’s vehicle regardless of liability.

Protect your business and your employees

Posted on by @maria

Employment Practices Liability

Hiring the right people can be an arduous task, so it’s important to protect them and your own company from claims based on employment.

Employment practices liability insurance (EPLI) provides coverage to employers against claims made by employees, including the following:

  • Discrimination based on sex, race, age or disability
  • Wrongful termination
  • Harassment in the workplace
  • Employment-related issues, such as failure to promote etc.

Small or new businesses often are the most vulnerable to employment claims, mainly because they lack a legal structure or an employee handbook outlining policies and procedures that direct hiring, discipline and termination of employees.

Helpful Tips

  • Review potential loss exposures with your insurance agent
  • Develop an employee handbook
  • Create a job description for each position that clearly defines expectations
  • Conduct periodic performance reviews of employees
  • Develop a screening and hiring program to weed
  • Use an employment application that contains an equal employment opportunity statement
  • Institute a zero-tolerance policy
  • Create an effective record-keeping system

The Truth about Cyber Crime

Posted on by @maria

We’ve all heard stories about hackers, viruses, and evil Internet trolls that sneak into our computer systems late at night to make off with customer data, credit card numbers, or personal information.

If you’re like most small business owners, you probably don’t know a great deal about cyber crime or how to prevent it, and who could blame you? Cyber security is a complex and rapidly evolving industry, and staying up to date requires daily effort.

What you should know, however, is that this makes you the perfect target.

The Numbers

A recent report from virus protection giant Symantec reveals that 43% of online attacks are targeted at small business. McAfee, another anti-virus software company, has shown that more than 780,000 records are lost to hackers on a daily basis.

Cyber criminals rake in nearly $1.5 trillion per year plying their trade, and small businesses that lack security represent almost half of this revenue. Many small businesses don’t even know they’ve been hit until far too late, with criminals sometimes lurking in the host network for months before being discovered.

And all of this doesn’t even address the issues your enterprise will face due to a loss of credibility or consumer confidence in the wake of a cyber attack. According to Symantec, most small businesses hit by a data breach are out of business within six months.

What Can You Do?

You might be surprised to learn that safeguarding yourself against cyber crime has become significantly easier in the last few years, so much so that many insurance firms are now issuing Cyber Liability policies to provide enterprises with real and lasting protection against a data breach.

It’s important to remember that cyber liability is a specific form of coverage, and will not be included in a standard general liability policy. 

Any good cyber liability plan will cover

  • Legal fees and expenses from litigation
  • Costs of customer notification in the event of a breach
  • Identity repair or restoration costs for those affected by a breach
  • Recovery costs associated with finding and reclaiming stolen data
  • Repair or replacement costs for damaged hardware or software systems
  • Take Data Security Seriously

You’ve spent a great deal of time and effort building your business, and the sad truth is that it might only take a few keystrokes from a hacker to eradicate all your hard work.

All the statistics show that things are going to get worse before they get better, but affordable, effective protection exists. Our advice? Look into a cyber plan now, and save yourself the heartache of wishing you had.

Sources

  • Attackers Target Both Large and Small Businesses
  • Economic Impact of Cybercrime— No Slowing Down

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