Should You Do a Business Insurance Review?

Does your business have an insurance policy up for renewal? If so, that’s the perfect time to conduct a business insurance review and make sure that you’re getting the best coverage and the best price. Just putting your insurance on automatic renewal may seem a lot easier, but a lot can change since you purchased your business insurance protection, or even a year ago.

It’s essential to take a fresh look at your policies and ensure that they still meet your business’s needs. To help guide you through your review, we’ve created this business review checklist for you to download.

Don’t wait, get started early

A business insurance review is important and shouldn’t be done hastily. Therefore, business owners should start the process early. It’s recommended that you give yourself a minimum of 2 weeks, but it’s best to get started thirty to forty-five days prior to your renewal. This provides you and your insurance agent enough time to collect information if the insurance carrier requires an underwriting review, or to assess any new coverage gaps that were introduced since your last renewal.

Things to consider when conducting a business insurance review

As you assess the changes in your business and if there are any new areas of risk for you to consider protection, you’ll want to focus your attention on these five general areas. As you evaluate each of these things, you will certainly come up with some questions or assurances.

1 ) Have there been any changes in your business?

Have you expanded your business or made any changes to the products or services you offer? Changing products or services can often create reasons to review your general liability or professional liability coverage. Have you hired more employees or made changes to your operations? This may create the need to review your workers’ compensation insurance or if you make want to add or change your EPLI protection.

Basically, any changes in your business can affect your insurance needs, so it’s important to make sure that these changes to make sure you don’t need to update your protection.

2 ) Are there any changes in the business’s property?

Another important area to focus your busines insurance review is on your business owned property. Have you made any improvements to your building, location, or equipment? Have you added any new business personal property or equipment? If so, you may need to adjust your commercial property insurance to reflect the any changes in value.

3 ) Has the business increased its risk exposure?

During a business insurance review you may identify new risks to the business. For example, if you’re offering new products or services, you may face new liability risks. If you’ve started selling online, you may need cyber liability coverage. Take the time to identify any new risks and make sure that your policies provide adequate coverage.

4 ) Insurance product change over time?

Insurance products and coverage options can change from year to year. In a business insurance review you’ll have the opportunity to compare business insurance options to make sure your current coverage remains the best option. Maybe there’s something new that wasn’t available last year. It’s important to review your policies to make sure there aren’t any new products or coverage options that could better meet your needs.

5 )Do you need to consider new regulations or contract?

Are there any new regulations that could affect your business? What about any new contracts you’re negotiating, will they require new insurance protections? For example, if you operate in a highly regulated industry, there may be new requirements for insurance coverage. Or, if you’re negating a contract with a new client, they may require cyber insurance to protect any shared client data. Make sure that your current policies meet any new regulatory requirements or upcoming contractual demands.

The bottom line

By conducting a business insurance review at policy renewal, you can make sure that your insurance protection continues to provide your business the coverage it needs. Don’t just renew your policies without taking a fresh look at your coverage – it could end up costing you in the long run if you’re underinsured or have gaps in your coverage.

So, small business owners, need to take the time to work with then insurance agent to review coverage prior to renewal. By doing so, you can ensure that your policies meet your current needs and protect your business from risks. If you don’t have an agent, contact us, a business specialist can help. If you want, you can start a quote online, and we’ll reach out to setup an appointment.