Most people don't consider getting business insurance when they
work out of their homes. For many home businesses, it may not be
necessary. This article will help you decide if you need
additional insurance coverage for your home business.
Insurance helps protect your business against losses from fire,
illness, and injury. You should not operate without it. If you
are running your business out of your home, your homeowners
insurance will probably protect you against most accidental
losses.
Check with your insurance carrier to make sure that your
coverage includes business use of your home. If not, you should
add the insurance you need to your existing policy. You may need
to add additional coverage to include Product Liability. The
purpose of Product liability insurance is to protect you in the
event your product causes injury to the consumer. While you may
or may not think this is necessary, you would be better safe
than sorry if a consumer sued you because your product injured
them.
Disability Insurance is a kind of health insurance that will
protect you, should you become disabled and unable to work,
provide for your family and meet your financial responsibilities.
Auto Insurance may be necessary if your personal car is used in
your business. Most (if not all) states require that an
individual must have auto insurance in order to operate a motor
vehicle. Getting caught without it usually results in a traffic
ticket and some pretty stiff fines.
Medical Payments Insurance is necessary if someone is injured in
your home whether or not it was your fault Most homeowners
policies include this as a standard portion of the policy, but
check with your agent just to be sure you are adequately covered.
Worker's Compensation Insurance will probably not be necessary
if you are working out of your home, however, if you have
employees it is a requirement in order to protect you, the
businessperson, as well as the employee from losses due to
accidents on the job.
Business Interruption Insurance is not something we want to
consider, however, it is an extra protection you might wish to
add to your policy. In effect, if your business is damaged by
fire or circumstances beyond your control prevents you from
operating your business and you must totally or partially
suspend operations, this insurance will help protect you from
total losses while you rebuild your business.
Keep all your insurance records and policies in a safe place. A
bank safe deposit box or home safe is ideal.
Although we don't like to think about the unpleasant "what if's"
in life, it is often better to be prepared than to face the
unnecessary expense of loss. Insurance can help protect your
home business if you take the time to evaluate your business
insurance needs.
About the author:
Kim Haas is a WAHM and Founder of
http://Womans-Net.com, a
popular online networking community focusing on working from
home and women in business and Owner of
http://Article-Host.com.
To learn more about Kim, visit
http://kimberlyhaas.com Copyright
2005
