Commercial Insurance and Home-Based Businesses

At West Texas Insurance Agency of Amarillo, TX, we talk to a lot of people who think that their homeowners’ insurance covers their home business. That’s not accurate. Your home-based business still needs commercial insurance.

Homeowners’ insurance covers normal home activity and your liability from it. It does not include business activity or business equipment. You still need to insure it like a conventional company.

You need commercial insurance designed for a home-based business. It provides you with property damage coverage, liability coverage and covers your attorney costs and fees. Other items that this insurance covers for your home-based business include libel or negligence claims and computer hacks or IP theft. While those last two items might not sound like something you need to worry about, hackers actually target small businesses first because they’re least likely to have protected in place.

While your first thought as to why to get it might be covering losses in cases of a fire or a tornado, it’s more common to need the liability coverage. Once you start meeting with people at your home office or have deliveries made to it, you open yourself to liability. If someone falls and hurts themselves, you’re liable for their injuries. Your commercial insurance kicks in to pay for the medical bills of the injured person. If they die due to an injury sustained on your property, it covers the funeral expenses and can cover a court settlement. Trying to pay those types of items out-of-pocket could close your business.

Call or visit West Texas Insurance Agency of Amarillo, TX to learn more about commercial insurance for your home-based business. We can help you find the coverage you need to protect your business and investment.