23 Jul Ensuring Business Continuity During Hurricane Season

There are few things worse than realizing that your small business will be closed for the next few months due to storm damage. How will you pay your employees? What will you tell your customers or clients? Not only will you lose business while your building is closed, but there’s always the chance that they may not come back once you reopen. This is the type of situation that sends small businesses, well, out of business.

Thankfully, you can prevent this from happening by having the right insurance policies in place. Both business interruption insurance and hurricane insurance can help. Here’s some helpful information to get you started.

Business Interruption Insurance

While your business insurance policies will cover things like damage to your building or injuries to your clients on your property, they can’t really help you make up for the loss of business in general. This is where business interruption insurance comes in handy. For example, if your small business is hit by a hurricane or other windstorm and your building is damaged, your existing policies may cover the cost of repairs (especially if you have hurricane insurance as explained below.) However, that leaves your company on the hook for things like mortgage payments, employee wages, and even the cost of temporarily relocating your company.

Rather than simply shut down during the repairs and losing business, as well as money and customers, with business interruption insurance you’ll be able to find a new temporary location to operate out of. These insurance policies will also pay for your employees’ wages, giving them one less thing to worry about, and will cover the mortgage or lease payments on the building that’s being repaired. It will give your company the chance to face this adversity and come out on top, still operating as usual.

Hurricane Insurance

Most business owners have a standard suite of insurance policies known as Business Owners Insurance, or BOP. These plans typically include insurance on the company’s building and grounds, as well as liability insurance should something happen to an employee or customer on the company’s grounds. However, building insurance doesn’t always cover everything. Sure, it might pay for a plumbing mishap that floods the warehouse, but what about hurricane damage?

Businesses based in hurricane zones need to ensure that they have the right policies in place to cover the wind and rain damage that comes along with one of these giant storms. The high winds can rip the roof right off of a building, leaving it even more vulnerable to the flooding that comes afterwards. And there’s nothing worse than finding out that your standard insurance policy won’t help, due to the nature of the damage. This is why it’s a good idea for small business owners to carry a hurricane insurance policy.

Are Your Policies Up to Date?

If you think you need to increase the amounts of your business interruption and hurricane insurance policies or look into starting a new policy, then reach out to Spivey Insurance. Our knowledgeable agents can help you research the policies you need to get the peace of mind you deserve.