Boulder Business Insurance
Boulder is a great place to own and operate a company. Businesses in this city generate more than $18 billion in revenue every year and play a major role in Colorado’s overall economic health. If you are among the proud business owners in this bustling city, you can benefit from protecting your investment with the right business insurance products.
Local independent insurance agents make shopping for coverage easy. These agents are available to help you identify your company’s specific risks and can recommend the right insurance products to cover against them. Find an independent insurance agent in Boulder to learn more and to start comparing customized business insurance quotes.
What Kinds of Liability Coverage Can Your Boulder Business Insurance Provide?
We live in a litigious society. If your business ends up on the wrong end of a liability lawsuit, having the right insurance coverage is crucial for protecting your company’s finances. Business liability insurance is designed to absorb expenses like court costs, legal defense fees, and damages if your company is sued for a covered event.
All business insurance policies include, at a minimum, commercial general liability insurance (CGL). It can cover risks such as third-party injuries, illnesses, and damage, whether they are caused by an accident on your business property (premises liability insurance) or because of a defect in a product your company produces, sells, or promotes (product liability insurance).
Most companies have liability risks that go well beyond what a basic CGL policy can cover. An independent insurance agent can help you identify your business’s other liability exposures and can recommend the right liability coverage products to protect against them. Examples of some of the many commercial liability insurance policies available to you include:
- Employment practices liability insurance: This covers businesses against accusations of illegal business practices such as discrimination, harassment, and wrongful termination.
- Cyber liability insurance: This covers businesses that electronically store customer data in the event that hackers break into their computer systems and steal sensitive data like credit card numbers and personal information. This insurance can pay for resultant damage and provide restitution to those who were affected.
- Environmental liability insurance: This covers business that use or produce toxic substances. It can pay for clean-up costs and damage if an accident or disaster leads to these substances polluting the land, air or water.
- Liquor liability insurance: This covers businesses that sell or serve alcoholic beverages. It is necessary because if an intoxicated patron causes property damage or injuries to another, the business that furnished the alcohol may be named in a liability lawsuit.
Talk to your insurance agent to learn more about these and other liability products that may be a good fit for your Boulder business.
How Important Is Commercial Property Insurance in Boulder?
All business insurance policies also provide commercial property insurance. This is designed cover the cost of repairing or replacing your company’s property if it is damaged or destroyed by a covered event. This insurance can cover business assets, including merchandise, tools, machinery, computers, furniture, and more.
Businesses in Boulder are most likely to experience property damage caused by severe weather events like tornadoes, windstorms, heavy snows, and freezing temperatures. Fortunately, these hazards are covered by your commercial property insurance. Damage caused by accidental fires and wildfires is also covered.
There are some hazards that commercial property insurance will not cover. These include floods and landslides, neither of which is uncommon in Boulder. Fortunately, you can purchase supplementary policies to protect against each of these hazards if your business is at risk.
Your local insurance agent can help you determine whether these or any additional supplemental policies, such as inland marine insurance or boiler & machinery insurance, are necessary in order for all of your business property to be fully covered.
Why Purchase Business Interruption Insurance?
Damage to your business-owned property isn’t the only expensive risk your business faces during a catastrophic event. Major damage caused by disasters like fires and tornadoes can potentially cause your business to remain closed for several weeks while repairs are made.
Without an ongoing stream of revenue, many small businesses would be forced into bankruptcy. Business interruption insurance protects against this risk. It provides a continuation of income when your company is forced to temporarily close because of damage caused by a covered event.
When your company is covered by business interruption insurance, you can afford to continue to pay regular expenses like loan payments and employee salaries until your business can once again resume normal operations.
Do All Boulder Businesses Need Workers’ Compensation Insurance?
If you have employees in Colorado, you are required by law to carry workers’ compensation insurance. Exceptions are made for sole proprietors, corporate partners, LLC members, independent contractors, domestic servants, and real estate agents.
Workers’ compensation insurance is designed to cover medical treatment, lost wages, and other related expenses if your workers are hurt or suffer an occupational illness due to exposure to toxic substances in the workplace. This insurance can also pay out survivor benefits to family members in the unfortunate event that a workplace injury proves fatal.
Costs for workers’ compensation insurance are based primarily on the types of jobs your workers do. The more dangerous the job, the higher the cost for coverage. It costs much more to insure a tree trimmer than to cover a cashier in a grocery store.
An independent insurance agent can help you compare rates from a variety of reliable insurance companies that specialize in covering businesses likes yours.
What about Purchasing Insurance Benefits for Your Employees?
There is no way around it, healthcare coverage is expensive. However, subsidizing it for your employees can have money-saving benefits. Studies by human resource experts have shown that workers who have health insurance tend to use fewer sick days. Also, offering an attractive benefits package helps businesses recruit and retain the best employees.
- Annual amount spent on healthcare coverage by CO businesses: $858,947,000
- Ranked 24th for highest medical insurance costs in the US
- Average annual cost of health care in CO: $5,396/person or $16,636/family
If you are looking for health insurance and life insurance products to include in your employee benefits package, you will find that there are many different policy types and options available for your consideration. You may find it beneficial to have the guidance and advice of an experienced insurance professional when you are deciding which make the best choices.
Talk to a local independent insurance agent for help when you are shopping for employee benefits insurance products.
Why Work with an Independent Insurance Agent in Boulder, CO?
Businesses vary in their coverage needs. The risks at a restaurant are very different from those at a manufacturing plant. That is why there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all business insurance plan. With a wide variety of products and options at their disposal, business owners can fully customize their company’s insurance coverage portfolio.
Independent insurance agents can help you choose the right policies and options to meet your company’s specific coverage needs. Because they do not work for a particular insurance company, these agents can shop around to find the best business insurance policies at the most competitive prices. Contact an independent insurance agent in Boulder to get started.
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts
https://www.fema.gov/disasters
http://www.naic.org/prod_serv/AUT-PB-14.pdf
https://www.nfib.com/content/legal-compliance/legal/workers-compensation-laws-state-by-state-comparison-57181
https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/benefits/pages/alter-benefits-attract-retain.aspx
https://www.business.org/hr/benefits/top-reasons-to-offer-employee-benefits
http://www.city-data.com