Plant Nursery Insurance

From beautiful flowers to the sweet, earthy smell of soil, there’s a lot to enjoy about running a plant nursery. Your customers are counting on you for their garden needs, and you’re counting on their business. Small business insurance can go a long way in helping you keep your nursery's doors open through frost, fire, hail, and more.

If disaster strikes, plant nursery insurance is there to help you reopen faster. Fortunately, an independent insurance agent in your area can help you find the best policy. First, though, here’s everything retail plant business owners need to know about plant nursery insurance.

What Is Plant Nursery Insurance?

Plant nursery insurance is just a special type of business insurance. It's essentially a convenient package of coverages that are tailored to meet the various needs of plant nurseries and their possible exposures. These policies consider possible liability issues, property damage, crime, and other factors that could arise and lead to financial losses.

What Does Plant Nursery Insurance Cover?

The type of coverage your plant nursery needs depends on your specific business's operations and more. But in general, you can expect to choose from the following types of coverage to complete your plant nursery insurance policy:

• Commercial property insurance: This covers your business's property, including its buildings, equipment, and inventory, against numerous possible hazards like fire damage and vandalism. 
• Commercial general liability insurance: This covers lawsuit expenses related to third-party claims of bodily injury or personal property damage caused by your business.
• Commercial vehicle insurance: This covers any company vehicles that you use to make flower deliveries or for other business purposes against possible incidents like accidents, lawsuits, theft, and more.
• Business interruption insurance: This covers a loss of income and can continue employee payroll during temporary business shutdowns due to listed perils like fire damage.
• Workers' compensation: This covers expenses related to medical treatments, lost wages, and more in cases of employee injury or illness caused by the job or work environment.
• Cyber liability insurance: This covers losses related to incidents of data breach or cyber-attacks that may expose, sell, or distribute private or sensitive data such as customer credit card numbers.
• Inland marine insurance: This covers equipment and inventory while it's in transit against many types of disasters, including theft.
• Commercial umbrella insurance: This covers excess liability by extending the coverage of existing policies like commercial vehicle liability insurance or general liability insurance to limits of $1 million or greater, which can be helpful in case of a large lawsuit.

An independent insurance agent can help you choose the right kind of insurance on plant nursery stock and other types of coverage necessary to complete your business's policy.

Additional Types of Plant Nursery Insurance Coverage to Consider

Your plant nursery insurance policy may not yet be complete. Your independent insurance agent may suggest you consider adding the following types of protection to your policy:

• Environmental liability coverage: Covers legal damages if your business’s fertilizers or other potentially hazardous materials leach into the environment. 
• Processor’s floater or bailee’s insurance: A processor’s floater and bailee’s insurance are two different types of coverage that protect your customers’ items while you’re storing them. If you run a pre-order program for your customers, and a fire or other disaster destroys their plants, these types of insurance coverage can pay to refund your customers.
• Peak season endorsement: Plant nurseries are typically seasonal businesses, experiencing their highest volume of business in spring and summer. Peak season endorsements allow you to increase your insurance coverage during peak seasons without having to pay higher premiums year-round. A peak season endorsement can be added to your commercial property insurance.

Ask your agent to review your existing plant nursery insurance policy with you to determine if any additional types of coverage could be beneficial to your business.

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How Much Does Plant Nursery Insurance Cost?

The cost of any form of business insurance can depend on the value of your business's equipment and inventory and the unique risks faced. Factors that can affect the cost of retail plant nursery insurance include:

• Your business's location
• The value of your business's inventory and equipment
• How many company vehicles you own
• Any services you provide to the public, such as landscaping
• How many employees you have
• Your business's size and annual revenue
• Your business's claims history

Small business insurance for a single plant nursery may be highly affordable. However, a chain of nurseries, or a particularly large business, will most likely pay significantly more for coverage. Either way, an independent insurance agent can help you find the most affordable policy.

How to Save Money on Plant Nursery Insurance

As a business owner, anything you do to minimize risks can also possibly earn you a discount on your coverage. Here are a few easy ways to make your plant nursery business safer and potentially lower the cost of its insurance:

• Install sprinklers and take other fire prevention measures.
• Install a burglar alarm, security cameras, and other loss-prevention equipment.
• Take steps to shield plants from the elements, reducing frost, hail, or wind damage.
• Maintain stringent safety standards; ensure all your employees are well-trained and keep customers out of hazardous areas.
• Use all appropriate personal protective equipment, especially when working with hazardous materials.
• Make sure that anyone who drives for your business has an excellent driving record, and do spot-checks to ensure they’re driving safely.

An independent insurance agent can help you find even more discounts on plant nursery insurance. Many insurance companies offer safety training and other resources to help business owners to minimize risks. Taking advantage of these resources can also help reduce your insurance costs.

Here's How an Independent Insurance Agent Can Help

Independent insurance agents have access to multiple business insurance companies that sell plant nursery coverage. They can shop and compare policies and provide you with quotes for only the best options. Even better, your agent can help file claims directly for you and even update your coverage as necessary.