AT THE START of every year, it’s important that businesses take stock of developments in the 12 months prior that may require adjustments to their insurance policies.
A number of events should prompt you to meet with us to see if you should increase your coverage. It’s important you conduct this annual review to ensure that you are fully covered and that your claims will be paid if you have an incident.
Developments may also warrant securing coverages, such as cyber insurance, professional liability or commercial auto.
Events requiring policy changes include:
Inflation
– Construction costs have been skyrocketing and if your facility sustains damage, your policy limits may fall short in covering all rebuilding costs.
Construction costs are increasing due to the labor shortage in the industry, rapid price increases for all types of building materials and supply chain constraints.
Hiring new staff
– You should contact your workers’ compensation carrier if you are expanding and hiring more staff.
If you haven’t reported higher employee numbers to your carrier in the past year, you should. If you don’t, the insurer will catch them during your annual policy review or a policy audit and you could be on the hook for back premiums. Likewise if you have fewer staff, you should notify your carrier to reduce your premium.
Buying new equipment or upgraded facilities
– If you bought new equipment, you need to itemize that in your property policy to ensure it’s covered.
If you’ve upgraded your property, built a new wing or revamped the interior, you may also want to revisit your property policy.
Change in operations
– If your operations have changed, such as adding a new product or service, you may need to make changes to your insurance policies.
You may also need to adjust your limits if the changes have increased your exposure.
Your revenues have changed
– If your fortunes have boomed or your revenues are declining, your insurance policies may need to change as well to reflect that.
Also, if there has been a change in ownership, your business or business structure (changing from partnership to an LLC, for example), you may need to inform your insurer.
Other reasons
There are other reasons to review your coverage annually, chief among them that you may be missing out on savings. You may also be paying more for your coverage if you are not taking into account factors like retiring, not replacing a vehicle or reducing your staff count.
By reviewing your current business circumstances, you can help us and your carriers accurately price your policies.
Some of your policies may also be eligible for discounts and we can help you tap into any that may be available to you.
There are also instances where you would need to get a new policy altogether, such as transitioning from a sole proprietorship to a partnership or an LLC, or if you have merged with another entity.
If you’ve expanded into new territories, either physical with a new location or if you expanded your service area, you may also need a new policy, particularly if you are going into a new state.
The takeaway
By reviewing your policies every year, you can ensure that you are properly covered in case you have to file a claim. The last thing you want is to file a claim for property you forgot to include on your policy application, and your insurer rejects your damage claim.
Finally, you may want to consider your plans for the upcoming year so that you can be prepared to update your policies when any major milestones like any of the above might take place.