When looking for commercial property insurance you may wish to consider:

• protection for the interior and exterior of the shop against threats such as fire and flood. Your shop may be out of business for many weeks while repairs and a clean up are made due to either of these events, for example. If you add up the lost revenue it might be thousands of pounds. You also have to factor in how much it costs for repairs and replacements of shop fittings and fixtures;

• hopefully your shop sees many customers walking through the doors each and every day. While this is great for business the downside is that with each individual there is the risk of accident or injury. Any customer that suffers an accident on or around your premises may wish to take you to court. Legal costs may add up to a large sum of money that you may struggle to find. In some cases it may mean the end of your business if you have to sell to meet legal costs;

• accidental damage to your stock, fittings and fixtures may occur. In some cases over the year you may stand to lose a great deal of money this way. Shop insurance may provide compensation for losses and with some business insurance providers this may include any loss as the result of vandalism.

As you may see from the above, shop insurance may be a lifeline if the worse happens. An insurance policy may provide protection against many events, and these may vary among commercial shop insurance providers. Therefore it may pay to check out the small print and compare shop insurance policies online before you purchase.

• bear in mind that insurance can be offered based on your particular business. For insurance there is retail insurance, tradesman insurance, shop insurance etc – virtually for just about any type of business you might think of;

• when looking for insurance you might want to ensure that you have adequate third party liability insurance within the business cover. This is needed to protect you and your business against claims brought about through a third party getting injured on your premises. The same applies if you have members of staff working for you. Claims may arise if they were to get hurt at work. Employers’ liability insurance is mandatory for most employers;

• flood and fire may damage or even destroy your stock on the premises. If you suffered a fire you may end up losing all of your stock and fittings and fixtures in the premises. This may add up to a considerable amount of money. Small business insurance typically protects against a loss such as this, up to set limits;

• the above may also damage the building in which you house your business and it may have to shut down for refurbishment. If this happens you stand to lose not only the costs of repairs to the shell of the building but also loss of customers, unless you have cover in place;

• finally when considering small business insurance you may wish to check out the terms and conditions that come with the insurance policy. This is where you are able to find out what the business cover entails, doesn’t entail and any obligations that may form part of the contract between you and the insurance provider.

What’s covered?
Small business insurance may cover a lot of the main areas where your business could be/become financially vulnerable. Among other things, it can often protect against:

• Claims for compensation or damages due to the failure or negligence of your company
• Disputes related to employee/employer issues
• Law suits/claims brought against your company related to work damages
• Damage of office space by fire, flooding or other natural disaster
• Protection of your office equipment from accidents and damage
• Damage to inventory and stock

Any business entity can typically apply for insurance for their small business. The best thing to do is to think about the ways that your company might be vulnerable, identify your insurance needs and then find insurance that matches those needs. The fact of the matter is that no-one else will know which type of insurance and how much cover is necessary for your company but you. When you are researching and looking for insurance, you will most likely have quite a few options. Resources such as the Internet give you the freedom to compare each of the policies you find to the needs of your business.

Signing up for business insurance

Businesses can sign up for small business insurance these days online without ever having a face-to-face with an insurance agent. In some cases, using a small business insurance specialist website can provide details of the some of the cover available for you. If you decide to take the cover, you will most likely be required to provide business registration information and you may have to mail or fax copies of official documents as well.

A surprisingly wide range of your business investment can be insured – indeed, some features and activities are required by law to be covered by adequate and appropriate insurance. For example, any vehicles used in the course of the business must be properly insured and this means that the relevant policy or policies recognise that the vehicles are used for the purpose of the business. The legal requirement, of course, is to protect any third parties who suffer loss, damage or injury as a result of the vehicles’ use, but more comprehensive cover will also be needed to safeguard vehicles of any value.

If you employ staff, a further small business insurance that will be typically required is employers’ liability insurance, which indemnifies the business against claims from employees who have been injured at work or contracted illnesses as a result of their employment. Fines of up to £2,500 a day could be imposed if you take on an employee without the requisite employers’ liability insurance.

If you are in the business of providing professional services – such as a solicitor, accountant, financial adviser, architect or surveyor – registration with the necessary professional body or regulating institution is likely to require that your business holds professional indemnity insurance to safeguard both you and professional standards generally against clients’ claims arising from mistaken or negligent professional practice.

Although it is not a legal requirement, many small businesses could find it difficult to operate at optimum efficiency without public liability insurance (typically covering a maximum liability of up to £2 million). This is designed to cover the business against claims from clients, customers, or members of the public who suffer loss, damage or injury, either on or off the business premises, during the course of any activity (or failure to act) on the part of the business.

A critical small business insurance, of course, is the protection of the business premises from the range of risks generally covered by standard buildings insurance policies. These will cover such perils as storms, floods, fires, explosions, vandalism and damage caused by vehicles. If you occupy the premises as a tenant, the landlord will normally be responsible for such cover, but it is worth bearing in mind that if the premises are a shop, the tenant is usually responsible for insuring the shop-front.