If you have a small business, it’s important to keep track of your insurance. Every year, you need to get an “insurance” check-up. It’s kind of like going to a doctor for your annual wellness checkup. Those checkups are to make sure that everything’s good and that you’re healthy. The same thing applies to your insurance – you have to make sure that it’s still a good fit for your business. Here are a few reasons why it’s crucial to do an annual business insurance review.
6 reasons to do an annual business insurance review.
1. Businesses change and grow.
The goal of having a business is to see it grow and thrive, right? But if you’re growing your business, you’re also going to need to make some adjustments to your insurance coverage. Maybe you’ve added some more employees. Maybe your payroll has increased. Maybe you’ve gotten new equipment, or maybe you’ve expanded the type of work you do and thus added some liability risks. These changes matter when it comes to your insurance, so you can’t overlook them.
2. Your coverage needs might change.
With all of the potential changes your business might go through from year to year, your coverage needs might change. It might be time to increase your limits of coverage or even add different coverages to close potential gaps. Doing an annual review of your coverage can help you make sure that your insurance is still fully protecting your business. The goal is to ensure that there are no gaps or holes in your coverage that could leave your business vulnerable to a major loss.
3. Your annual review can help you see potential areas of vulnerability.
On a related note, an annual business insurance review gives you the chance to evaluate the changes to your business to see if these changes have resulted in any vulnerabilities for your business. Do you need to adjust your insurance? You can also take the opportunity to do some risk management. How can you improve safety at your business to reduce the chance of a loss? What things leave you open to a possible loss – in other words, what risks do you face, and how can you mitigate those risks?
You can also go over any claims that you’ve had in the last year, be they property insurance, workers’ comp, or general liability claims. Is there anything you can do to lower the risk of that particular thing happening again? Some things are out of our control, but other things we can make safer or take steps to manage.
4. It gives you the chance to read through your policy.
Doing an annual business insurance review can also give you the chance to actually read through your policies all the way. There’s a lot of important information in there, so it’s a good idea to go through the policies carefully. You can see what losses are covered, what losses are not covered, and find out what your obligations are as the insured. Understanding the ins and outs of your insurance is crucial. And you never know – maybe you’ll discover a few questions about your coverage that you want to ask your agent. At any rate, knowing what your insurance policy says is probably a good thing. Nasty surprises when it comes to insurance really are not fun.
5. Insurance isn’t a one-time thing.
Insurance isn’t something that you can just buy once and then forget about it. It’s something that’s more of an ongoing process, really. In that regard, it’s sort of like taking care of your physical health. You don’t just go to the doctor once and then never go again. You go every year even if you don’t think there’s anything “wrong” per se because you want to monitor and keep an eye on things. Catching problems early is better than finding out later on, and the same idea applies to your business insurance. It’s best to find and correct a problem before it turns into a disaster.
6. You can look into different options.
By shopping for your rates every year, you might uncover different options for your insurance. You might be able to get a better price for your insurance. (Insurance is probably a big chunk of your business’s budget, after all.) Of course, it’s important that you don’t sacrifice coverage for the price – be sure to compare apples to apples when you’re looking at insurance.
Our team of business insurance agents can help you with your insurance review, and we can also help you compare business insurance quotes so you get great coverage at a great rate. Get started with quotes by filling out our online form, giving us a call, or messaging us.