Are You Liable?
Someone recently sent me an interesting article on business liability insurance. I read through it, then decided to (a) do more research on the topic, and (b) share my thoughts on the process with you.
The first one, from accoutingweb.com, is a valid article, but it reads a little too much like an ad or a press release for a specific insurance company, so I decided to dig a little deeper.
I found a little informaton on the Insurance Information Institute's website. However, they have the word "Insurance" in their name, which leaves me inclined to take it with a grain of salt. After all, if we listened to the insurance industry there is no aspect of life or business that is safe, but, by golly, they have a policy that can help you with that! So I kept digging.
Then I started to wonder. It was just research for a blog entry, how much time do I want to give it, you know?
Several search engines and the top five pages of each, with queries worded to professional liability insurance, "Do I need professional liability insurance?", "What is professional liability insurance?" and the main thing I came up with on all of them were lists of links to insurance brokers or articles for medical personnel or social workers or lawyers recommending a place to find it.
I did find an article, three pages into a yahoo search, that I think may be pretty good. It seems like a pretty impartial article on a site for people starting a business--it's in Florida, but should be pretty universal. Ultimately, with any insurance decision, you have to weigh the odds vs. the consequences.
As an example, there was a restaurant in Pflugerville, a small family-owned place that only opened for lunch. They were ~always~ packed, standing room only for years. The restaurant burned down a year and a half ago. Within days of the fire the owner was doing fundraiser meals to raise money to rebuild. Why? The owner had made the choice not to have fire insurance, seeing it as too expensive.
It may be silly of me, but when I heard that I lost sympathy and respect for the place. They have since raised enough money to lease a temporary location to operate from until they rebuild their old one, but I won't eat there. I'm still determining my insurance needs, but I ~do~ know if I ran a business that had, you know, fire, heat, a KITCHEN, I would make sure I had FIRE insurance. But that's just me.
Do a little research and decide for yourself. Talk to your insurance agent, but remember that they work for the insurance company, not you. If possible, look for an independent broker who carries/sells several different companies' insurance to get a broader picture and, hopefully, a bit less biased perspective.
(Can you tell I have issues with the insurance industry? lol)
The first one, from accoutingweb.com, is a valid article, but it reads a little too much like an ad or a press release for a specific insurance company, so I decided to dig a little deeper.
I found a little informaton on the Insurance Information Institute's website. However, they have the word "Insurance" in their name, which leaves me inclined to take it with a grain of salt. After all, if we listened to the insurance industry there is no aspect of life or business that is safe, but, by golly, they have a policy that can help you with that! So I kept digging.
Then I started to wonder. It was just research for a blog entry, how much time do I want to give it, you know?
Several search engines and the top five pages of each, with queries worded to professional liability insurance, "Do I need professional liability insurance?", "What is professional liability insurance?" and the main thing I came up with on all of them were lists of links to insurance brokers or articles for medical personnel or social workers or lawyers recommending a place to find it.
I did find an article, three pages into a yahoo search, that I think may be pretty good. It seems like a pretty impartial article on a site for people starting a business--it's in Florida, but should be pretty universal. Ultimately, with any insurance decision, you have to weigh the odds vs. the consequences.
As an example, there was a restaurant in Pflugerville, a small family-owned place that only opened for lunch. They were ~always~ packed, standing room only for years. The restaurant burned down a year and a half ago. Within days of the fire the owner was doing fundraiser meals to raise money to rebuild. Why? The owner had made the choice not to have fire insurance, seeing it as too expensive.
It may be silly of me, but when I heard that I lost sympathy and respect for the place. They have since raised enough money to lease a temporary location to operate from until they rebuild their old one, but I won't eat there. I'm still determining my insurance needs, but I ~do~ know if I ran a business that had, you know, fire, heat, a KITCHEN, I would make sure I had FIRE insurance. But that's just me.
Do a little research and decide for yourself. Talk to your insurance agent, but remember that they work for the insurance company, not you. If possible, look for an independent broker who carries/sells several different companies' insurance to get a broader picture and, hopefully, a bit less biased perspective.
(Can you tell I have issues with the insurance industry? lol)
posted by Dy at 10:34 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home