Starting a Business? Tips For Keeping Your Insurance Costs Low

1. Type of Business
The type of business you choose will ultimately determine how much you will pay each year in insurance. Someone who has an interior painting business will have an insurance cost that is much less than someone who has a fast food restaurant with deep fryers. The general rule of thumb is: The higher the risk, the higher the cost of insurance.
2. Location, location, location
Business owners generally take into account location when buying a building for their business. Unfortunately, they are only thinking about how many customers they can get in the door, not how the location will affect their insurance costs for years to come. When deciding on a location, steer clear of large bodies of water.
Insurance companies have recently started looking at how close a business is to water when writing a business's liability policy. Some insurance companies have even gone so far as to say they will not write new policies for any business or home within a few miles of the water and, if they do, it's going to cost a pretty penny. How close is too close? You, and your checkbook, should be safe if you stay at least 4 miles away from any ocean or river.
3. Building Construction
Insurance companies base premium rates in part on the type of building that will house your business. If the building you purchased, or are considering purchasing, is made entirely of wood you can expect a higher premium because there is a greater risk of a fire burning out of control in this type of structure. For the lowest insurance premium, consider purchasing a building made entirely of brick or stone. Looking for even more savings? Purchase a building with a sprinkler system and install a central station fire and burglar alarm. You'll save quite a bit year after year on your insurance if you have these building protection measures in place.
4. Lease Agreement
If you are renting or leasing out space to run your business, make sure your landlord doesn't expect you to cover a portion, or all, of the insurance on the building. If your business resides in a strip mall, landlords will often ask you to insure the portion of the building in which you are conducting business. Stay clear of this type of lease agreement to keep your insurance costs low. Your landlord should cover the costs of insuring the building, not you.

Melissa Ash
Account Executive
Irwin Edelstein Associates, Inc.
732-549-1800
mmaedelins@optonline.net

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Importance of Business Insurance for Small Businesses

In any business, risks cannot be ruled out. In case of a small business, even a small risk can make a huge impact on the growth and sustainability of the business. This is more so with respect to finances as small businesses, by their very nature, are devoid of strong financial support.
If you are a small business owner, you need to seriously consider taking business insurance to protect your businesses from unfortunate events that cause financial crisis.
Besides providing financial support during unfortunate events, insurance helps in increasing the credibility of your business among your employees (crucial part of your business) - they feel secured knowing that they are covered under insurance policy.
While choosing an insurance policy, assess and identify the risks that are likely to affect your business significantly. Common risks for any business include, damage to business property, life hazards to employees, and public law suits. None of these is a small liability that you can afford to overlook.
Basic types of business insurance policies:
There are different types of insurance policies covering different types of risks; you can either choose one policy or combine a few of them to make a consolidated policy that covers every risk your business might face. Here are some basic insurance policies that you can choose from:
Business liability: Your business is always at risk of facing law suits from third parties. There can be instances that make your business the subject of a lawsuit - a customer trips on a torn carpet in your office, a customer falls sick using your product, an electrical short-circuit that causes fire and damages your landlord's building etc. These liabilities usually result in huge compensation claims. In such cases, having business liability insurance protects you against all these risks. Business liability insurance generally covers medical expenses and legal fees.
Property insurance: You don't want to mess up with your business property. Do you? So, make sure that your business property is covered properly. Property insurance for your small business covers the fixtures, furniture, the inventory, and other physical assets of business. Property insurance protects the property against the damage, theft or loss.
Auto insurance: You need commercial auto insurance if you use a vehicle solely for your business. You should get a commercial insurance policy if your vehicle has commercial tags on it. Auto insurance covers risks of damage to the vehicle caused by an accident or vandalism. It also protects you from the third-party liability claims if your vehicle is involved in any accident.
Workers' compensation: As an employer, it is your responsibility to take care of your employees at workplace. If any employee falls sick, gets injured or dies while working, as a business owner, you will be held accountable. You need to take care of his medical expenses. Here, workers' compensation insurance helps you by covering the risk of injury to workers and the consequent medical expenses, etc.
Not buying insurance would put your business at greater risk. It is also not financially sensible to ignore the importance of insurance. Working out the right type and the correct amount of insurance coverage is quite difficult going by the variety of risks to your business.
Hence, approach a good insurance broker to get the right insurance coverage for your business.

Keystone Insurance Group is a UK and Ireland's premier insurance brokerage firm specialized in business insurance solutions. It offers a broad range of products to contractors and general business customers including public liability insurance.

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