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National business insurance

Owning a business is rewarding but not without risks.  Suracy is proud to offer a full suite of business insurance products to help protect your business.  Whether you are a small to large business, franchise, non-profit, union, or other organization, we can identify appropriate solutions to help you thrive.

Coverage Options

Businessowners’ Policy

Businesses often share a number of similar property and liability risks, including customers getting injured on company premises, equipment getting damaged or stolen, or the business having to shut down temporarily due to a storm, cyber attack, or other circumstance. While individual policies address each of these risks separately, doing so can be both time consuming and often expensive. Often, a more efficient and cost-effective strategy is a businessowner’s policy (BOP). A BOP is designed to address the most common liability and property threats that businesses regularly face by bundling multiple insurance policies into a single package.

 

What does a businessowner’s policy cover? 

BOPs are customized for each business, but generally include:

 

• Property insurance: The property insurance portion of your BOP covers owned buildings along with other physical property, such as machines and office furniture. “Named peril” protection covers the cost of property that is lost or damaged due to specific events like theft or fire. “Open peril” coverage covers the property regardless of how it is lost or damaged.   Note that property insurance generally doesn’t include heavy machinery or vehicles.

 

• General Liability:If a visitor is injured as a result of something you or your employees failed to do, then your business could be held liable. For example, if a customer slips and falls because a spill wasn’t cleaned properly, that customer may be able to pursue a claim against your business. General liability protection helps cover your business for legal fees related to such claims.

 

• Business Interruption: Many unforeseen circumstances, such as severe storms, cyber attacks, or fire can disable a business for a time. Business interruption coverage is designed to help recoup some of the revenue lost from these interruptions. If the business has to relocate temporarily to continue operations, then this coverage can help offset some of the expenses associated with the move.

Tip: Some risks cannot be included in a BOP, including auto, workers’ compensation, and disability

Commercial Auto Insurance

Most business have at least one company vehicle used to transport employees, deliver goods, or carry out other important business functions. In many cases, businesses have fleets of vehicles that often are at the core of their profitability.  Suracy’s commercial auto insurance solutions are designed to offer protection in the event of auto accidents or incidents. Commercial auto insurance helps shield businesses from severely detrimental accident-related claims while allowing them to meet minimum coverage requirements legally required by states.

 

 

 

What does commercial auto insurance cover?
Each state sets their own minimums for coverage, so basic policies can vary from state to state. However, a claim against a company can well exceed the minimum coverage requirements, which is why most businesses opt for additional coverage. 

 

Beyond basic liability coverage, commercial auto insurance policies can be bundled with other coverage options, including:

 

• Comprehensive Insurance: This type of coverage is designed to cover the cost of damage related to many non-collision risks. Non-collision risks generally include vandalism, theft, falling debris, struck animals, broken glass, and other incidents. Such risks can be costly to repair and may even result in a total loss, which is why comprehensive coverage is usually a good option.

 

• Collision Insurance: If a company vehicle collides with another vehicle, collision insurance can cover the damage sustained by your company’s vehicle.


• Underinsured and Uninsured Motorist (UM/UIM) Insurance: Even though a business may have commercial auto insurance, not everybody on the road does, and, if they do, they may not have enough. This is where UIM comes in handy. If a company vehicle is involved in an accident with an UM or UIM motorist, a UIM policy will help close the gaps in coverage and get insured company vehicles back on the road.


• Medical Payments: If an employee is injured in an accident involving an insured company vehicle, medical payments coverage can help cover the cost of medical expenses.

 

• Loading and Unloading: If a business uses a loading dock, then bundling loading and unloading coverage may be a smart move. This policy option covers employees if they are injured while loading and unloading goods from covered vehicles.


Tip: Personal auto insurance does not necessarily cover accidents if a personal vehicle is being used for commercial purposes.  This is why securing appropriate commercial auto insurance is important.

Commercial Property

There are many risks associated with running a business. If a fire breaks out, a theft occurs, or a natural disaster hits, shut down or interruption of any kind can be expensive.  When these kinds of events happen, protection in the form of commercial property insurance can help ease the financial burden associated with an unplanned disaster.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What does a commercial property policy cover?

• Your building: This typically includes equipment, machinery, and fixtures.

 

• The contents of your building: Inventory, office furniture, supplies, anything that can be removed.

 

• Someone else’s property: These are things that are in your care if they are inside your building. Items that belong to an employee or customer, like a laptop, might get damaged as a result of an electrical surge. When someone else’s property is in your care, you could be on the hook for damages if something happens.

 

• Most commercial property policies cover windstorms, theft, and fires. However, in many cases, property damage caused by floods and earthquakes is NOT included.


You will likely need commercial property insurance if you:

• Own or rent a commercial building or storage space

• Have costly equipment such as culinary, computers, and specialized tools

• Have property that your business relies on to operate


• Tip: In many cases, commercial landlords require their tenants to have some commercial property coverage. Typically, a policy that covers only the tenant’s contents in the leased space is required, so it is recommended to review your contract.

 

Different types of commercial property coverage

• Cash value coverage: If you’re looking for a way to trim the budget while still protecting your property, cash value coverage may be a solution. Cash value coverage replaces your damaged equipment with equipment at the depreciated value and can be a viable coverage option.


• Named perils coverage: Another way to manage funds while still staying protected is “named perils” coverage. Named perils coverage is exactly how it sounds. Whatever is named in your policy is what is covered. While this coverage can save money, it can also be more expensive in the long run – so be sure to get details.

Cyber Liability Insurance

From national health systems to credit card companies to email providers, the size and scope of cyber attacks in recent years has grown and it continues to do so. Millions of email logins have been compromised, companies’ trade secrets have been exposed, and countless consumers’ financial data has been made insecure. In other words, the threat from cyber piracy is very real, and it’s one that businesses of all sizes need to take seriously. Hackers’ tactics are constantly evolving, and even the most secure data protection measures are no guarantee against a breach. That’s where cyber liability insurance comes in.

 

What does cyber liability insurance cover?
Cyber liability insurance will not prevent an attack from happening, but it can cover some of the costs that arise after an attack occurs. Cyber liability coverage will vary based on organizational needs.

It can:
• Help ensure that a company is in compliance with any data breach notice requirements

• Cover indemnification for legal fees and costs for recovering data and restoring damaged systems

• Offer continual monitoring of impacted data for a specific period of time

• Provide coverage for website media content liability, regulatory defense and penalties, PCI fines, expenses, and costs

Directors & Officers

Serving as a director or officer for a company or organization can be rewarding, but it is not without its risks. Directors & Officers (D&O) insurance can help protect people serving in director and/or officer roles from experiencing personal losses in the event that they are personally sued for actual or alleged wrongdoing while carrying out their duties. Lawsuits are usually brought on by the organization’s employees, vendors, customers, competitors, investors, or other parties. Typically, directors & officers insurance can also help protect the company. Most individuals serving as directors or officers request the provision of D&O insurance.

What does directors & officers insurance cover?
• Legal fees
• Settlements
• Additional defense costs

Examples of risks/exposures associated with directors and officers include:
• Regulatory violations
• Reporting errors
• Malpractice
• Fiduciary breaches
• Securities litigation
• Fraud (sometimes)
• Intellectual property theft

Who needs directors & officers insurance?Companies of all sizes can benefit from D&O insurance. It is a common misconception that only large public companies should secure this coverage. However, small businesses, private companies, and non-profit organizations are not immune to expensive lawsuits. Any organization that has boards or advisory committees should consider securing D&O insurance. D&O insurance can be customized based off the structure of an organization, so it’s recommended to speak to an insurance agent or carrier to help determine what policy is appropriate for your business.

General Liability Insurance

Businesses of all sizes are susceptible to accidents, and even the most safety-conscious environments can have unforeseen events. If a third party is injured or its property is damaged due to alleged negligence, then the business could be subjected to a lawsuit. High litigation costs can drive a business into financial peril, which is why it’s important to secure general liability insurance.






What does commercial general liability insurance cover?
General liability insurance is designed to cover costs related to legal claims brought against businesses by a third party. If a business can’t afford to pay an uncovered claim, a business’s assets could be seized in order to meet the cost of a claim.

Coverage typically incudes attorney fees, court costs, and settlements and judgements that the business may be liable to pay.

General liability insurance typically covers claims-associated costs related to the following:


• Bodily injury - Coverage if a third party was injured on your business’s premises
• Property damage - Coverage against damage caused by your business to a third party’s property
• Advertising - If your business is accused of slander, libel, copyright infringement, or other violations in its advertising

Professional Liability Insurance

Professional Liability Insurance, otherwise known as Errors and Omissions Insurance (E&O), helps protect people who earn a living off their expertise in a specific area such as lawyers, engineers, and doctors. It can help pay for lawsuits if a client accuses your business of negligence, failing to deliver, and work mistakes. Mistakes can happen and regardless of if you did anything wrong or not, if you do not have professional liability coverage, you could be stuck with expensive out of pocket legal costs.

 

 

 

Who needs professional liability insurance?
Since many experts are required to obtain state licensing and other certifications, there can be a lot of liability for a business based on someone’s expertise.

Generally, if you offer professional services directly to customers or are required to carry coverage, you should have professional liability insurance.

Examples of individuals who should have this coverage include:

• IT Professionals: financial protection from data breaches, software liability, and technical errors

• Accountants: financial protection from accounting errors, data entry errors, and miscalculations

• Architects: financial protection from over-budgeting, delays, and construction material issues

• Real Estate Agents: financial protection from disclosure failures and failure to close

• Consultants: financial protection from inaccuracies or wrongful advice

• Healthcare professionals: financial protection from lawsuits

Workers’ Compensation

Workers’ compensation often limits or even prevents employees from taking legal action against their employer if they fall ill or get hurt on the job. At the same time, employees receive a form of financial relief if something happens to them due to a work-related incident. Almost every state mandates that businesses are legally required to carry workers’ comp for their employees. However, the scope and type of required coverage varies depending on specific business needs from each state to the next. While some states provide a government insurance plan, in most cases businesses must purchase workers’ comp through a private insurer, and Suracy can help with that.

What does workers’ compensation cover?
Workers’ compensation policies through Suracy can be tailored to each business. In general, however, workers’ comp covers most illnesses and injuries that occur due to a work-related accident. Most on-the-job accidents are covered, although off-site incidents may also be covered if they are work-related, such as an injury sustained on a business trip, a disease acquired through prolonged contact with hazardous chemicals on the job, or long-term injuries or illnesses that are slow to develop, such as carpal tunnel syndrome.

 

Suracy’s 24/7 online claims filing service also ensures that your business can continue to run smoothly if and when you need to make a claim.

 

What does workers’ compensation cover?Workers’ comp reduces a company’s liability exposure while offering employees much-needed financial relief if they are temporarily unable to return to work.

 

There are some common exclusions to coverage, however, including if the injured employee:

• Was under the influence of drugs or alcohol
• Was in violation of company protocol at the time of the incident
• Was engaged in illegal activity
• Was off the clock
• Inflicted the injury intentionally upon themselves

 

Businesses that do not have workers’ compensation insurance can face steep penalties related to lack of coverage including costly legal fees, fines, and even possible imprisonment.

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