If it’s time to renew your business’s insurance policy, you want to be prepared. Your policy provides a level of protection for your company, so it’s best to go over everything carefully and pay close attention to detail. If your business has sustained any changes over the past year, this can impact your insurance and the level of coverage you’ll need for the most protection. After all, if you’re growing and changing, your insurance policy should grow and change with you.
Questions to help you get ready for renewal
To ensure your insurance policy still covers the needs of your business, ask the following questions:
- Have you grown or expanded? This could increase the amount of coverage you need, and it’s not automatically covered by your policy unless you declare it. Growth could include new products or services, which would require an adjustment to your professional liability insurance. If you’ve updated product lines, you might need additional product liability coverage. Growth could also include operating in new locations, or renovations to your business, such as an updated alarm system or updated utilities.
- Are you using new systems? What about new internal systems, such as a computer system, or changes to the way you manage data? Does your company handle confidential client information? You may be opening your company up to increased cyber liability risks and the potential for damaging cyberattacks or data breaches that your policy will need to cover.
- Do you expect your revenue to increase or decrease? You may not know it, but your liability insurance is rated based on your company’s revenue. If you’ve experienced changes over the past year, you may need to adjust your policy. Note that if you underestimate your income for the upcoming year, you may experience a premium adjustment, which can be expensive. This is why close attention to detail is key.
- Has the value of your assets changed? Your insurance to value is the amount of insurance coverage you carry based on what it will cost to repair or replace your company assets. It’s important to assess accurately to ensure you’re carrying adequate coverage. Property values have gone up, and the cost of building materials and labor has gotten more expensive—these factors and more weigh into the decision of how much coverage to carry.
- Have you changed ownership? Maybe your company has been acquired, you’ve formed new companies or the name has changed over the past year. You’ll want to make sure your policies include all the right information to ensure they’re covered and protected—helping ensure insurance claims aren’t declined due to conflicting information.
Shopping for an insurance program
Another question to ask yourself come renewal time is: Do you like your current insurer and broker? You might choose to stay with your current partners, request a new broker, or completely shop around for something new. Whatever your decision, renewal is the time to make any changes you may need.
Additional risk management
Your insurance policy is one piece of your risk management plan, but what else do you need to consider? Let Odell Studner help! For a risk consultation, contact us today to learn more.