Every business grapples with some level of risk, ranging from theft and lawsuits to property damage and employees’ deaths. Business insurance protects your business from losses caused by unforeseen circumstances to ensure its continuity. You should know the importance and advantages of having insurance for B&B and the coverage that can help protect your business.
Even so, insurance costs can add up quite quickly if you’re not careful. The following are a few simple tips from our friends at bitcoin motion to significantly lower your business life insurance costs.
1. Compare different insurance providers
Most business owners focus on running successful businesses but fail to put as much thought into purchasing their insurance policies. Insurance providers assess risks based on algorithms that generate different quotes using the same information. Therefore, it means that it’s possible to get a significantly lower rate for the same coverage by shopping around.
Just like your clients and business are constantly changing, so are your financial risks. Make a point at least every year to compare identical policies to get a rough idea of how much savings you can get by changing your provider.
2. Use an insurance broker
There exists a common misconception that taking out business life insurance directly from the provider is cheaper than using a broker. That might be true in some instances. However, worth mentioning is that most forms of business insurance are inherently complex which makes working with an insurance broker useful. A knowledgeable broker will help to analyse your business and put together a package that suits your budget and special needs. You may even wish to use different brokers specific to your business, such as these different motortrade brokers if your company deals with cars as its main trade, so that you can be sure that your policy will cover everything that it needs to.
3. Re-evaluate your protection and insurance needs
Create time every year to assess your insurance policy so that you are not paying for coverage that you do not actually need. This can include employees who are no longer working for your business, properties that have been sold, and vehicles that are not operational. This will go a long way in helping you save on premiums. Any changes in your business in terms of growth or reduction should be factored in your coverage.
4. Don’t be afraid to ask for discounts
As with any service market, most business life insurers leave some room for discounts to help attract new subscribers or keep the most loyal ones. While these discounts may not be huge, the money saved will go a long way in keeping your business moving.
Alternatively, try searching for trade associations in your industry to see if any helps with negotiating policy prices for their members. Usually, you might have to pay a fee to become a member of these organisations, but that amount is easy to recoup through the reduced premiums.
5. Classify your employees correctly
According to experts like a work site accident attorney, worker’s compensation coverage charges different rates based on the classification of employees. To avoid paying unnecessarily high insurance, it’s important for you to classify your employees correctly. For example, if you run a production company, misclassifying your sales workers as production employees will result in higher premiums. You can work with a workers compensation lawyer for this.
6. Encourage your employees to stay healthy
Age and health status are among the primary factors insurers consider when calculating your business life insurance premiums. Usually, they will conduct a medical assessment on all your employees before issuing the policy.
As such, one of the most effective ways to keep your costs low is by having a workforce that leads a healthy lifestyle. This will likely translate to reduced cases of smoking, excessive weight, and high blood pressure which are sure to significantly increase your business life insurance.
High-risk hobbies such as car racing, skydiving and scuba diving can also increase your business life insurance. Encouraging your employees to make changes to their lifestyle can help you save money and increase their odds of being insurable.
7. Look out for hidden fees
When shopping for a policy, be on the lookout for hidden fees. For instance, some insurance companies may charge higher premiums for individuals who pay on monthly basis instead of annually.
Reviewing your policy to make sure that there are no hidden fees or unnecessary charges is key in enabling you save money.
8. Don’t focus on saving money alone!
Like anything else, the cost of premiums is a crucial factor to consider when purchasing a business policy. However, it may be imprudent to focus on just the cost and forget other important factors such as the process of claiming. Before spending your money on business insurance, be sure to do extensive research to get the best possible coverage at an affordable price.
