Commercial Property Insurance Broward County
GGA Insurance Group focuses on understanding the unique needs of each client to draft a comprehensive commercial property insurance policy for your business.
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What is Commercial Property Insurance?
Commercial property insurance is one of the most sought-after types of business insurance. It basically covers your commercial buildings, equipment, inventory, tools, and other such items used to operate the business, from losses resulting from break-ins, wind, fire, vandalism, or other covered natural or man-made disasters.
In simple words, it covers costs related to repairing or replacing damaged items and structures, along with compensating the business for lost income as a result of these interruptions. When buying commercial property insurance, it is vital that you understand the various types of coverage and insurance limits available for your business.
- Commercial property insurance can be used to save taxes since they’re tax deductible.
- Businesses can combine numerous coverage options into a single policy for comprehensive protection.
- Builds customer credibility, establishing you as a reliable company to do business with.
- It makes it easier for businesses to apply for a loan or lease property for commercial use.
- Even if your business undergoes the worst-case scenario, it prevents complete downfall by assisting you with aid to start over.
What Types of Businesses Require Commercial Property Insurance?
A commercial property insurance plan can be an excellent backup for businesses of all shapes and sizes in the face of unforeseeable risks and losses. If you’re contemplating whether a commercial property insurance policy would work in favor of your business, here are a few incidents you can be protected from to help you make that decision quickly.
Suppose an accidental fire damages your computers or business inventory. Not only will such a policy compensate you for the damaged items but also for the income lost due to the halt in activities. Similarly, if someone breaks into your commercial premises and steals your inventory, a commercial property insurance policy would also cover such losses.
What is Covered Under Commercial Property Insurance Policy?
As explained earlier, commercial property insurance covers your commercial building and all the assets present within that are used to operate the business. This makes commercial property insurance an imperative investment to protect the future of your Broward County business.
Examples of business assets it covers include the building, tools, furniture, equipment, inventory, personal property, the outdoor sign, landscaping, and fence. A commercial property policy also mentions the type of losses these items would be insured against. These include machinery and electrical breakdown, fires, accidents with the plumbing or electric wires, vandalism, theft, storms, and other covered events mentioned in your policy.
What are the Coverage Needs of Your Business?
Most businesses need to be made aware of the type and amount of coverage their commercial property requires. If that’s something you’re struggling with, you can rely on us. At GGA Insurance Group, we boast a diverse clientele of both small and large organizations and pride ourselves as experts in estimating the coverage needs of a business accurately.
For starters, some of the things you need coverage for include your commercial building, office equipment (regardless of whether they’re owned or leased), accounting records, manufacturing or processing equipment, company documents, inventory in stock, signs and satellite dishes, and fence and landscaping.
Types of Property Limits for Commercial Insurance Policy?
Property limits in a commercial property insurance policy refer to the maximum coverage you can receive for your assets and property. These limits depend on the type of insurance policy, the specifics of the property being insured, and the various coverage options selected by a business. Two examples of property limits you can choose from are explained below.
The Blanket Limit
A blanket limit combines property values into a single coverage amount, providing broader error allowances. Utilize other property limits to avoid underinsuring.
Scheduled Building Limit
Scheduled limits of insurance involve individually listed buildings with their specific coverage limits. Suitable for single or multiple buildings, offering flexibility and cost-effectiveness.
How to Determine the Value of Your Commercial Property Insurance?
Actual Cash Value
Takes your property's replacement cost and deducts depreciation. Thus, the amount you’ll receive depends on what the company believes is the depreciation amount.
Replacement Cost
It's the cost of replacing the damaged item with an alternative that has the same or comparable functions and features without accounting for depreciation.
Fair Market Value
Would be the most probable value of the damaged property if it were to be sold on the market today.
Commercial property insurance is the one-all and be-all for your business. From damaged business equipment to the entire building, business property insurance takes care of your business so that you don’t have to worry about financial strains resulting from any damage to your commercial property.
Types of Commercial Property Insurance
As mentioned earlier, commercial property insurance is a vital tool in your toolkit to protect your business property from any damage. Owing to its vast usage in your business, commercial property insurance includes certain types that may make it easier for you to navigate the road to a secure company.
- Building/ Structure Coverage
This type of coverage covers all the structural damages to your building. If your business incurs damages due to a natural disaster like a tsunami, earthquake, hailstorm, or fire, you will need this type of coverage to swiftly get back on your feet. In addition to natural catastrophes, this coverage will also protect your business from loss due to theft or vandalism.
- Personal Property Coverage
This insurance covers all the physical resources of your company. for example, tables, chairs, laptops, etc.
- Income Coverage
Destruction or impairment of a business’ equipment or the whole building may result in forced closure. Income coverage is employed in such times and covers the lost income of employees during this period and along with any additional operating expenses.
- Valuable Documentation and Record Coverage
After a business building is damaged, it can result in the loss of necessary documentation. To fix this issue, you may employ value documentation and record coverage to get your essential papers back or replaced.
- Equipment Coverage
This coverage aims to fix all your company’s electrical and mechanical units, like a broken elevator, cooling system, heaters, or other electrical appliances.
- Liability coverage
In case any harm to your commercial building causes injuries to an individual or their property, such as bodily injury or vehicle damage, then this is the coverage that will help cover your business from legal settlements or lawsuits.
Additional Benefits of Commercial Property Insurance
In addition to the different types of property insurance that cater to various problems that your business may face, there are some other benefits this insurance provides. Some of them are mentioned below:
- Business Interruption Coverage
When a business faces a theft or natural disaster, the business interruption coverage repays the company for their lost profits due to the unfortunate events.
- Professional Liability Coverage
When a customer blames your business or your contractor for negligence or poor management, this coverage takes liability for their allegations, protecting your business from lawsuits.
- Contractors Equipment Coverage
This coverage helps cover a business’ machines, tools, and special equipment.
- Cyber Liability Coverage
Being a successful business demands being in the limelight and attracts all the more chances of being cyber-attacked. This coverage protects your business from data breaches and cyber bugs.
- Rent Reimbursement Coverage
If a business property is damaged by an unforeseen disaster, then this coverage helps the business’ rent an alternate space as a makeshift workplace for the time being.
Essential Considerations When Buying A Commercial Property Insurance
When making an important decision like buying a commercial property insurance, there are certain things you must consider before proceeding with the sign-up stage.
- Policy Exclusions
When buying commercial insurance Broward County, it’s essential to remember that every policy is unique from the other. This means the policy you buy may have specific limitations or exclusions. For example, they may exclude the damages caused by floods and hurricanes and may not provide coverage for damaged equipment or rent reimbursement.
- Deductibles
In case of a loss or damage, a deductible is that portion of the loss that has to be paid from your pocket. The insurance company pays the remaining amount. Knowing the limit of deductibles makes you aware of the exact amount you’ll be paying and the amount that will be covered by the insurance company.
- Limits Of Coverage
Before signing up for insurance, set a limit for coverage according to your business size. If you select the wrong limits and end up being underinsured, you’ll have to pay for losses out of your pocket.
- Additional Endorsements
You can always buy additional endorsements for extra protection of your business. For example, you can purchase additional endorsements for copyright or infringement to shield your business from copyright attempts.
Leasing vs. Owning: What The Two Have to Offer
Regardless of the ownership of your business property, you will need business insurance Broward County. However, there are a few critical differences in the insurance and coverage options offered to those who lease their business property and those who own a property.
Owning a business property
If you own a business property, you can buy extensive commercial property insurance. This comprehensive insurance plan will safeguard your entire property, including your house, surrounding areas, garage, parking lot, and street signs. Moreover, it is likely required by your property lender, which gives you all the more reasons to buy a commercial property insurance plan.
Leasing a business property
When leasing a property, the leaseholders must buy commercial property insurance to take care of the losses and damage occurring to the business. This coverage does not cover the overall building structure but protects the business investments. This coverage protects fixtures, furnishings, equipment, and appliances that are owned by the company.
Increasing Cost of Insurance Renewal
There are numerous reasons why your insurance cost may be increasing. Some common factors are:
Increasing natural disasters
In 2020, the US climate agencies recorded a significant increase in natural disasters, resulting in damage of over $95 billion, of which $83 billion was covered by the insurance industry. Due to such hikes in natural catastrophes, the insurance industry has to adjust its prices to stay profitable.
Rise In the Construction Costs
One of the main reasons insurance costs rise is the costs of construction materials, which continue to grow over time. Construction costs have hiked by 45% in the last ten years. Hence, insurance companies cannot offer the same prices; otherwise, they would end up getting bankrupt.
The Future Of the Insurance Industry
Considering the increasing prices of insurance renewals, the insurance industry will continue to face drastic effects in the coming years. There will be an increase in the deductibles on certain natural disasters, and more significant business properties that are valued at around ten million dollars and above will have to buy insurance frequently and from different insurance carriers. All of these changes may be overwhelming for new businesses as they pave their way into the market. For this reason, you will need an experienced insurance company to have your back while you rise up to success.
GGA Insurance Group has just the right team of skilled experts, along with a vast experience in handling clients and curating customized insurance plans to safeguard your commercial activities while you skyrocket your business to unprecedented heights.
What Does Commercial Property Insurance Not Cover?
Before signing up for your commercial property insurance, being aware of the risks and losses your policy does not cover is integral. Some general exclusions include loss or damage by floods, earthquakes, terrorism, war and military action, intentional damage, nuclear hazard, and normal wear and tear.
Furthermore, losses such as your customer dropping their laptop because they tripped over something in your office are also not covered. If you’re a construction business and you punch a hole in a client’s wall, it can cause them to sue you or demand recompensation. Such liabilities are also not covered in your commercial property insurance. Lastly, even if you or your employee intentionally attempts to damage your property, the insurance company would not recompense such damage. However, if you still require coverage for the events mentioned below, you can contact our agents, and they will guide you to the appropriate insurance policies for such accidents.
Underinsuring Your Property Can Get You Penalized
Most people lower their property’s insurance limit while signing up for the policy in an attempt to reduce property insurance costs. Since the cost of your commercial property insurance premiums is allocated by multiplying an allocated rate with the value of the property insured, such an endeavor can actually reduce the insurance cost. However, this shortcut has its consequences. Doing this can land your business in coinsurance penalties, which means that you’d be demanded to pay that percentage of the claim which you underinsured. This can gravely affect your claim outcome other than just falling behind on rebuild costs.
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Types of Deductibles and Their Effect on Your Commercial Property Insurance
When discussing deductibles, you think of the amount you’d have to pay out of your own pocket after making a claim. However, there are different types of deductibles that can affect the amount you have to pay.
Per building deductible is the one that’s mentioned in the Broward County commercial insurance policy contract and states your responsibility of paying the deductible on a per-loss and per-building basis. This means your deductible amount returns to its initial state for every building you own and after each damage or loss incurred. This type of deductible is beneficial to those who only own one building, those that have multiple buildings that are located far apart so they can’t be harmed by a single storm, those who pay their deductible according to the replacement cost of the property, and those who can pay deductibles for as many buildings that are insured.
The per occurrence deductible is much more simple and superior to the per building deductible. However, in some cases, it can be the more expensive choice between the two options. The per occurrence deductible states the total amount you’ll be liable to pay per event, regardless of how many buildings attained damage or what was the nature of the damage. If you’re ever presented with an option to choose between the per occurrence and per building deductibles, it would be better to go ahead with the latter option. However, this may not always be the most economical choice for some businesses.
Flat deductibles are preferred by the majority of Broward County business insurance buyers because of their straightforwardness. The specifics of flat deductibles are that in case of any loss or damage, you’d be required to pay a specified amount, for instance, a deductible payment of $5000.
Suppose your deductible amount is $100,000. However, if you can only afford to pay $10,000 and the insurance policy refuses to lower the deductible amount, you can sign up for the deductible buy-down policy, which will cover the difference between the $100,000 and $10,000 so that your deductible amount can be lowered to your affordability.
Percentage deductibles are just like flat deductibles except that instead of a specific amount, you’ll only have to pay a percentage of the value of the building. Normally, this percentage would be between the range of 1% to 5%, given that wind and hail deductible is separated from your standard deductible. This means that if your building value increases, so will your deductible amount. If your property uses a percentage deductible, it’s possible that your deductibles are really high, and your building is located in an area that has high risks of tornados, wind storms, hurricanes, or hail.
Reduce Your Risk Exposure With GGA Insurance Group
GGA Insurance Group works with you to select the best commercial property insurance suited to your needs and budget. Contact us today and start your hassle-free insurance journey.
There are several ways you can employ to reduce the risk exposure of your company. For starters, you can create a schedule to examine your insurance plan regularly. Other than that, you must also frequently check whether the company’s security alarms or sprinkler systems are functioning correctly. This way, you can instantly fix any issues and ensure that your safety equipment will work effectively in case of a disaster. Lastly, it’s crucial to partner with the right insurance company to strengthen your backup plan in case of unforeseeable events. We also help large-scale businesses with consultations about how they can reduce their risk exposure.
Frequently asked questions
While the state does not legally bind you to have commercial property insurance, it’s still something your landlord would expect you to have. This is a typical requirement for leasing property in Broward County. Thus, your landlord may only sign the lease after seeing proof of your commercial property insurance Broward County.
This depends on the location of your property. If it’s located in a hurricane-prone area, then your policy will most probably exclude coverage for wind and hail. However, you can still add this coverage to your policy, but this would dramatically increase your deductible amount. Furthermore, damage from floods is not covered in your commercial insurance Broward County.
Your homeowners’ insurance would not be sufficient if you’re running a home business. Thus, you’ll need a Business Personal Property to safeguard your commercial property at home. BPP insurance is already included in your business insurance Broward County for businesses operating from any location that isn’t the owner’s residence.
No, only the business property present at the business location mentioned in the policy details will be covered. If you wish to extend coverage to your property that is in transit or off-site you can select contractor’s tool and equipment or inland marine insurance coverage.
Business interruption insurance isn’t a part of your Broward County commercial insurance but can be added to it separately. If your commercial operations are halted because of a covered peril, business interruption coverage will make up for the day-to-day expenses, relocation, and lost revenue resulting from the pause in operations.
Coverage of financial records can be provided through accounts receivable insurance, which can be a supplementary addition to your Broward County business insurance. This protects your business from financial losses resulting from damaged accounting records because of a covered disaster. The coverage may include the cost of interest payments, record recovery, and collection costs.
In several parts of the US, such as Broward County, the vast majority of claims are wind or hail claims. This makes it hard for insurance companies to allocate low deductibles on such risks. Thus, a wind and hail deductible helps you maintain a low overall deductible amount while providing sustainable deductibles for insurance companies for such high-frequency disasters.
All businesses that would experience a loss or financial strain if their business property gets damaged require commercial property insurance Broward County to safeguard their commercial assets. Thus, even if you’re an independent contractor, commercial insurance would be a valuable investment and can help meet your business’s lease and loan requirements.
