When I got my kids a dog, I had no idea that it could affect my homeowners insurance. I happened to run into my insurance agent in the store when I was buying dog food and he asked me what kind of dog we had. When I told him, he said I should stop in the office the next day. I had no idea that things like this could affect premiums, so I started asking what else could do it as well. I created this site to help others understand some of the finer points of homeowners insurance and what they should think about to manage their rates.
As a handyman, you are exposed to multiple business risks like other small businesses. For example, your business may be sued for causing injuries to third parties or you may lose your work tools in an accident. Here are some of the types of business insurance coverage you may need to protect yourself from such risks:
Commercial Auto Insurance
If you are currently relying on your private auto insurance when responding to client calls, then you should know that you are doing yourself a disservice. Your personal auto insurance policy won't come to your rescue if you are involved in a car accident in the course of the job. Instead, you need to buy commercial auto insurance coverage that you can rely upon for job-related car accidents. Otherwise, you might find yourself having to dip into your business or personal savings if you, for example, lose control and crash into a parked car when coming back from a repair job.
General Liability Insurance
General liability insurance protects you from claims made against you in the line of your job. For example, if you make a mistake while fixing a customer's hot water heater and it ends up burning them, it is your general liability insurance that will cover the customer's losses. Another example of where the coverage may help you is if you, perhaps, were working on a customer's roof and a tool falls through the roof and breaks something, like their expensive TV set.
Equipment Insurance
Your tools and equipment are probably your biggest assets, and your business would suffer if you were to lose them, like in a fire or in a theft, for example. The loss would be particularly great if you have spent years and thousands of dollars in acquiring the tools and equipment. With equipment insurance coverage, however, your insurance carrier will help you recover the loss.
Inland Marine Insurance
As a handyman, you probably find yourself on the road every day. This makes sense because most of the jobs you may be doing are handled on customers' properties. As you will probably also have your tools and equipment with you, this means an accident on the road could easily end up costing you thousands of dollars' worth of tools and equipment. Note that such expensive loses may be excluded from your commercial auto insurance policy or from your property insurance coverage but would be included with Inland Marine Insurance.
The above are just a few examples of the coverage you may need for your business. Talk to a commercial insurance agent for further information on insurance coverage for your business.
Share19 September 2018
