Hyannis Business Insurance

Find the right business insurance policy for you.

Ann Herro, Insurance Expert Written by Ann Herro
Ann Herro, Insurance Expert
Written by Ann Herro

Ann Herro has been writing about insurance and employee benefits for over 15 years. She has covered topics as easy as insuring a car, and as difficult as transparency in healthcare costs.

Updated

As a tourist town, Hyannis, MA has a lot of opportunities for a budding entrepreneur. Whether you’re opening a shop or a restaurant, there is a steady stream of customers waiting for you. But with all the things you need to open your dream business, it’s critical to not skimp on insurance, as it is what protects your investment when things go wrong. How good is it to do business in Massachusetts? Consider these figures from recent years:

  • There were 615,775 small businesses.
  • They employed 1.4 million people.
  • But these businesses realized a total of $6.5 million for insurance claims in recent years.

The dynamic and growing small-business climate is a great asset, but the right Hyannis commercial insurance is essential to managing the potential liabilities that come with it. While your business insurance needs are daunting and complex, your Independent Insurance Agent is there to help you understand them. Your agent will help you navigate your many options and will find you multiple quotes from many different agencies so that your business has the right insurance for you to operate at the lowest possible cost.

The portfolio that will protect your business starts with general liability insurance. This coverage handles any event on your property to customers, delivery personnel or visitors of any kind. Because the cost of an injury is essentially unlimited, your business needs to be protected. How expensive can an injury on your property be? A recent Travelers Business Risk survey found the following:

  • 60% of all businesses said medical cost inflation was the biggest concern.
  • 30% said that they felt unprepared to handle this risk.

That is only the start of the liability coverage your Hyannis business needs, however. If you make any product or provide a service, you need product liability insurance for events that take place away from your premises. The Insurance Information Institute found in recent years that 71 percent of product liability awards, as well as 53 percent of medical malpractice awards, were for more than $1 million.

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Business Interruption Insurance for Hyannis Businesses

When something beyond your control happens, you may not be able to conduct normal business. This may be as simple as an extended power outage or a major problem like a fire or water pipe break. Whatever the reason, business interruption insurance fills the gaps until you can get back up and operating. It’s based on the revenue you took in before the event that puts you temporarily out of business. 

It pays out until you can resume normal operations again and ensures that your continuing bills, such as rent and electricity, are covered. This insurance is often the difference between a business that can survive a serious event and one that cannot. Business interruption insurance is vital for covering unforeseen circumstances that can keep you closed for a long time.

Property Insurance for Hyannis Businesses

When there is a major event that keeps you from operating, the next thing to consider is putting everything back together and fixing the damage. That’s what property insurance is for. Whether you rent space or you own it yourself, property insurance is essential for fixing whatever goes wrong and getting the doors open as soon as possible. The right Hyannis commercial insurance for you isn’t always the lowest cost option for this reason. Far too many businesses try to cover their losses on their own, often with disastrous results:

  • There were 119 recent natural disasters in the U.S.
  • Only 61% of the damage they caused was covered by insurance.
  • Uninsured losses came to $9.7 billion, which businesses had to cover out of pocket to reopen.

There are many reasons your property might suffer damage. Fire and storms are the most common, but there are many other unforeseen events covered by the right insurance policy. Saving money may seem like a good idea in good times, but when disaster strikes, you want good coverage that gets your business’s doors open quickly.

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Save on Business Insurance

Our independent agents shop around to find you the best coverage.

Workers' Compensation for Hyannis Businesses

There is much more to getting the best business insurance than just finding liability and property coverage. You also have to take care of your workers, starting with workers' compensation as required by Massachusetts state law. Workman’s comp, as it is usually known, is insurance that pays out to your employees if they are injured on the job and unable to work. It doesn’t matter if the injury is from a single event or from repetitive stress over the years - if they can’t work for a period of time, they are covered.

The cost of the policy is based on either your history of employee claims or, in the case of a new business, the rates seen by similar businesses with similar tasks in the area. Nationally, this averaged out to $1.27 for each $100 in wages in recent years, which comes to $612 per employee. There are many things you can do to keep this cost low. Your Independent Agent can help you identify areas where equipment or procedures can be put in place to reduce the chance of injury and help you to find a more affordable policy to cover the sometimes high cost of workman’s comp.

Employee Coverage for Hyannis Businesses

Employers spend more on health insurance than for any other business insurance category. A total of $1,061,981 was paid for employee health care coverage in Massachusetts in recent years. An average single person health plan cost employers $6,379 while a family policy ran $17,424. But it is only one of the kinds of coverage you may want to offer to your employees. Options include the following:

  • Health Plan Insurance: This is required by law for companies with 50 or more employees, but many smaller businesses are opting to provide this coverage as a service for their loyal workers.
  • Life Insurance: In case something happens to your employee, you may want your business to cover the employee and protect their family.
  • Disability Insurance: Similar to life insurance, this pays out when an employee cannot work anymore for any reason.

Many Hyannis businesses offer packages for their employees to keep the best ones and reward loyalty. You spend a little more on insurance but save on training while keeping service and quality high. It’s worth considering depending on your situation.

Cyber Crime Insurance for Hyannis Businesses

There are still more types of insurance that your business needs to have, some of which are in areas you might never think of. For example, 5,116 identity thefts were reported recently in Massachusetts. Policies are available to protect your business at affordable rates, assuming you take a few precautions of your own and work with your insurance carrier. 

This is one of the main reasons why a good relationship with your Hyannis based Independent Agent is absolutely critical. Your agent can assess the needs of your business and explain to you how a wide variety of policies work for you. When you know you are covered for anything beyond your control, you can concentrate on what you do best — running your business for a brighter future. 

Talk to your agent today.

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