Malden Business Insurance

Help your business stay profitable by investing in the right insurance products.

Written by Meg Stefanac
Written by Meg Stefanac

Financial blogger and business owner, Meg Stefanac, has more than 15 years experience working in the financial services industry and enjoys helping individuals make solid financial decisions. Meg has extensive experience writing about insurance and finances and is a key contributor to TrustedChoice.com.

Updated

There are more than 4,400 businesses located in the city of Malden. From sole proprietorships to the many stores that line Eastern Avenue, each of these businesses plays an important role in the health of the local economy. Business insurance helps to protect these companies when disaster strikes.

If you are a business owner, a local independent insurance agent can help you build a commercial insurance plan that will provide suitable coverage against all of your company’s potential risks. Find an insurance agent near you to learn more and to compare customized business insurance quotes.

Why Do Businesses in Malden Need Liability Insurance?

Liability lawsuits often result in judgments of $1 million or more. That is why liability insurance is a crucial part of every commercial insurance policy. This insurance is designed to cover the various expenses related to liability lawsuits, including court costs, legal defense fees, and financial damages.

All business insurance policies will include commercial general liability insurance (“CGL”). CGL is designed to cover the most common liability hazards faces by businesses. The coverage offered by these policies includes:

Most businesses will need additional liability policies in order to be fully covered against all of their liability risks. Examples of some of the many commercial liability products you may want to consider include:

  • Cyber liability insurance: This covers your liability expenses if cybercriminals install skimmers on your credit card readers or break into your company’s computer system and steal sensitive customer data like credit card information, social security numbers, or personal data.
  • Employment practices liability insurance: This covers your business against lawsuits related to accusations of illegal employment practices such as discrimination, harassment, breach of contract, and wrongful termination.
  • Environmental liability insurance: This covers cleanup costs and damage if an accident leads to the pollution of the land, air, or water by toxic substances that your company uses or produces.
  • Commercial vehicle liability insurance: This is required if your business owns and operates a vehicle or fleet of vehicles. It can cover your company’s increased liability risks if one of your drivers causes an accident while in a company car.

Talk to a local independent insurance agent to learn more about these and other liability insurance products that are available to you. Your agent can help you determine which, if any, are appropriate for your particular business.

How Does Property Insurance Protect Malden Businesses?

Commercial property insurance is another major part of every business insurance policy package. It is designed to cover loss or damage to your company-owned assets including such things as office furniture, merchandise, inventory, supplies, outdoor signs, tools, machinery, and more.

Businesses in Malden are most at risk for damage caused by property crimes, hurricanes, severe storms, strong winds, hail, heavy snows, and freezing temperatures. Fortunately, these hazards are all covered by commercial property insurance.

In addition to your standard property coverage, you may also want to consider purchasing additional policies such as:

  • Inland marine insurance: This covers your portable business property when it is in transit or at a worksite.
  • Boiler & machinery insurance: This covers business losses related to equipment failure.
  • Bailee insurance: This covers property belonging to your customers whenever it is in your custody, care, or control, such as if you are performing maintenance or repair work on it.

Talk to your local insurance agent to learn more about your various business property coverage options.

A Word about Flood Damage in Malden

Be aware that even though damage caused by severe weather events is typically covered by commercial property insurance, damage caused by floods is not. This is true even when the floods are the direct result of covered events like storms.

Floods pose a serious risk in Malden, particularly during hurricane season when heavy rainfalls can overwhelm drainage systems and lead to flash flooding. That is why supplementing your coverage with a commercial flood insurance policy is a good idea for many business owners in Malden.

Flood insurance policies are guaranteed by the federal government and can provide you with up to $500,000 in structural coverage and $500,000 in property coverage to protect your businesses against this expensive threat.

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Is Business Interruption Insurance a Good Idea in Malden, MA?

A major disaster, like a hurricane or a structure fire, can force you to shut down your business for several weeks while repairs are made. Business interruption insurance is designed to provide your company with a continuation of income during such times.

Disasters in Massachusetts include:

  • Number of federally declared disasters in MA since 1953: 54
  • Most common reasons for declared disasters: Severe storms, hurricanes, and heavy snows
  • Average number of tornadoes in MA per year: 1.4

This optional insurance enables your business to have the income necessary to continue to pay monthly bills, loan installments, employee salaries, and other regular expenses until you are able to resume normal operations. Most policies will provide this coverage for up to twelve months.

Business interruption insurance is not a good fit for all businesses.  A local independent insurance agent can help you evaluate whether or not is it is appropriate for your Malden-based business.

Do Businesses in Malden Need Workers’ Compensation Insurance?

The state of Massachusetts requires all businesses to cover their full- and part-time employees with workers’ compensation insurance. However, there are a few exceptions. For example, it’s not necessary to cover sole proprietors, partners, or LLC members, but you can if you want to. You also do not need to cover:

  • Domestic workers who work fewer than 16 hours a week
  • Real estate agents
  • Salespeople who work for commissions
  • Workers who engage in interstate or international commerce

If an employee suffers an occupational illness or is injured on the job, workers’ compensation insurance can cover the cost of medical treatments, follow-up care, prescriptions, lost wages, and other related expenses.

Rates for this coverage are based on your company’s overall payroll amount, the number of employees you have, and how dangerous their jobs are. Therefore, a roofer or construction worker would cost far more to insure than someone who does their job in an office setting.

A local independent insurance agent help you obtain a competitively priced policy through a commercial provider that specializes in covering businesses like yours. Or with approval, your business may opt to self-insure.

What about Employee Benefits for Businesses in Malden?

As a business owner in Malden, you may want to offer your workers an employee benefits package that includes subsidized health insurance and life insurance options.

  • Annual amount spent on healthcare coverage by MA businesses: $1,064,684,000
  • Average annual cost of health care in MA: $6,379/person or $17,424/family

While it’s true that purchasing health insurance coverage for your employees is expensive, doing so can have money-saving benefits for your company.

Many small businesses that subsidize healthcare coverage qualify for tax benefits. Additionally, studies done by human resource professionals have shown that when businesses offer an attractive benefits package, they can more easily recruit and retain the best employees.

If you want, an independent insurance agent can help you find great coverage at a competitive price. There are several different healthcare policy types for you to choose from, so you may find it beneficial to receive guidance from one of these local insurance professionals when you are looking for the best plan.

Why Work with an Independent Insurance Agent in Malden, MA?

Every business has its own specific insurance coverage needs. That is why when it comes to business insurance, there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all policy. The wide range of insurance products and policy options available to business owners in Malden lets you fully customize your commercial coverage.

A local independent agent can help you navigate through your many options as you build your business insurance policy package. That way, you can be sure you are making choices that are appropriate for your particular business. Contact an insurance agent in Malden to get started.

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https://www.census.gov/quickfacts
https://www.fema.gov/disasters
http://www.naic.org/prod_serv/AUT-PB-14.pdf
https://www.nfib.com/content/legal-compliance/legal/workers-compensation-laws-state-by-state-comparison-57181
https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/hr-topics/benefits/pages/alter-benefits-attract-retain.aspx
https://www.business.org/hr/benefits/top-reasons-to-offer-employee-benefits
http://www.city-data.com