Missouri Home Business Insurance
How to find a local adviser in minutes
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Candace Jenkins is a licensed insurance advisor with over a decade of experience. She is also a writer and loves to write on all things insurance. Candace writes for TrustedChoice.com on a continuous basis and is here with the facts about all your insurance inquiries.
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Jeff Green has held a variety of sales and management roles at life insurance companies, Wall street firms, and distribution organizations over his 40-year career. He was previously Finra 7,24,66 registered and held life insurance licenses in multiple states. He is a graduate of Stony Brook University.
There are 532,277 small businesses in Missouri. When you're operating your company out of your residence, there are some things you need to know. Home-based business insurance is an option and can be reviewed with a trained professional.
An independent insurance agent will help you find a policy for a fair price. They work with several carriers so that you get the best deal in town. Connect with a local expert to get started.
What Is Home-Based Business Insurance?
Your home-based business insurance can be as simple as endorsing your home coverage, or as complex as acquiring many different policies. First, you should understand what options you have. The following protection could be utilized for your Missouri home business:
- Liability insurance: Pays for lawsuits for bodily injury, property damage, or slander.
- Equipment breakdown insurance: Pays for the replacement or repair of business equipment that breaks down due to a power surge, outage, and more.
- Business property insurance: Pays to replace or repair any damaged business property due to a covered peril.
- Professional liability: Pays for legal fees when you're sued due to possible faulty professional services offered.
What Does Home Business Insurance Cover?
There are numerous exposures your Missouri home-based business insurance can cover. You'll have a couple of choices about how to get started depending on your risk. Check out some options below:
- Homeowners policy coverage: If you simply do desk work from your home office and don't have any business property or any other risk exposures, then you may be able to extend coverage from your homeowners policy. This coverage will only give you your current liability limit, and that's pretty much it.
- Separate business policy coverage: If you have a more robust business with equipment, inventory, business property, and more, you'll need separate business insurance. These policies may need to come from your home insurance carrier, depending on their guidelines. The policies can include general liability, commercial auto, business property, equipment breakdown, professional liability, and more.
Basic perils on your homeowners insurance may extend to your home-based business. Things like liability and property damage could be covered. This will all depend on your carrier and what industry you represent.
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What Doesn't Home Business Insurance Cover?
With any commercial insurance policy, exclusions will apply. The type of business you have will determine the kind of protection necessary. Typical Missouri policies will not include the following coverages without adding them separately:
- Inventory: If you have business inventory, your policy will not provide coverage for its replacement or repair. You will need a business property policy that endorses this protection.
- Business equipment breakdown: Equipment breakdown due to a power outage or more will not be covered under your home or standard business policies without manually adding it beforehand.
- Customers on the premises: If you have customers showing up at your house to pick up an item or come inside for business purposes, your policy could exclude this. Most homeowners policies will prohibit this risk. Some business policies may pick up this exposure depending on what's involved.
- Commercial auto: If you use your vehicle to run your business, you may need a commercial auto policy. This is separate insurance that will need to be quoted and is not automatically included.
- Professional liability: If you offer professional services like accounting, you'll need to have your own professional liability coverage for any poor advice or negligence that could occur. Your standard business insurance policies will not provide coverage for this type of lawsuit.
Do Home-Based Businesses Need Insurance?
In Missouri, $7,615,718,000 in commercial insurance claims were paid in 2020 alone. While you may not think business insurance is necessary when working from your home, it is. Without coverage, you could be denied a loss on your homeowners policy if not properly endorsed.
When your company operates out of your home, both assets are at risk. Since you work at your residence, you'll need to have adequate protection for your home and business. You can do this by adding coverage to your homeowners policy or by obtaining separate commercial insurance.
How to Connect with a Missouri Independent Agent
If you're not a trained professional in Missouri, your business insurance could be on the line. There are several things you may not be aware of when searching for home-based business coverage. A trusted adviser can review your policies for free and point you in the right direction.
An independent insurance agent has access to multiple carriers so that you get the best protection for an affordable price. Since they work on your behalf at no cost, you'll save big-time. Connect with a local expert on TrustedChoice to get started.