No Policy Can Do Everything – Even Garage Insurance
Your Carolina Garage Insurance policy does a lot. In fact, you probably assume that it does, well, everything. These are complete packaged policies that are supposed to protect you from just about anything that life can throw at you, right?
And generally that’s true. These policies are really awesome. They protect you from property damage with Business Property coverage, from customers getting hurt with General Liability coverage, from Employees getting hurt with Workers Comp coverage, and from something happening while you have a customer’s vehicle with Garagekeepers and Garage Liability coverage.
That’s a ton of coverage. But, honestly, it really isn’t everything. So what does it NOT cover?
I’m going to highlight three major holes in your garage insurance policy. One of them is surprising, because it shouldn’t be a hole at all – it’s kind of a loophole people try to use to avoid paying for more insurance.
The second is not always included in garage insurance policies and is a huge need in today’s business world.
And the third is a hole that most businesses say they don’t need because it will never, ever happen.
But, if things happened the way the majority of business owners thought they would, Alliance Insurance wouldn’t be in business.
So let’s dig in and go over these holes in your coverage so you can know what you need to patch up to be totally protected.
Commercial Auto Insurance Should Be Standard in Your Garage Insurance Policy
Boss, the delivery is going to be a little late.
You probably just read that headline and went, “What the heck? I thought Business Auto was a normal part of the policy?”
And it should be. But should does not always equal does. Let me explain.
Some businesses look to cut down on insurance costs by claiming that they don’t have work vehicles. The owner of an employee has a North Carolina weighted pick up truck for “personal” use, and if they use it to haul work materials or equipment, it’s not big deal, right?
Or what about another situation. An auto dealer let’s a customer borrow a personal vehicle while their service center fixes the customer’s car.
Or when someone uses their personal van to deliver tires to a customer bought them in order to fix up their own hobby cars.
Nothing wrong with any of that, right?
Wrong.
If you use a personal vehicle for a work purpose, and there is an accident, you can be denied a claim. Period, end of story.
If the weighted truck hits a mother and daughter on their way to daycare and puts them in the hospital? You could be paying out of pocket for hundreds of thousands of dollars depending on the medical bills, let alone if there is a lawsuit.
This is a major issue that we hear about all the time. And the sad news is that it is usually the smaller dealers and auto body shops that do this in order to cut costs.
It simply isn’t worth it to risk losing your entire business to one accident just to save a few bucks a month.
Employment Practices Liability Insurance Should Be Standard Practice
That “Just Filed a Wrongful Termination Suit” Feeling
One of the largest sources of risk that an employer has is from his employees. But most garage insurance policyholders in North Carolina assume that with Workers Comp, they are covered from all of the bad things that can happen because of their employees.
This is so very, very wrong.
One of the most common lawsuits that happen to businesses come from your employees. Employment Practices lawsuits cover things like Wrongful Termination, Sexual Harassment, and Toxic Workplace Environment.
I know some of you are probably laughing. My employees suing me for telling them to do their jobs? Or firing them for not showing up on time? Give me a break.
But the numbers don’t lie. As I say in my larger blog on this subject, 60% of employers have faced one of these lawsuits in the past five years. Think about that. Odds are someone you know has had an employee sue them.
You’re much more likely to have an employee sue you than you are to have a fire, or have lightning strike, or to have something stolen. But you don’t think it is crazy to have insurance to protect you from those risks.
In fact, you’d be crazy not to.
So it’s time to see this risk for exactly what it is – a hole in your coverage that exposes you to one of the most likely causes of loss you can have.
Adding Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI) to your North Carolina Garage Insurance Policy is just good business.
Excess Liability Coverage Should be Normal, Not Excessive
Oh, I think we can get more than $3 Million, Bob.
Language is powerful. We see words and just expect that they mean what they say. Take Excess Liability for example.
You may not know what that is. And, if you just looked at the word, you’d probably think it is what it says, “excess,” especially the second definition of it according to Dictionary.com:
2 : undue or immoderate indulgence : INTEMPERANCE also : an act or instance of intemperance
But it’s actually this definition:
1a: the state or an instance of surpassing usual, proper, or specified limits
So what does that all mean? It means that this is liability protection that goes beyond the specified limits of your General Liability or Garage Liability policy. It’s EXTRA protection.
And not just that. It’s a ton of it. It’s SUPER protection.
Lawsuits are just expensive now. That’s the reality of the world we live in today. And if you have $1,000,000 in liability coverage a single accident involving deaths can lead to a lawsuit that blows through that coverage in no time.
Especially if a judge wants to make an example out of you. Punitive awards can make legal costs skyrocket.
Excess Liability, also known as Commercial Umbrella Policy (still a vague antiquated term), kicks in when you run out of liability coverage on your other policies. It can be for truly amazing amounts of coverage, too.
So, while the name implies that it is “excess,” the reality is that it is necessary in today’s business world.
But a lot of policies don’t include it in the standard Garage Insurance package. Or business owners reject it because they are trying to save a few bucks a month.
This is life-saving stuff. The risks that Excess Liability protects you from are business-killers.
Not having it is a major hole in your protection.
Do I Actually Need This Stuff?
I don’t know.
I know you’re saying, “Wait, what? This guy just lectured me on all of this stuff and now he says I don’t need it?”
But there’s a reason. At Alliance Insurance, we don’t want to sell you anything you don’t need. Ever.
But if we don’t talk to you, how will we ever know if you need something or not?
Odds are you need this, that these coverages are big gaps in your North Carolina Garage Insurance policy.
But the only way you will know for sure is to talk to one of our Garage Insurance Experts.
So click on the Next Step below and let’s get you talking to someone who could save your business. Literally.
