BUSINESS INTERRUPTION INSURANCE
The Importance Of A
Business Interruption Plan
How To Protect Your Business
BY: SGI CANADA
Any business, from the smallest retail shop to the largest distribution plant, would be in a bad place if they had to close their doors for a period of time. While most business owners understand the need for insurance on their building and its contents and for general liability insurance, many don’ t consider all the financial consequences their businesses could suffer from a sudden, temporary shutdown.
Think about the potential impacts. How would you and your family be affected by a sudden drop in business income? Would you be able to keep up with both your personal bills and any regular business expenses such as your mortgage, taxes, and utilities? What about your staff? Without a steady income, would they leave you to find other work?
SGI CANADA’ s business interruption insurance is designed to protect business owners who have to shut down temporarily. This coverage’ s features go beyond those of a standard commercial insurance policy. Business interruption insurance has been designed specifically to help with temporary business closures from a sudden and unexpected loss. It doesn’ t matter if your building has flooded, if a car has driven through the front of your store, or if you’ ve had damage from an electrical fire in your building. Business interruption insurance can help your company stay in the game while you’ re fixing the problem.
Here are some of the important features of SGI CANADA’ s business interruption insurance:
• Loss of Income – Recovering lost income will allow you to continue business operations. This lasts as long as the business takes to reopen or until you reach your previous income level while you’ re trying to get up and running again.( If you were to re-open but your income isn’ t the same as it was before.)
• Continuing Expenses – Just because your business has stopped operating temporarily doesn’ t mean the bills will stop coming, such as utilities, mortgage payments, property taxes, or employee salaries. You could lose contracts, partnerships, or employees if you can’ t continue to make your payments.
• Increased Cost of Working – Relaunching your business may involve extra costs such as overtime or advertising. These costs could be covered if they help to reduce your overall loss.
Many business owners have never heard of business interruption coverage, or they believe that everything will be taken care of by their general commercial or liability policies. It’ s important to know exactly what’ s included in your current policy. It’ s a good idea to review your commercial insurance policy with your broker to make sure you’ re covered for any and all potential gaps.
You may also want to consider adding SGI CANADA’ s extra expense coverage to your business interruption plan. This coverage helps with other expenses, such as the rental or purchase of temporary or new equipment, the costs of operating a temporary location, and the cost to prepare insurance documents if you have a claim.
Can your company really afford to shut down for a week? A month? Several months? Contact your SGI CANADA insurance broker today to protect the future of your business. +
8 | FALL 2016