When you are a business owner, you want to ensure that your company is protected in case anything happens. Many businesses take out insurance policies but may not consider having excess liability insurance.
If a report is to be believed, excess premiums have been skyrocketing and are likely to rise further in coming years. However, even if you are a business owner, you must have excess liability insurance in place. It will help you safeguard against any accident or mishap at work.
In this blog post, we will discuss some of the benefits of having an excess liability insurance policy so that you can make an informed decision about whether or not this type of coverage is right for your business.
It Provides Coverage to Assets
Excess liability insurance provides coverage for assets. That means that if you have an accident on your property and someone gets hurt, the excess liability policy will protect your assets from any lawsuits related to the accident. According to the US Department of Justice, 52% of personal injury cases are motor vehicle accidents.
In other words, excess liability insurance ensures that if someone sues you for damages from a motor vehicle accident or property damage caused by you or one of your employees, they cannot get their hands on any of your personal property until after their claim (and any potential future claims) has been resolved. If there were no excess liability insurance, then it would be up to the injured party’s lawyer to go after all of your cash and investments to satisfy his client’s claims against you.
Affordable Premiums
Excess liability insurance is one of the market’s most affordable types of insurance. It’s less expensive than other types of coverage, such as life and disability. That’s because the premiums are based on the value of your assets, and that value changes very little over time.
In addition to being affordable, excess liability policies have fixed premiums; they don’t increase year after year like many other types of policies do. And finally, even though you may spend more money upfront for this type of policy than others (due to its higher payout limits), it will pay off in the long run by saving you money now and then.
Tax Benefits
Excess liability insurance is a tax-free benefit. If you are self-employed, you can deduct the cost of your excess liability insurance from your income so that it does not have to be included in your taxable income.
If you have an employer-sponsored group health plan, then the company may pay for some or all of your excess liability insurance as part of their employee benefits package. In this case, it’s important to check with human resources to learn what expenses are covered under your plan and how much they can help pay or reimburse toward each type of expense before purchasing coverage on your own.
Lawsuit Protection
In the US, over 100 million cases are filed yearly in state trial courts, and around 400,000 are filed in federal trial courts. If someone were to sue you because something bad happened on your property or because of something you did or didn’t do, having this insurance would help pay for your legal fees and any other expenses associated with the lawsuit until it is resolved. And since there are many different kinds of lawsuits, it’s hard to know exactly what kind of protection this insurance will provide when it comes time for an actual lawsuit. But one thing is clear, whoever wins the case should be compensated financially by their insurer.
The second benefit is that this type of insurance protects people who have been sued but haven’t been found liable yet; the insurer will pay out even if they’re found not guilty at trial. Most people don’t want their insurers paying out until after everything has been decided; otherwise, they might lose their home or business as collateral damage while waiting for their innocence to be proven true, which could mean losing everything.
Expanded Coverage Options
Excess liability insurance can be purchased with a standard business owner’s policy. It provides coverage for things like your personal assets, your business assets and liabilities, and even your business income. If you have employees or are running a sole proprietorship business, then excess liability insurance is smart to ensure that an unexpected lawsuit doesn’t compromise your livelihood.
Excess liability policies are often underwritten by some of the same companies that provide standard policies, but since they’re not required by law (unlike standard policies), there’s no need for them to cater to everyone’s needs. It means that there are far more options available through an excess policy than when buying from a company that only sells basic coverages out of necessity rather than desire.
Bottomline
If you’re self-employed, you must have excess liability insurance because your business is at risk of being sued if someone is injured on your property or by an employee. You could also be sued if there is a breach of contract or copyright infringement on behalf of a client company. If this happens, the suit would likely be filed against you, resulting in high legal costs and penalties.
Excess liability insurance can be a good solution to protect your investments and personal assets. It’s important to ensure that you have enough coverage for the most valuable things in your life.
