Understanding Business Income Insurance
As a business owner, you know that unexpected events can disrupt your operations and impact your bottom line. Whether it's a fire or vandalism, it's essential to have a plan in place to protect your company and its finances. This is where business income insurance, or business interruption insurance, comes in.
This coverage can be included in commercial property insurance policies and provides coverage for income lost, and there is also an option to cover expenses incurred to mitigate the loss. It can replace lost revenue, so your business can meet ongoing expenses like rent, mortgage, payroll, and other costs necessary to keep your firm running.
What does Business Income Insurance Cover?
This insurance can help pay for expenses resulting from the closure of your company due to building damage caused by:
- Vandalism
- Fire
- Windstorm or tornado
- Riot
- Weight of snow causing roof collapse
- Catastrophic ground collapse
What Can Business Income Pay For?
You can use the business income claim proceeds to:
Rent or mortgage payments: If your business cannot operate due to a covered loss, you may still be responsible for rent or mortgage payments on your business property.
Payroll: Even if your business cannot operate, you may want to keep your employees and continue paying them.
Utilities: Even if operations are disrupted, as the business owner, you may still be responsible for paying for utilities such as electricity and water if operable.
Extra Expense Coverage: This can include costs incurred to rush order replacement equipment or temporary relocation expenses.
How does Business Income Coverage Work?
Business interruption applies when losses from fire, vandalism, wind damage, and other perils cause direct physical damage to the building occupied by your business. This is the trigger for coverage to apply; the building must suffer physical damage from a covered peril that renders the business inoperable. Even if your business is a tenant in the building that suffers the covered damage, loss of business income can be insured.
If a windstorm were to damage your restaurant's roof, causing leaks and damaging the interior, furniture, and equipment, this could force you to shut down the restaurant until the repairs are completed.
Business income insurance in this situation would replace your net revenue loss incurred because you had to halt company operations. Remember that there may be a waiting period of 48-72 hours before reimbursement can begin.
Restoration Period
The restoration period is an essential aspect of business income coverage. It determines the length of time that the policy helps pay for lost income and extra expenses incurred while a company's property is being restored.
The restoration period begins on the date of the loss and ends when the company's operations can resume with reasonable speed. The restoration period is usually 30 to 60 days under business income coverage, but you can extend this by purchasing a policy endorsement.
Exclusions
Business income insurance provides essential coverage for firms likely to suffer disruptions in operations caused by covered events. These include industries where the revenue is directly tied to a physical location. Retail, restaurant, manufacturing, and hotels are a few. If you only have office operations, the work performed there most likely could be done remotely via the Internet, and therefore, you may not realize a loss of revenue.
But it is important to understand that there are exclusions to this coverage. Anything excluded from a property policy will also apply to business income coverage. Some of the standard exclusions include loss from:
- Flood
- Earthquake, landslide, mine subsidence, volcanic eruption
- Ordinance or Law
- Fungus, wet rot, dry rot, and bacteria
- Utilities (limited coverage may be available by endorsement)
- Nuclear, War, Military Action
- Cyber Attacks
- Equipment breakdown
It is essential to carefully review the terms and conditions of the property and business income policy. Talk to an experienced insurance agent to ensure your company is optimally protected against risks.
How Much Business Income Coverage Do I Need?
The amount of coverage you need will depend on your company's specific needs. Factors to consider include your firm's revenue, ongoing expenses, and the potential for lost income in case of a covered claim under the insurance.
Endorsements
You can also add various coverages to enhance your policy limits, such as:
Dependent properties' coverage: Dependent properties' coverage is a type of insurance that can trigger a client's loss of income coverage when dependent properties are damaged by a covered peril which causes their business to lose revenue.
For example, a supplier to your manufacturing company experiences a fire that closes their business. This can affect your business operations, too, having a loss of income because your manufacturing ceases due to a lack of material. In such cases, dependent properties' coverage can cover losses incurred due to insured property damage to the building of suppliers and other third parties that are essential to your business operations.
Extra expense coverage: This insurance covers additional expenses incurred by an insured to minimize the business income loss. For example, if a fire damages your office, extra expense coverage can help cover renting a temporary office space and expediting new equipment.
It is important to note that extra expense coverage is not the same as business interruption insurance, which covers the regular amount of lost income.
Utility services endorsement: This additional endorsement added to the business income provides coverage for income loss or extra expenses incurred by a business due to a covered utility service interruption. It typically includes coverage for disruption in the water supply, communication supply, or power outage caused by damage to off-premises property, such as power stations, sub-stations, lines, or transformers. The endorsement reimburses the insured for lost income or additional expenses during the period of the utility service interruption.
Civil authority coverage: This coverage can grant coverage for lost income when access to the insured's premises is prohibited or impaired due to actions taken by a civil authority.
When a government agency or law enforcement prohibits access to the insured property due to a covered peril (such as a fire, flood, or other physical damage), the endorsement extends coverage to the insured for resulting business income losses or extra expenses.
Final Thoughts
Business income insurance coverage is a necessary coverage that can help protect your company's finances in the event of a covered loss. By understanding how the coverage works, you can make informed decisions about coverage to purchase for your business.
Get your business insured today with Insurance Advisor. We offer various coverage solutions, helpful tips, guides, and business insights. Don't hesitate to reach out; our licensed agents are always happy to help!