Commercial Combined Insurance: Comprehensive Coverage Tailored to Your Business

Businesses face multiple risks. Insurance can protect against some of them. Why not group the insurable risks under a single insurance policy: commercial combined insurance!

When you have an overall picture of things, you can make better decisions. This is true in all areas of management: marketing, sales, technology, human resources, finance, and more. It’s also true for insurance. Rather than considering each risk category separately, it can be helpful for a business to consider all the elements together. That way, it can cover all of its insurable risks under a single commercial combined insurance contract.

Commercial combined insurance is designed to meet the needs of businesses. It usually covers risks concerning:

• Company assets
• Civil liability
• Operating losses
• Crime
• Goods during transport

Property insurance is often the first type of insurance any business owner thinks of. It covers the company’s buildings, inventory, materials, equipment, and furniture and protects the company in the event of damage—after losses such as fire—and in the event of theft.

This insurance is a must for any business that wants to take out a commercial loan: banks require their corporate clients to hold property insurance before granting them financing.

General liability insurance is another essential component in managing a company’s risks. It protects the company against any financial or bodily injury it may cause to a third party.

This third party may be a company customer who has a house fire or is injured due to a defective product, for example. In addition to its products, a company’s environment could also cause damage to others. People often cite the case of a passer-by who slips and falls in front of a poorly maintained store entrance during the winter.

When a company causes material or physical injury to a third party, that party is generally entitled to claim financial compensation. In the event of proceedings against the company, general liability insurance covers the costs of legal defence and, if the company is found liable, it will cover compensation to the victim of the damage.

Business interruption insurance compensates a company for lost income due to a covered loss, depending on the policy limit. For a business hit by a fire just before the holiday season, this insurance can be an irreplaceable lifeline. It can allow a service company to continue paying key employees during a transition period, thereby retaining them and protecting the company’s valuable human capital. This insurance also allows the company, if necessary, to temporarily relocate if its premises become unusable.

Crime insurance protects a company against misappropriation, disappearance, and petty offences. It covers the financial value of losses not covered by property insurance. More specifically, it protects the company against:

• Misappropriation of funds or goods by an employee
• The unexplained disappearance or destruction of money or securities
• The offence of accepting counterfeit banknotes or money orders through error or carelessness
• The production of forged cheques issued from your account by a fraudster

This insurance applies both on and off the company’s premises—near ATMs and bank night deposit boxes, for example. If necessary, crime insurance coverage can be extended to computer fraud and embezzlement through transfer of funds.

Freight transportation insurance is particularly useful for manufacturers, distributors, and retailers. While property insurance protects goods on the company’s premises, freight transportation insurance protects them when they are moving from suppliers to customers.

By combining these five types of insurance, or those that are relevant to your business, commercial combined insurance provides a one-stop solution perfect for managing the risks you face.

The content of this article does not constitute a legal opinion.