Tips on how to choose the right insurance company
A local insurance broker breaks down the science of choosing the right insurance company for your business
POLOKWANE – Its hard to find an insurance company that caters to your needs and your pocket. That’s why Review spoke to an insurance broker in the city, Johannes Manamela, about what to take into account when choosing an insurance company.
He said the most important thing is to know what type of insurance your business needs and then finding a reputable company to look at your needs and means to get you the best deal and cover at the best price. Manamela added choosing to insure a business means there is a need for several basic types of insurance which can make or break a company.
These include:
• General liability insurance: Every business, even if home-based, needs to have liability insurance.
• Property insurance: If you own your building or have business personal property, including office equipment, computers, inventory or tools you should consider purchasing a policy that will protect you in the case of a fire, vandalism, theft, and smoke damage among other factors.
• Business owner policy (BOP): These packages all have coverage a business owner would need. Often, BOP’s will include business interruption insurance, property insurance, vehicle coverage, liability insurance, and crime insurance.
• Commercial auto insurance: Commercial auto insurance protects a company’s vehicles.
• Worker’s compensation: Worker’s compensation provides insurance to employees who are injured on the job.
• Directors and officers insurance: This type of insurance protects the directors and officers of a company against their actions that affect the profitability or operations of the company.
• Data breach insurance: If the business stores sensitive or non-public information about employees or clients on their computers, servers or in paper files, they are responsible for protecting that information.
• Life insurance: Life insurance protects an individual against death. If you have life insurance, the insurer pays a certain amount of money to a beneficiary upon your death.
• Personal automobile insurance: Another very important type of insurance is automobile insurance. Automobile insurance covers all road vehicles such as trucks, cars and motorcycles.
“As part of starting out in a company, the most important thing is the understanding when to invest in long– and short-term insurance as this has been a headache for many companies,” he explained.
Short-term insurance is as the name implies, short-term insurance is a form of protection intended to provide you with financial coverage should you need it in the short term.
Long-term insurance refers to a range of insurance products that provide you either with an income in the long term – usually when you retire – or a lump sum of money should you become permanently disabled or pass away.
Manamela said that for the best insurance, there are a few companies that stand out and have been looking after businesses for years. However, he added, the best insurance company is one that has been researched and his advice is to look into several options and to not simply pick the first one you find.
