The Protection Plan Your Firm Can’t Afford To Be Without

For home and business owners throughout Florida, Texas, and many small islands in the Caribbean, 2017 will be a year not easily forgotten.

After an above average hurricane season that witnessed the formation of some of the largest storms on record— Harvey, Irma, and Maria; the staggering amounts of damage and sheer devastation are still being felt months later in some of these most affected areas.

At the midpoint of the 2017 hurricane season Bob Henson, a meteorologist for Weather Underground, went on record with the Tampa Bay Times saying “This season has been an overachiever by almost every index… We’ve had more than a year’s worth of named storms when you look at the long-term average, and that’s being just past the midpoint of the season.”

But what does this say about the future 2018 season? According to Palm Beach Post and by association, Colorado State University, research is showing “60 percent probability that a more active season will unfold, giving a below-average season only a 20 percent probability of occurring.”

Luckily, for homeowners, there is Home Insurance, and for business owners, there is the Business Owners Policy— otherwise referred to as “BOP.”

No One Plans When A Disaster Strikes

When disaster strikes your place of business, the cleanup is often going to prove to be expensive. In regard to hurricanes and other natural disasters, not only is the threat of extensive physical damage enough to send your financials into a downward spiral but often times the sheer amount of time your business is forced to be closed can also be extremely problematic.

Cleaning up, rebuilding, and taking the necessary steps to safeguard against further problems can not only be costly but can also inhibit you from re-opening your doors for businesses. Money may be going out, but it won’t be coming back in until it is safe to open your doors.

This is where a Business Owners Policy (BOP) can come in handy.

While each BOP policy may differ from one another, the most common BOP coverages include the following:

1. Business Personal Property– This form of protection insures losses to your business’s personal property and/or building property.
2. Liability Coverage– This insurance helps to protect against financial loss due to third-party lawsuits. These situations included expenses arising from customer slip and falls, damage to a client’s property, and copyright infringement.
3. Business Interruption – For businesses who find themselves at the mercy of an unplanned shutdown, Business Interruption protection provides funds to the business owner to cover expenses and to make up for lost profits should a business be closed due to a covered cause of loss.

While these are the standard attributes that make up most BOP policies, specific coverages may vary.

Even as early as November of this past year the amount of damages from the 2017 storms had far surpassed the previous record of $159 billion set after the 2005 season when Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, by an easy $41 billion according to an article by National Geographic.

Is your firm ready for the 2018 hurricane season?