Traveling for Business & Your Business Insurance
No matter how much you pride your Massachusetts, New Jersey, or Connecticut business on being local, you may need to travel for business trips, retreats, trade shows, etc. Are there any insurance changes you need to make before leaving? Should you add any liability? Does the type of trip it is or the number of employees matter? Having business insurance when you travel is important, especially for the following scenarios:
- Retreats & Orientations
- Conventions and Trade Shows
- Off-Premise Business
Retreats & Orientation
Retreats and orientations can be a great way for your company to get together and have fun. They are an opportunity for you staff to learn, bond, and become more cohesive. However, before holding a retreat, you may way to evaluate your small business insurance. Though retreats and orientations are exciting events, things can go wrong. You’ll want to have proper coverage, especially if your employees have traveled.
Trust activities and team-bonding games are common during retreats, but sometimes people accidentally get hurt while participating. Would you be covered if something went wrong? Unfortunately, there is no simple answer. Each business and business insurance policy is unique. Speaking to an agent will help clear up any questions. Your agent may suggest purchasing or adding on more coverage for the event. If an employee is injured, it may be covered by a workers’ comp policy as they were engaging in a work-related activity. Every situation is different and it would be best to address concerns with your agent before leaving.
There may be activities and events that your employees partake in which are not part of your business retreat. If something happens to an employee outside of the retreat, you may not be liable. However they could still make a case against you because they were “away with business”. To avoid this, you will want to have enough workers comp insurance. Retreats are meant to be a fun company get-away. It would be unfortunate for insurance to ruin your event.
Conventions & Trade Shows
Trade shows and conventions are common business trips. They’re a great way for your brand to gain exposure, meet clients, and network with other businesses. But before going, there are some insurance concerns to address. Going to shows may require bringing a lot of things with you, which could include some big giveaway items.
What if you leave your booth and your items are stolen? Or what happens if you leave things overnight and they disappear?
The good news is that as long as you have off premises business personal property exposure coverage, your belongings should be covered. You’ll want to have this coverage before you go as it will cover typical business items. For more expensive things, you may want to get extra coverage.
In addition to coverage for your belongings, you will want to make sure you have liability coverage in case an incident occurs at your booth. Often, the event host will require you to list them on your policy. Depending on what items you will have in your booth, you may want to speak to both the vendor and your insurance company.
You can also get event insurance if you feel necessary. Sometimes, vendors will require you to have this coverage. But in most cases, you will not need the extra coverage. However, if you want to add event insurance, your business coverage may include this for an additional fee.
Business Away from Your Main Business Location
business trip and conducting your business off-site are common practices. From an accounting company doing their auditing on site or photographers who find themselves going to a client’s venue, traveling for business is sometimes necessary. Off premises business personal property exposure is available to those who travel. Similar to how homeowners’ insurance coverage still applies to personal goods when you leave your home, your business insurance coverage still applies when you leave your main business location.
If your business takes you to a different state or country, you talk to agent to make sure that your business insurance coverages are making the journey with you. The majority of liability coverage is country-wide and may even include other territories. If you are a wedding photographer shooting at a destination wedding in Puerto Rico, chances are you will have liability coverage. Checking with your commercial agent is the best way to know if you are covered.
If you are conducting business on another business’ property, both you and the other business should check your policies. You never want to risk not having enough coverage.
Excess liability insurance is another an option for when you travel. Having enough liability for your business is one of the best things that you can do to help protect you assets.
Recent Comments