Commercial Insurance

> The Benefits of Commercial Insurance Policy
> Quick Guide to Commercial Insurance Policy
> Frequently Asked Questions
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The Benefits of Commercial Insurance Policy

Property Insurance

Property insurance covers the damage caused to your property due to unexpected fire, burglary and/or natural perils. They are designed to also protect your ongoing construction projects from various kinds of damages, even before the project is completed and ready for inhabitation. You can now effectively insure your warehouse, the goods stored in them and goods stored in the factory from any form of damage that could lead to huge loss in finances.

Marine Insurance

With marine insurances, cover all your ships, goods and cargo transported by means of sea, rail, road, air or waterways, from all kinds of risks during a journey. Various risks that prevail during goods transportation are: damage to goods or the damage to the vessel/vehicle itself. You can insure your shipments whether imported or exported, from several risks. This also covers goods that move across several locations before final delivery.

Liability Insurance

Protect yourself against unexpected liability claims arising from third parties, due to bodily injury or property damage or from customers due to deficiency and negligence in service. Liability insurances can also protect key executives and directors from litigation brought about by their role in the company. This insurance covers the cost of litigation and the final court awards. These insurances help in coping with any unnecessary litigation.

Specific Liability Risk

There are certain insurances like cyber risk, commercial crime insurance and carriers’ legal liability that are made for specific industries. Cyber risk will protect you from the financial loss due to failure of IT systems. Carriers’ legal liability protects fleet owners and transporters from damage to goods and merchandise transported in the vehicle. Commercial crime insurance covers financial services companies from a variety of criminal acts.

Quick Guide to Commercial Insurance Policy

Definition of Commercial Insurance

The purpose of a commercial insurance is to keep the business up and running by protecting it from potential losses from accidents. Commercial insurances are classified into 3 broad headers: Liability, Marine and Property insurance.

Relevant Commercial Insurance for your business

To answer the question - How to choose commercial insurance that suits your business? Choosing the right commercial insurance can be a solution to most of your business’ issues and this requires proper evaluation based on the industry of operation.

Nature of business: Every business has its own set of operations and risks. This is the reason why a pizzeria will have a different commercial line insurance compared to a truck manufacturing company. Hence, different commercial insurances.
Place of business: Warehouses, factories and an IT office have different risk exposures. So, it’s important to have commercial insurance plans that provide appropriate coverage.
Operational risks: Operations in a business give rise to contingencies. Labor unrests, breakdowns and other operational risks also need to be covered. A commercial insurance liability will give you protection against these.
Employee benefits: Running a business cannot be possible without its employees. It is important to provide adequate insurance cover for your employees against the many odds that may arise during a day-to-day operation.

Types of Commercial Line Insurance

We have a vast range of commercial insurance policies to back your business against all the odds.

The types of commercial insurance policies available are:

Liability Insurance

Carrier legal liability
Commercial Crime
Commercial General Liability
Cyber Risk
Directors & Officers Liability
Errors & Omissions
Product Liability
Title Insurance
Trade Credit Insurance

Marine Insurance

Export & Import Insurance
Inland Transit Insurance
Marine Hull Insurance
Multimodal Transport Operator
Specific Transit Insurance

Property Insurance

Art Insurance
Construction All Risk
Engineering All Risk
Factory & Warehouse Insurance
Motor Fleet Insurance
Office Insurance
Property & Equipment Insurance for Clinics, Labs & Hospitals

Risks covered under Commercial Insurance

Protection from litigation costs - If a lawsuit is filed against you, the costs can be prohibitive. Even before the case is decided you could be out of business. Good liability insurances pay defense costs immediately even before the courts pass judgment. In some cases, the insurer will recommend lawyers and even take on the responsibility of defending you.
Protection from theft - Cover yourself for the cost of goods and equipment that have been stolen from your factory or warehouse. Also cover the shipments which are being transported by any means of transport, from damage due to theft.
Protection from natural disaster - Fires, floods, hurricanes and tornadoes have been the end of many businesses. By taking commercial insurance, you can protect your assets and inventory if they are damaged in a natural disaster. The insurance is highly customizable and can be extended to include terrorism risks. Loss of profit because of these perils can also be covered.
Protection from personal injury and health issues – Commercial insurances can protect you and safeguard your finances if any damage is caused to a third party. They also reduce risk of liabilities.
Protection from transit risks - Various types of transit insurances under commercial insurance prove to be a good source of minimizing financial losses incurred due to risks involved in transition of goods via commercial vehicles.

Advantage of Commercial Insurance over Individual Insurance

Competitive pricing - Commercial Insurance, when structured properly, is available at competitive rates. The best insurer for each risk can be different and you need to think through whether to consolidate insurance purchase or buy the best-in-class for each risk.
Better claim settlement - Commercial insurance when structured properly has few restrictions and claim settlement is relatively smooth. The documentation requirements and coverages are well understood and ambiguity is minimal. Any issues or delays can be escalated to us using our mobile app or contact numbers.

Exclusions under Commercial Insurance

Each type of commercial insurance would have its own set of warranties and exclusions. For example, most liability products exclude known issues, prior acts, fraud and contractual guarantees. Similarly, property insurances would exclude gradual losses and willful negligence.

Frequently Asked Questions

Commercial Insurance includes various insurances that protect your business from financial losses. Every business has its own set of risks, which means a commercial insurance policy must be tailored for the business.

All the three types of commercial insurance are popular. Below is the list in the order of their ranking of sales.:
1. Property Insurance: It protects your property from the damage and loss due to fire, storm and other causes.
2. Marine Insurance: It covers the damage to your goods in transit and also protect your ships from damage. The transit can be by any mode of transport.
3. Liability Insurance: It covers third party claims, losses due to negligence, wrongful acts and services that lead to another person’s loss or injury.

As the name suggests for both, personal insurances will cover for property or vehicles owned by an individual for personal use while commercial insurances cover for properties and vehicles that are bought or owned for commercial purposes. The reason for different property or vehicle insurance being, the nature of risk and usage in case of private and commercial goods. For example, a commercial vehicle usually runs longer on roads, has more risk of accidents, transportation materials are different and hence will need a different kind of cover and insurance as compared to a private car bought for personal use.

The most common types of commercial insurance are: vehicle insurance and property insurance. These insurances are taken to safeguard your vehicles or properties bought for commercial purpose. A commercial insurance can protect you from theft, financial damages induced by accidents, fire, natural disaster, etc.

The tax paid towards a commercial insurance policy is considered as “business expenditure” and eligible for tax deductions.

Commercial Insurance is the contract between the insurance company and the organization. In the event of the covered loss, the insurance company will pay the losses incurred by the business up to the sum insured.

No, commercial insurance is not expensive, when viewed in light of the risks involved. For example, the cost of property insurance can be as low as 0.1% of the value of the asset. Similarly, liability insurance can be as low as less than 0.25% of the value of the liability covered.

Price of commercial insurance varies by the type of product. In general, commercial insurance pricing is based on industry, size of operation, claim history and the value of the underlying asset. For commercial insurances such as property insurance: the industry, location of the property, occupancy and the value of the assets determine the premium.

Insurers often ask for the claim history for the last three years. In case of a favorable claim history, insurers do offer substantial discounts compared to the standard premium.

SecureNow is your one-stop shop for all your commercial insurance needs. SecureNow is an insurance broker licensed by IRDAI. We deal with all general and life insurance companies operating in the country. For any of the commercial insurances, we offer multiple options to our clients. We will provide you the best quotes available and will also guide you through the process.

Yes, some insurers specialize in a few lines of business. Their focus on particular lines enables them to negotiate specialized treaties for reinsurance. By virtue of this, they’re able to offer stable prices year-on-year, specialized risk mitigation services and help at the time of claims.

It depends on the type of insurance, size of insurance and the occupancy. For some insurances such as: hydropower projects, public sector insurers have much stronger risk appetite. Similarly, for some liability insurance like cyber insurance, a few private sector insurance companies may have better response arrangements.

To obtain commercial insurance for your business it is essential to have a comparison between the coverage and also the insurance companies that offer such an insurance. Three things that are necessary to compare are: to be able to suggest you with commercial insurance plans are: nature of business, operational risks involved and employee benefits that the organization is looking at. We can customize commercial insurances according to your business requirements.

Endorsements are the amendments to the existing policy when there are some changes in the standard policy cover. These endorsements are used in order to increase or decrease the cover under the policy or may outline conditions you need to comply with.

Commercial insurances are of various types and can be tailored according to the requirements of a business. At SecureNow we understand that. So, you can select the products online, submit a request on our website and we’ll get in touch to give you a personalized product.

Different commercial line insurances require different documents for the processing of the insurance.
Some of the mandatory documents are:
1. Government identity Proof
2. Address proof
3. Policy number
4. Proof of asset purchased

Below are the steps that need to be taken for processing a claim under any commercial insurance plan:
Inform the insurance company as soon as the need of making a claim arises
A duly filled and signed claim form has to be submitted along with other relevant documents like policy number, identity proof and additional documents
Provide copy of FIR, medical reports, etc. as per the requirement of the commercial insurance type
After receiving all the documents, a surveyor from the insurance company will verify the details
After the survey is done, claim can be processed

Commercial claims may take between 14-28 days from processing of the claim till settlement. However, the duration varies by various factors such as: the insurer, type of claim, claim history of the insured and so on.

An individual or a corporate entity willing to be a surveyor has to undergo an application process as decided by the IRDAI. IRDAI has even defined eligibility criteria for surveyors of different kinds of insurance. For example, a surveyor for motor insurance must be a mechanical or automobile engineer. IRDAI also maintains a list of all the surveyors in the country, on their website.

Insuropedia

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SecureNow has won the SKOCH Order of Merit Award, 2017 – for Business Approach of Selling Commercial Insurances to Small and Medium Enterprises

The Skoch Award is distinctive for its approach in the selection of awardees and coveted for their independence and exceptional research. The award is known to follow the most rigorous process of selection. Nominations found to be complete in all respects are put through secondary[...]

Why SecureNow?

Deep Product Knowledge

We have specialized underwriters and tie-ups with international experts.

Cost-effective Insurance

We work with all insurers to get you the best options- both in terms of price and features.

Quick Turnaround Time

Cover notes are issued within hours of request. This documentation is sufficient for any contractual requirement.

Strong Claims Support

We manage all aspects of your claim - from preparing documentation to follow-up with the insurer.

Value-Added Services

We will advice you on risk management best practices.

Policy Administration System (PAM)

See all your contracts renewal information in one place. Place service requests on PAM.

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