5 Risks to Remember when Buying Business Insurance in Florida

Business Insurance Florida

There are many things that make Florida a great place to live. Sandy beaches, a growing economy, and Mild Winter Weather are at the top of the list why many people find their way to the Sunshine State. In addition, Florida is the third most populous state in the United States and it represents the fourth largest GDP of any state in the country. With all of these positives to the state of Florida comes an enormous amount of risk. Many of the risks the state of Florida faces are unique to the state and many are risks that many other regions of the country face. The fact the Florida faces many of these risks complicates the business community within the state. Here are four types of risk that are important to consider when deciding to buy Business Insurance Florida.

Hurricanes

Hurricane Season begins each year around the end of June or the beginning of July. It typically last well into September and early October. September is typically the strongest month. 2017 contained the most damage throughout the state of Florida when Category 4 Hurricane Irma struck the the Atlantic Coast. Because of the frequency and severity of hurricanes in the state of Florida, it is important for businesses to speak with their insurance agent about properly insuring their business against hurricanes.

Flooding

Flood Insurance is equally important to secure for businesses in Florida. An overwhelming majority of the state is located in an area with some level of risk for floods and most people or businesses are not adequately insured to protect against the damages from floods. Many policyholders near the coast think damages from flooding caused by a hurricane will be covered by their homeowners insurance or by hurricane insurance, but in most cases that is not true. This is why it is important to find an independent insurance agent with whom you have a lot of trust. An experienced independent agent can help you determine what exact risks you face, the level of those risks, if there are any gaps in coverage, and where you may be able to go without coverage. This advice can be invaluable when your area faces a natural disaster.

The Sharing Economy

Because of the impact of the tourism industry in the state of Florida, the sharing economy in the state is strong. Many people who are operating in the sharing economy either do not secure proper insurance or do not secure enough insurance.

Many people think their covered when they definitely are not. For people who work for the ride share companies of Lyft or Uber, their personal car insurance policies do not cover liability damages when they cause an accident while driving for a ridesharing business. Some car insurance policies will still pay for the damages to your car, but not the liability you face to third parties who are hurt by the accident a driver caused.

Florida also has many home owners who use homesharing platforms AirBNB or VRBO. The fact that the tourism industry is so strong within the state of Florida causes people to use these services more than in other parts of the country. Additional insurance is needed if a homeowner uses these services to make additional income off of their home.

Volatile Workers Compensation System

The Workers Compensation Market in Florida has been extremely volatile for a number of years. Rates in the market trended positive in 2018 when the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation announced 13.8 percent declines in the pure premium rate for businesses in 2019. This decline will save the business community throughout the state more than $400 million dollars compared to 2018. These declines are in addition to declines in 2018 after steep increases in 2017. The volatility in the market started in 2016 when the Supreme Court in the state ruled on two court cases, Castellanos v. Next Door Company and Westphal v. City of St. Petersburg.

The Castellanos Ruling invalidated a previous decision from a case in 2009 that limited an injured worker’s ability to recover a reasonable amount of money for attorney’s fees. After this ruling judges no longer had to stick to a fee schedule when awarding damages in workers compensation cases. Carriers anticipated this to drastically increase what they were required to pay in losses.

The Westphal Ruling dealt with the statutory limitation on temporary total disability benefits. This ruling increased the time period an injured worker can collect partial salary benefits from workers compensation claims. The time period employees could collect these benefits increased from 104 weeks to 260 weeks. This additional 156 weeks causes carriers to prepare for these potential increases in payouts.

In the second half of 2017 saw the bankruptcy of Guarantee Insurance Company. Guarantee Insurance Company was the state provider for workers compensation in the state of Florida. “Guarantee had about 8,600 active policies in 31 states and the District of Columbia on Nov. 13, Moore said. Of those, 1,250 were in Florida”. This left more then a thousand businesses in the state of Florida scrambling to find coverage on short notice.

Hurricane Season is Upon Us!

Is your home and office prepared for Hurricane Season?

Hurricane season is upon us in the United States. As of June 12th, Hurricane Bud is already the second named storm of the season. Bud is expected to make landfall near the Baja Peninsula of Mexico this coming Thursday through the weekend. Hurricane Aletta, the first named storm of 2018, grew to a category four storm and consisted of sustained winds in excess of 140 miles per hour. This is occurring little more than eight months after Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Maria, category four and category five storms respectively, made landfall over Houston and Puerto Rico. Forcing many to go without power for weeks and months.

These Hurricanes should be a cautionary tale that if you live in an area that has a risk of hurricanes now is the time to plan for how you will deal with these storms when they come your way. In most places, it is a matter of when and not if you are going to deal with a hurricane. Here are seven ways to prepare your home and small business for hurricane season.

Create a communication plan

Communication is difficult in the technological age. It is even more difficult when a natural disaster occurs. For this reason, it is extremely important to have a plan in place for how your are going to get a message to the few people who are most important. On a day to day basis, we may not realize how much we depend upon our mobile devices, but the second those devices are taken away we all realize how important they are to our ever connected world. Having a plan in place for when they do not work and practicing it from time to time will help your family and small business prepare for a hurricane or other natural disaster.

Restock your emergency preparedness kit

First and foremost, your house and your business should have an emergency preparedness kit. What it has in it may depend upon where you live and what special needs the people who need to use it may have. If someone in your family or at your business are diabetic, there should be some supplies related to these health issues. If you have a young child or an elderly member of your family, you need to prepare for their special needs. Regardless of the circumstances your business and family face, there should be a place where you have some supplies for when a hurricane occurs.

Check insurance coverage

Most Hurricane insurance policies have a time period before they kick in. Most are at least 30 days in length, meaning if you are purchasing coverage now you may be late for a hurricane occurring in late June or early July. If you already have coverage in place it is a good idea to dust off that policy and see what may or may not be covered. Partnering with an experienced independent insurance can help you determine what coverage you have and if there is additional coverage you may benefit from.

Consider flood insurance

In many cases flood insurance is necessary in addition to hurricane coverage. Each policy has limitations to what is and what is not covered. In most cases, flooding that occurs after a hurricane has occurred is not covered unless you have a separate flood insurance policy. Most small businesses can eliminate this gap in coverage by purchasing a business owner’s package. In a state where natural disasters are common, this should be a standard part of most comprehensive packages.

Make copies of important documents

There are many documents that are extremely important after a natural disaster occurs. These documents may include passports, birth certificate, social security card, the title to your car or house, bank account records, copies of your insurance policies, and the phone numbers related to any of these documents.

Back up your electronics

If you own a small business, it is crucially important for you to back up all data that may be important. Depending upon the industry you operate in this may be a small amount of data or it may be an enormous amount. No matter how large or small, it is essential to have a place where this data is safe. Backing up your electronics at your home is equally important. There are more than likely numerous important bits of information saved on all of the devices in your house. Not to mention the many many pictures we share to all of our devices. Without a plan in place, these will all be lost after a natural disaster.

Review Your Supply Chain

If you have ever lived through a natural disaster like a hurricane you more than likely know that the world keeps on moving no matter how bad the situation is in your area. If you own or operate a small business that does business regionally or nationally, it is important to have a plan in place for how to keep the business churning throughout a natural disaster. Customers are still going to expect on time delivery of the goods and services you have contracted in advance. Thinking about these situations in advance can be the difference between a hurricane being a small slow down in business and a situation that your business never recovers from.

Natural Disaster Preparedness

How can you prepare your business for the next natural disaster that may come your way?

The devastation that can be caused by a natural Natural Disaster is all of the news media recently. After seeing the impact Hurricane Harvey has had on the communities of Southeastern Texas and now seeing the panic setting in throughout the state of Florida now might be a good time to plan for if a natural disaster were to strike your community. This is a good time to prepare for both what you would do to protect your family and friends, but also how to properly protect your business in the event of a natural disaster. Here are 5 tips for preparing your business in the event of a natural disaster.

Hurricane Harvey shows the need to prepare your business for a natural disaster.

Call your insurance agent

Now is a great time to give your insurance agent a call and find out what exactly are the risks your business faces in relation to natural disasters and if you are protected from them. Now is a time when many other people are probably thinking the same thing, so have a bit of patience with your agent at this time. Schedule a good 20 to 30 minutes to have a long and honest conversation with them about your business. Spending a few extra minutes discussing your risks now can mean the difference between your business being closed for a few weeks and your business having to close its doors permanently because damage from the natural disaster was not covered by your insurance policies.

Create a Disaster Kit

Now is a good time to determine what you and your employees will need in the event you have to spend an extended amount of time at on your property without electricity. You should also have a plan in place for how you plan to secure all valuable items within the business like the internal server or important customer documents. There are many ways to do this, but the time to decide how you will secure these valuables is not in the few days before disaster strikes.

Hurricane Irma has shown Florida the need to prepare for natural disasters.

Develop a communication plan and practice it

Most successful business leaders know that communication is key. The leaders of your business need to have a plan in place for how they will communicate with your employees during a natural disaster. Safety is always a first and foremost priority, but you need to have a plan in place for how you plan to let them know when you plan to come back to work after a disaster. randomly practicing this communication plan is a great way to ensure it is effective when disaster strikes. Also, there may be ways you or other employees can help each other through the disaster. Facilitating this help can create loyalty among your staff that is invaluable to your business.

Create a Business Continuity Plan

Having a plan for how your business will continue to operate in the event of a natural disaster is crucial to the success of dealing with a disaster. For example, if your business operates online orders may continue to come in. You need to have a plan in place for how you will deal with the delays that will come with these orders. This is especially important if you are a nationwide or international business. People on the other side of the country or the other side of the globe may be going on with their day to day operations. You need to have a plan in place for how you will accommodate these customers in the event of a natural disaster.

Hurricane Irma in Florida has shown the need for businesses to prepare for a natural disaster.

Keep your insurance info and other vital docs safe

It is very important to keep your insurance information available. This should include contact names, phone numbers and email addresses of those you will need to communicate with. You should make sure more than one person knows where to access this information in the event of an emergency. This can expedite the claim process in the event that you need to file a claim. Protecting vital business records is also crucial.