Protecting Your Shop — The Value of an Expert Opinion
Making Informed Decisions About Your Insurance
If you are like many insurance buyers, you are reliant upon the expertise of your broker or agent to help you decide what to buy
(and how much.) Of course, you make the final decision but you trust your salesperson to give you the right information. And yet you may
still have some nagging doubts about whether you have bought the right insurance in the right amounts. Having an expert in your corner may
help you to feel better about the money you are spending on insurance--and will certainly make you feel better in the event of a loss.
How We Do It
The experts at GarageGuys recommend a pretty standard base package of coverages (which varies by industry) but we then try to
add or subtract those coverage parts which do or do not apply to your business specifically based upon our interview with you. Knowing
which questions to ask is key.
A really good example is as follows: Let's say that you own a body shop. The coverage required is pretty straightforward and
many commercial brokers and agents would probably be able to tell you the basic coverages required. They probably (and properly) recommended
that you buy Business Interruption insurance to cover your lost income in the event of a covered disruption at your premises. And
being a good client you bought an amount that seemed sufficient.
But let's add a wrinkle; your body shop gets 90% of its business from a row of new car dealers located a mile away.
No big deal, you say. And what has that got to do with insurance?
Plenty. Continuing our hypothetical, a major fire destroys one of the dealerships, putting it out of business for several months. As a
result, your business drops by 30% while the dealership rebuilds putting a big crimp in your bottom line. Did your broker or agent ask you
whether your business depended upon a few or several suppliers? If he asked the right question, maybe you were lucky enough to have
"Contingent Business Interruption" coverage added (at very little cost) to your insurance program. If so, you didn't suffer a loss at all--
your lost income as a result of the off premises fire was covered-- and your bottom line remained intact.
Here's another good example: Do you own an expensive electric, neon or mechanical sign? If it is attached to your building, we
would check your policy closely but odds are that you have coverage for the sign IF your building is insured. But if the sign is
freestanding away from the building, you may want to call your broker (or GarageGuys!) right away. Most
insurance policies provide coverage for freestanding signs only up to $1,000 and the perils insured against are extremely limited and DO NOT
include losses due to things you might expect such as wind and vehicle damage. Let me repeat that: If your sign gets knocked over by the
wind or a customer's car, the carrier probably won't reimburse more than $1,000! And we have seen signs cost in excess of $65,000
By the way, the same rule generally applies to awnings.!
A Good Result
One simple question asked at the right time resulting in a major headache avoided. That is the value of good advice from an
expert. At GarageGuys, we do it all the time and we would be happy to be YOUR garage insurance expert. | 