Types Of Tennessee Business Insurance
Commercial Insurance coverage is available for every conceivable risk that your Tennessee business might face. It is critical to your company’s financial well-being that you have commercial insurance in place before you start your business, as you can lose everything with one act of negligence. The cost for business insurance varies widely because each insurer looks at risk differently. It helps to work with an independent agent who can help keep your rates down! Independent agents work with numerous companies and will shop your coverage out to get you the best rate available. It is advisable to discuss your individual business concerns with your agent, as well as discuss the coverage options available. A good agent will advise you on the various types of Business Owner Policies (BOP) you should consider purchasing – and help you avoid coverage you don’t need.
General Liability Insurance
Tennessee Business Owners purchase General Liability Insurance to protect against legal entanglements due to bodily injuries, accidents, or acts of negligence by the employees or owners of the business itself. In addition, General Liability policies also protect you against court settlements resulting from property damage, medical payments, or defamation of character. Business General Liability coverage will pay the expenses of attorney’s fees and court settlements which are owed to the injured parties.
Product Liability Insurance
Any Tennessee small businesses that distributes, manufactures, wholesales or sells a retail product can be named in a suit and be held responsible for that product’s safety. When there is financial loss or bodily injury that results from a defective product, Product Liability insurance protects the business owner from paying for these injuries. The amount and type of insurance coverage you’ll need depends on the products you sell or manufacture. A gift store would have significantly less risk than a custom motorcycle shop, for example.
Professional Liability Insurance
If you provide professional “white collar” services such as real estate, medical, legal or accounting services, or give financial advice, you will need Professional Liability Insurance, also known as Errors & Omissions (E&O ). This type of Liability Insurance coverage provides protection for any negligence or malpractice while you are providing services to your customers. Depending on your occupation, you may be required by the state of Tennessee to carry such a policy. For example, insurance agents in Tennessee are required to have Errors & Omissions insurance before they can sell a policy, in addition to being licensed.
Commercial Property Insurance
Commercial Property insurance covers your physical equipment – covering everything related to its loss or damage. Examples of covered losses are things like theft, wind-hail storms, civil disobedience, fire, smoke and vandalism. The term “property” has several interpretations and includes loss of income, business interruption, buildings, computers, billing invoices or cash.
Tennessee Property insurance policies come in two basic forms:
(1) Coverage that is totally comprehensive in scope, covering a much wider range of incidents and perils is known as Inland Marine or All Risk. This coverage is the best you can get, covering any type of damage including accidental breakage or mysterious disappearance. The term “All-Risk” generally is used for high value equipment that is critical for your business’ operation.
(2) A typical Property Policy is usually peril-specific, or Named Peril, which covers losses only for those perils listed in the policy. This coverage is more limited, but covers you for such things as flood, fire, crime, wind/hail, and business interruption. Named-Peril policies are purchased when there is a known high risk of peril in a certain area, such as a flood. Consult your insurance agent about the different types of business property insurance that is best suited for your small business.
Home-Based Business Insurance
Contrary to what you may think, Tennessee homeowners’ policies do not usually cover a typical home-based business. Depending on what type of business you are running, you may be able to add certain endorsements to your homeowners’ policy to cover business risks such as theft or property damage. However, don’t assume anything! Home policies are very limited in covering home-based types of businesses. You will most likely need to purchase additional coverage on a Business Owner Policy (BOP) to make sure you’ve got the full scope of your operations covered.
For more information about Tennessee Business Insurance, call Johnston & Associates Insurance today at 615-716-2123.
What Is The Right Time To Purchase Life Insurance?
Life insurance is important because it provides financial security for your loved ones should you become incapacitated or pass away. Even if you have no assets to pass on, a life insurance policy can provide an inheritance for them. It can also be used to pay off outstanding debts such as a mortgage, car loan, or credit card debts in order to avoid placing additional burdens on your family.
When is the right time to buy life insurance? The sooner, the better, if a spouse, child, or someone else depends upon your income. Our agency can help you find the right life insurance policy to suit your needs.
When You Should Consider Buying Life Insurance
The right time to buy life insurance depends on your age, your family status, and whether another person is depending on your income. If you are young, single, and childless with no plans to marry, you may not need life insurance at this point in your life. However, if your plans for the future include marriage and children, it may be wise to speak with an experienced agent about a life insurance policy.
In most cases, you need life insurance when you start a family. There is one exception to this rule. If a parent or relative cosigned for student loans, a mortgage, or other large debt, you may need a life insurance policy to ensure the debt will be covered in the event of your death.
How Much Life Insurance Should You Buy?
When the time is right to buy life insurance, you should determine how much you need before shopping for a policy. To make this calculation:
- Multiply your yearly income by the number of years you want the policy to cover.
- Add in any fixed expenses, such as college tuition.
- Subtract any savings or investments (non-retirement) that could offset expenses for your family.
Types of Life Insurance
The two basic types of life insurance are term and permanent. The permanent category is further divided into whole and universal.
Term Life Insurance
With a term life insurance policy, you pay premiums for a specified time (usually 20 or 30 years). If you die within that time, the insurance company pays benefits to your beneficiaries. However, when you stop paying premiums after 20 or 30 years, you no longer have coverage.
Permanent Life Insurance
A permanent life insurance policy will remain in existence as long as you continue paying premiums. Some of the premiums you pay accumulate a cash value that you can apply toward retirement or borrow against for the rest of your life. Whole life insurance premiums are fixed for life, while universal life insurance policies allow for adjustments to the premiums and benefits.
Term life insurance, whole life insurance, and universal life insurance all have their pros and cons, and it can be confusing. If you believe that it may be the right time for you to purchase a life insurance policy, our knowledgeable agency can advise you and guide you through the process.
Meet Your Commercial Lines Expert: Barbara Curley
Barbara is a Nashville native, born and raised. She made her home in Fort Myers, Florida where she owned her own agency for many years. Hurricane Charlie hit her hard and she returned to Nashville to be with family in 2006.
Barbara began her insurance career in 1980 and has been a licensed insurance broker now for 38 years in Commercial and Personal Lines. She received her Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) designation after passing five rigorous exams in 1985. Specializing in Commercial Lines, her background in sales and service make her a well-rounded member of the Johnston & Associates Insurance Agency Service Team.
Barbara is most passionate about helping people understand the important benefits of working with an Independent Broker such as Johnston & Associates Insurance. It is her mission to ensure clients know where they can gain accesses to everything they would need should the unthinkable happen. She uses her experience and foresight to proactively address details before they become a problem. Barbara epitomizes integrity, energy, hard work, and creative service in every detail of your insurance transaction, so rest assured you are in her capable hands.
Barbara is a family woman with a devotion to God. She has two children, (Roger and Angela); five grandchildren (Jonah, Christopher, Jayson, Casey and Adam); and two Yorkies (Jake and Sophie.) She loves listening to live music, reading and being on the water.
Five words you can count on with Barbara – Love, Integrity, Commitment, Passion, and Fun.
Introducing Scott Johnston
As the owner of Johnston & Associates, I’d like to share with you a brief story of why I got into this business over 25 years ago. It started in 1991 when my grandparents lost everything they ever owned in the Great Oakland California Fire. They were in their mid-80s and suddenly found themselves with no earthly possessions. To boot, they were vastly under insured. Unfortunately, they didn’t have a personal agent to help them through the process of putting their lives back together. Unbeknownst to them, what they got was an inexperienced salaried employee who failed to ask the right questions during the underwriting process. Several months and several lawsuits later, they finally received a fair settlement – but only after lots of haggling with lawyers and living in hotel rooms.
This event was the catalyst that inspired me to become an independent insurance agent. I vowed to make sure my clients would never be caught underinsured – and that they would be well protected when the big one came. Over the last 25 years, I’ve had a few total losses with my clients – and not one of them was underinsured. During my career I’ve had countless opportunities to learn a thing or two about properly underwriting risks from losing your wedding ring to a catastrophic loss that changes your life.
As our highly valued client, I want you to rest in the knowledge that we at Johnston & Associates take our jobs very seriously. We have been trained to thoroughly and properly underwrite your total exposure to Property & Casualty loss. Our core business practices can be summarized as follows:
1) Collection of relevant data through proper use of our fact finding system
2) Verify all data through independent sources, both public and private, which helps us to verify property data, driving experience, losses, etc.
3) Pay close attention to detail
4) Inspections as needed
Over the course of my career, I have worked with dozens of insurance companies which has brought me insight and knowledge of the workings of the industry. My experience and professional contacts allow me to more thoroughly search across the industry for the best solutions and offer those to our clients.
One of the ways we show our gratitude is by giving a percentage of our resources to the Family Foundation Fund located in Nashville TN. Through a network of volunteers, they provide adult male role models to at-risk boys growing up in fatherless households in the middle Tennessee area.
I have Bachelor’s degree in Communications, from Chico State University in California. I was also a licensed High School teacher in Franklin, teaching history. I enjoy tennis & scouting and am currently the lead singer in a classic rock band called Local Motion. I’m married to Miriam, have two children, and live in Brentwood, Tennessee.
Why Would Anyone In The World Want To Do Business With Us?
There are a lot of insurance agencies out there to choose from, but you chose us. Why? What were your criteria? Was it strictly pricing? Or was it something else? Aren’t we pretty much interchangeable with any other agency out there?
No, in fact, we are not.
As the owner of Johnston & Associates, my highest endeavor is to seek to understand what makes you say, “Wow!” when it comes to your insurance – and to keep doing it consistently. This article identifies the action items we take every day to not only earn your trust, but to keep you consistently saying “Wow!” with our services year after year. Here goes…
Why In the World Would Anybody Want to do Business with Us?
- We have never taken you, nor will we ever take you, our highly valued client, for granted. In a free market system we know we’re not the only game in town. By paying attention to the details, we intend to meet or exceed your expectations each business day. Your loyalty, your happiness, your convenience, your bottom line are what we fight for when we go to work. You might think this sounds corny or unrealistic, it is not. We seldom leave the office at 5:00 PM and stay on till the job is done. In other words, we are absolutely committed to following through and making sure your coverage is administrated correctly, to your satisfaction, at the lowest price possible, 100% of the time.
- We are an Independent Insurance Agency representing multiple carriers which means you get a much wider selection of competing quotes, and, therefore, greater value for your money. The vast majority of insurance agents are what is known as “captive” where they work for and are loyal to a single company. Unfortunately, this creates a bias toward that company. The Independent Agent, on the other hand, is not loyal to any one carrier which allows him to be unbiased in his offerings. Having multiple carriers changes the dynamic so that the Independent is loyal to his client instead and seeks out the best offer from a multitude of competing carriers.
- Every two years, we proactively review your coverage to check for rate increases and to see if there’s any better pricing available with another carrier. Once we’ve reviewed it with you and you decide to make the move, it’s done. We make the transition easy, with very little effort on your part, other than taking a phone call and receiving an email.
- Each one of our team members has been a successful entrepreneur in their own right, whether it was owning an insurance agency, restaurant, or construction company. Each team member understands what it takes to meet deadlines, to be held accountable, and knows how to get results. They take full ownership for your account, just as they did when they were business owners themselves. They are trained to fulfill your service requests in the most efficient and effective way possible.
- Lastly, if you are not completely Wowed with your experience, the buck stops with me. Please call me, Scott Johnston, any time and I will personally work on your behalf to resolve the problem.
This is the first in a monthly series of eight articles being presented in 2018 to introduce our clients to the process and people of Johnston & Associates. The remaining articles to follow throughout the year will discuss our team member’s unique qualifications, our free Enhanced Client Services, and more about the local children’s organization that you help us support when you do business with us, called the Family Foundation Fund.