STOP BUSINESS INTERRUPTION FROM BECOMING BUSINESS CLOSURE

When it comes to insuring your business, you tend to think about protecting you physical assets first – thing like your building, equipment, stock and your staff. This is all important, but there’s more to your business than simply your tangible assets. Time is also money and if your time is compromised during a claims situation, you could quickly find that your income is as well.

Your business is likely run with machine-like precision but if one of your machines breaks down, or a fire or flood forces you to close your doors completely while your make repairs, you could find your productivity comes to a grinding halt. Your buildings and contents insurance will cover repairs to your premises and the replacement of damaged equipment but what about the money you’re losing every hour that you’re closed?

The thing that most businesses struggle with if they are forced to close, or scale back their operations temporarily following a claims situation is not the costs associated with getting back up and running again but, rather the income that is lost during this period. The sort of situations that force a business to close are not always quickly resolved and if your business is closed for 6 months while you rebuild and restock after a flood, that’s potentially 6 months with no income for you, your business and your staff. During this time you could lose customers and staff as they cannot necessarily afford to wait for you – and once they have left it might be hard to win them back. Even if your buildings and contents are covered, that still leaves a large gap in your finances that has the potential to cripple your business, especially if it takes you longer to get back to full operation than you expect.

Thankfully, it is also possible to insure against the sudden loss of income you might experiences following a claim. Business Interruption Insurance can cover you during periods where your productivity is affected, making up for the shortfall in your earnings. This could be because you’ve had to slow production by 20% due to damaged machinery or because you’ve had to close entirely following a fire. In either event, Business Interruption Insurance would cover your losses, enabling you get back on your feet with minimal impact to your finances.

To find out more about how Business Interruption Insurance works and how it could work for your business, simply talk to the team at Thorntons today.