What are commercial premises insurance and which ones do you need?

Thefts, fires, floods... no business is exempt from certain risks. For this reason, it is essential to have insurance for the commercial premises where you carry out your work, which offer protection against unforeseen events that may occur. We tell you about the main characteristics of insurance made to guarantee the stability and continuity of your work activity.

Insurance for commercial premises

The purpose of insurance for commercial premises is to protect the assets of a business against large accidents or small incidents that may occur, either to cover damages (such as damage to furniture) or to compensate a third party for a mishap in your premises. (a fall of a client, for example).

But what exactly is the equity of a business? It basically consists of two perfectly differentiated parts:

      Continent: It is the place itself, its physical structure and fixed elements. This includes walls, doors, covers, wiring, water pipes or the fire protection system, among others.

      Content: Includes furniture, counters, computer equipment, electrical appliances, machinery, merchandise for sale and in storage. etc However, motor vehicles, trailers, caravans and boats and their accessories, as well as live animals, are generally excluded, unless they are stock that is offered for sale (such as certain shellfish in fishmongers or fish in aquarium stores).

Insurance for commercial premises, therefore, must include guarantees to cover both concepts. In the case of the mainland, it is important to evaluate the entire value of the building so that it covers the partial or total reconstruction of the building and its facilities in the event of serious deterioration. For this, it will be necessary to estimate the qualities of construction and finishes, the year of construction, the improved improvements...

As for the content, we must also correctly insure the goods so that we are not underinsured (and we are not paid the total damage) or over-insured (and we are paying more for aspects that we do not need).

What is trade insurance?

It is an insurance aimed at businesses (shops, offices, restaurants, etc.) that are carried out in a commercial premises and that covers compensation for damages that may be suffered in the event of some type of mishap, both in the external structure of the premises and inside, which includes furniture and machinery that may have suffered an accident, as well as merchandise.

Why do you need to take out this insurance if you have a business premises?

Contracting insurance for a commercial premises is mandatory if there is a mortgage on it, so the bank may require contracting damage insurance. In addition, in the case of certain activities, it is also required to contract Civil Liability coverage, such as health clinics, law firms, restaurants or recreation rooms.

In the rest of the cases, it is not a mandatory insurance, but it is important to hire one to fully cover the premises and the main assets, because if you do not have it, in the event of an accident, you will have to face large expenses that, depending on the magnitude of the event, it can become unaffordable by the worker and lead to the closure of the business.

What are the most common mishaps in commercial premises?

Theft, fire damage, water damage and damage from acts of vandalism with broken window panes and other damage to the surfaces of business facades.

Who needs this insurance?

Business premises insurance cases are very useful both for the owners of the establishment and for the people who rent them. If you are the owner, your objective is to protect your property, its structure and the fixed elements against damage that they may suffer. If you have rented it to develop your business, it is not necessary to include coverage for the mainland, since, as we have indicated, it is the owner of the same who, in principle, must have insurance to guarantee their ownership.

However, it can be useful if you want to protect your investment, for having carried out reform, conditioning or improvement works. In addition, you must have the contents of the premises covered, if you do not want an accident to shake the continuity (temporary or even definitive) of your business.

Likewise, when the premises are empty or without commercial activity, it is also interesting to have insurance, such as General Civil Liability, because, although not in use, it is not exempt from certain risks, such as pipe bursts that flood the ground or landslides. from part of the structure that could cause damage to passers-by.

Coverage and guarantees for commercial establishments

Commercially insurance provides basic coverage for the most frequent risks, among which are, as we have mentioned, theft (including glass breakage and furniture damage), electrical and water damage (accidental leaks, omission of closing of taps, failures in the conduction systems), floods, acts of vandalism, fires, explosions or damage caused by other natural phenomena (blizzards, storms...).

Depending on the type of activity carried out, other particular coverage will be included, such as breakdown of machinery or computers, replacement of locks or refrigerated goods.

In some activities, what may be more valuable to guarantee is the recovery of information in computerized documents if an accident occurs (as in the case of agencies, consultants or law firms), since the activity that generates income requires information from essential, while in other businesses, such as retail, insured guarantees will be necessary for damages on the value of the merchandise.

Some insurers offer guarantees to alleviate the problems of paralysis of the activity as a result of an accident (a fire or a flood of great magnitude that prevents from exercising for a season). In these cases, the loss of benefits due to not being able to work is compounded by the need to continue having to pay fixed expenses (rent, electricity, employee salaries, invoices to suppliers).

Although it is essential to ensure the best possible container and content of the business, it is also essential to have Civil Liability insurance that protects against claims by clients, suppliers or any other person that they may carry out against the owner of the business for suffering an accident, damage or injury within the premises (such as a fall due to a product being spilled on the ground or food poisoning, for example).

Nor should we forget about the insurance that covers Employer Civil Liability for damages to employees that occur within the business and whose responsibility corresponds to the employer, or Civil Liability for Products or Services provided, in case there are defects in the merchandise or errors. in services that may result in harm to customers or other people.

Advantages of this insurance

Whether you are the owner of the premises or the tenant, it is important to have this type of insurance that provides peace of mind in the face of any eventuality, as it guarantees the payment of compensation, repair costs or the replacement of damaged goods, from small mishaps such as a broken water pipe, to the damage that a large fire can cause.

However, it must be taken into account that the investment made with the purchase or rental of this type of establishment is very important and must be protected in the best possible way.

In the case of tenants, in addition, the premises are essential to develop their business, so it is vitally important to have support in the event of any incident that involves extra expense, slows down activity or loss of income. , which has an even greater impact on small businesses.

Another great advantage is that there is a lot of flexibility in the insurance offer for businesses in the market, so that the insurance solutions that each person needs can be customized to a great extent, depending on the type of activity they are going to carry out, their size, the capacity of your establishment, your exposure to risks, etc.

In this way, the insured has their exact needs covered, since it is not the same, for example, to have a place at street level, where they can count on basic guarantees that protect them against falling trees, lamp posts or poles, or have them inside a shopping center, in which a power outage or suspension of water from the premises directly affects your business. It is precisely the characteristics of each business that determine the final price of these insurances.

The sum of the insured capital (container and content) is one of the aspects that most influences, together with the activity that is carried out, the location, the protections against theft (surveillance, access doors, closed or not closed areas...), the square meters and the year of construction of the premises, and the improvements and rehabilitation of the water pipes and electrical installation, as well as the contracted coverage.

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