Figuring out business Insurance

For those of you with retail stores, how do you determine how much
insurance for loss of business because of natural disasters,
liability if someone gets hurt on the premises? Is anyone
re-evaluating because of the economic down turn to save money… Our
insurance guy is giving us a run around when we try to question how
it works, he gets commission on how much we buy and he seems to be
pretty clear on what we should buy, we just can’t get clear answers
on what the benefit to us is for what he is recommending.

Richard Hart G.G.
Jewelers Gallery
1505 S.Pearl St.
Denver, Co. 80210

Hi Richard,

I would say that you want as much loss of income insurance as you
think would be the worst case scenario for rebuilding your store. In
the event of something that happens that doesn’t destroy the
infrastructure of the city you’re in (i.e. your store burns down) I
would say that a minimum amount of time is about 3 months with 6
months as a bit safer estimate. You could always open in a new
building so a buildout time of 3 months is usually okay. Six months
is safer if you have to stay where you are. Remember this only
provides replacement for income not gross sales. As for liability
insurance, in this country which is so prone to litiginous actions, I
think you should have as much as you can afford. A million dollars is
no longer a lot of coverage for this.

Daniel R. Spirer, G.G.
Daniel R. Spirer Jewelers, LLC

If I remember correctly, business interruption ins for my store was
6 months.

More importantly, over estimate on how much your customer’s goods
are worth.

David
David S. Geller
JewelerProfit

Our insurance guy is giving us a run around 

That, to me, suggests either he doesn’t have the answers you seek,
or he’s overly concerned about his commission, or he can’t be
bothered. Whichever way, maybe you should seek out another insurance
guy. If you can’t get the answers you need/want, his services are not
much use to you. I might take the opportunity to thoroughly review
all your ins needs and programs.

While I try to be generous, sometimes I have no option but to hold
my advisors/suppliers to the same level of professionalism that I’m
held to. It hurts sometimes but you need to know when to cast off.
I’d bet you’ll get great service from someone who wants to land your
account.