Animal Transport Insurance – Cost and Types Of Policies

Whenever you budget the expenses of your business, animal transport insurance must be included in the list because you can’t always know exactly what is going to happen in the future.

Need General Liability Insurance for Your Animal Transport Business?
Get Your Free Quote

With the protection provided by insurance against accidents and all the other sorts of insurance we will tell you about, you can protect your business and yourself in case something unwanted happens.

Like any business owner, for your animal transport enterprise, you must consider how much financial risk you are taking on.

Business Insurance for animal transport

If your animal transport business runs without proper insurance, you are taking a tremendous chance not just of losing some money but of a final wipe-out.

This is because the laws in every state are very strict in enforcing liability on the owners of businesses for the upshots of their actions. 

In this article, we are giving very general guidelines for growing businesses to highlight what the main kinds of insurance that you need are, and where possible, a rough guide to how much you can expect to pay.

The question is, can you afford to NOT have insurance for your animal transport business?

What this means, for any animal transport business owner, is that if some customer claims that your actions caused them some physical or economic damage, a court can award damages far beyond the total size of your business.

Your animal transport business is not protected by laws in the same way as states are, where edicts can place a “cap” on the maximum level of liability.

In some states, like New Jersey, there are specific monetary levels that limit the amount a judge can award in any case against the state.

In a court case, it’s purely the duty of the jury to award whatever amount they deem appropriate, even sometimes giving a person more than they have claimed.

When you are running your animal transport operations, you can’t deny responsibility for the outcomes of your actions.

Even more importantly, unless you have spent beforehand the money necessary to have your business running as a corporation, all of that liability belongs to you as a person.

What does animal transport insurance protect you from?

For your animal transport business, the most important sorts of insurance are meant to cover the risks to your business from accidents, from unexpected events, and from mistakes.

As well there are some mandatory kinds of insurance that various states require.

In the next few paragraphs, we will outline the most important points any animal transport business owner should remember when negotiating the insurance needed.

The main types of insurance for your animal transport businesses are liability insurance, commercial insurance, asset insurance and workers compensation insurance.

Liability insurance

General liability insurance

Any animal transport business is dealing directly with other people, and that means you usually have the danger that some accident can happen to them personally or else something of theirs can be ruined.

In such a case, they can require compensation.

General liability insurance policy for your animal transport business insures you against claims coming from injury to customers or damage to their property.

It protects your animal transport business from the claims themselves and also to any associated court costs and legal fees of the lawsuits.

In many cases, it should help you to qualify for extra business from city and state organizations, where contracts demand proper liability insurance.

The average level of general liability insurance for your animal transport business would be with a upper limit of $1 million for a single submission and a total of $2 million for the whole year.

See the table in the costing section below for average prices of general liability insurance for your animal transport insurance operations.

Professional liability insurance for your animal transport business

In the event where a client alleges some negligence, errors, or omissions in how you conducted your animal transport business for them, you can quickly face a law suit.

Even if the lawsuit against you is judged in your favor, the cost of defense can be large, and the impact on your reputation can be damaging.

Almost all small animal transport business should have enough professional liability insurance to cover a single claim of $25,000, with annual cover of $50,000.

See the table in the cost of animal transport insurance section below for average prices of professional liability insurance for your animal transport operations.

Product liability insurance

Whatever goods you sell or advice you give about the goods, you are running a risk that buyers may claim that what you delivered didn’t meet your description of function, or that your recommendation was basically incorrect.

You need to know the explicit laws of product liability in your own state.

For example, in California, all businesses in the supply chain can be held liable for results caused by products claimed to be defective.

To cover yourself against any possible lawsuit, you need Product liability insurance for animal transport

Only you can know exactly how much insurance you should get.

Best advice is to contact experienced insurance agents, brokers or company representatives for support.

Commercial insurance

Commercial vehicle insurance for your animal transport business

Be careful! – practically all policies for private vehicle insurance do not cover any occurrence like theft or accidental damage when the car is being used for business purposes.

The best way to make sure that your vehicle is insured for both its own value, and the valuable contents, is by taking out a proper commercial vehicle insurance package.

Commercial van policies cover the value of any vehicle in case of accident, malicious damage, fire, or theft.

As well, in case of any accident, the truck itself, the content and any legal bills, medical expenses, and property damage is guaranteed if your car is involved in an accident.

Most states, other than Virginia and New Hampshire, insist on this type of insurance.

The required value of the insurance is worked-out for the depreciated value of the vehicle, and your intended level of cover of contents. 

Tools and Equipment insurance

Since your animal transport business needs unique and dedicated equipment, you can appreciate how much it can cost to replace it in case of any damage, loss, or theft.

The tools may be subject to malicious damage, deliberate fire, theft, other such unforeseen acts.

As well, acts of nature like lightning strikes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and other highly damaging natural events can destroy your whole business in one stroke.

Unless you can afford to immediately replace such unique gear quickly out of your own pocket, you need full-level equipment insurance so that you can immediately buy whatever needed to keep your animal transport business running.

It is impossible to advise how much equipment insurance you need – it’s basically dependent on how much you have invested in your animal transport business’ equipment.

Commercial Property insurance

Any animal transport business that owns or rents space in a building needs a commercial property insurance policy.

If you own the space, you may already have a substantial capital investment, as well as a big liability if there’s a mortgage.

Your physical building location must carry insurance coverage for the value of the premises and contents against natural occurrences like fire and storms, and against deliberate damages like theft and vandalism.

If your animal transport business operates in areas of high risk, like California or South Carolina, supplementary coverage may be needed for earthquakes and hurricanes or tornadoes.

In other states like Washington, where unlimited cold snaps can cause damage to outer coverings of animal transport business premises, there is a need for more supplementary cover than in warmer climes.

Although the level of cover depends completely on the value of the property, it’s not possible to say what cover your need, but we have been able in the table in the cost of animal transport insurance section below to give some indication of the average prices per million dollars of property insurance for your animal transport business.

Temporary insurance by month, week or day for your animal transport business

Is your animal transport business working part-time or casually, or is the level of business seasonal?

Using short-term insurance makes excellent sense. Business insurance by the month, day, or week – temporary insurance for animal transport – are special policies where you can cover a specific period when you want to be covered.

By only paying for that period of cover, you will save by having lower premiums but still having the same risk cover.

The important feature of short-term insurance is that you buy the cover for a defined period – a nominated date, or a week or month starting on a specific date, for example for 30 days beginning on the specified date.

When you are expecting periods of larger business activity, get the existing cover increased.

Talk to your insurance agent, broker or the company’s representatives to see what options you have.

Business Owners Policy (BOP) for your animal transport business

You have the option to combine several of the important kinds of small business insurance in one policy that is known as the business owner’s policy – BOP.

A BOP merges commercial property and public liability insurance by packaging these coverages into one insurance policy, which can save you money.

BOP insurance will protect you if any claims of injury or property damage are made.

It is frequently the right choice for small and medium-sized animal transport businesses, such as yours.

There are two limits that will determine whether BOP is suitable for your own business.

BOPs cannot cover your professional liability or commercial vehicle cover.

Also, the size of your business will dictate whether you are permitted to take out BOP cover.

The usual business that is eligible for a BOP policy must have fewer than one hundred employees, and under five million dollars in annual sales.

In addition, you must separately take out the necessary worker’s compensation, health and disability insurance as determined for your state.

Workers Compensation insurance for your animal transport business employees

In many states, it is mandatory to have workers compensation insurance when your animal transport business has one or more employees.

Workers compensation insurance covers the business against any costs that arise if a worker experiences an injury or becomes sick as a result of work.

The benefits include medical expenses, death benefits, lost wages, and vocational rehabilitation.

Failure to meet a state’s laws in this regard can leave you as the employer obliged to pay penalties levied by the states.

Some states, such as North Dakota, Ohio, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming only authorize coverage from the government-run monopoly state funds.

In these states, you can’t take out your workers compensation obligations from private insurance corporations.

Workers compensation rates are worked out based on the employee’s pay, and usually come out at around $1.00 per $100 per month.

However, you must refer to the relevant authorities in your state.

Average costs of these types of insurance

Although every animal transport insurance requirement is unique, there are enough examples of standard quotes from insurance companies for us to give approximate guidelines, including what are the cheapest rates offered.

Of course, you should always check with an agent what’s relevant for your business.

The list below is of annual premiums we have collected for the main types of insurance your animal transport businesses needs.

Types of insurance Price range
General liability insurance $680 – $870
Commercial insurance $1000 – $2710
Product liability insurance $235 – $560
Commercial vehicle insurance $1905 – $2700
Public liability insurance $285 – $635
Equipment insurance $355 – $1355

Cost of insurance for your animal transport operations depends on many different factors.

We have estimated these figures for small freelance animal transport businesses.

In larger states like California, premiums are generally about 20%-30% higher than national averages, while in smaller states like New Mexico, they will be about 20%-30% cheaper.

The location and size and type of your animal transport business can have a big effect on the cost of different policies.

You should talk to professional insurance agents and brokers, or insurance company representatives.

As well you can let the internet do the work for you by enquiring about insurance companies near where your business is located.

Another useful source of information is the local Better Business Bureau in your town.

FAQ

What is small business insurance for animal transport operations?

This is a wide term used to describe basic insurance policies designed to protect animal transport business owners from risks like bodily injury, property damage, claims of negligence.

Does my animal transport business have to have insurance?

Some of the kinds of insurance are not mandatory for you to operate your business, but they can protect you from risks in your business operations.

Some other forms are required by state law, such as workers compensation and vehicle insurance.

What does a small animal transport business insurance policy cover?

Liability insurance provides coverage against lawsuits or claims filed by a customer for bodily injury, property damage, or negligence.

The exact cover will vary based on your own operations.

See the table in the costing section above for average prices of the most common policies for animal transport insurance.

How much will animal transport business insurance cost?

On top of the size of the business, certain other factors, such as location and claims history, are used to determine your policy’s cost.

You should consult with professional insurance agents and brokers, or insurance company representatives.

You can search for more information insurance for animal transport, in the search box below, and follow the relevant links.

Was this helpful? Share it!
SBCoverage.com
Enable registration in settings - general