General Office Assistant Insurance – What Kind and at What Cost

Whenever you budget the expenses of your business, General Office Assistant insurance must be high on the list because you can’t always know exactly what could happen in the future.

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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 unexpected happens.

Like any business owner, for your General Office Assistant enterprise, you must consider how much financial risk you are taking on.

Business Insurance for General Office Assistant

If your General Office Assistant 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 results of their actions. 

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

The question is, can you afford to NOT have insurance for your General Office Assistant business?

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

Your General Office Assistant business is not protected by laws in the same way as states are, where laws 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 plaintiff more than they have sued for.

When you are running your General Office Assistant operations, you can’t avoid responsibility for the consequences 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 General Office Assistant insurance protect you from?

For your General Office Assistant business, the most important types of insurance are intended to cover the risks to your business from accidents, from unexpected events, and from mistakes.

In addition there are some mandatory kinds of insurance that various states require.

In the next few paragraphs, we will describe the most important points any General Office Assistant business owner should consider when negotiating the insurance needed.

The main types of insurance for your General Office Assistant businesses are liability insurance, commercial insurance, asset insurance and workers compensation insurance.

Liability insurance

General liability insurance

Any General Office Assistant business is dealing directly with members of the public, and that means you usually have the danger that some accident can happen to them themselves or else something of theirs can be spoiled.

In such a case, they can sue you for compensation.

General liability insurance policy for your General Office Assistant business insures you against claims coming from injury to visitors or damage to their property.

It protects your General Office Assistant business from the claims themselves and as well to any resulting court costs and legal fees of the lawsuits.

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

The usual level of general liability insurance for your General Office Assistant business would be with a boundary 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 General Office Assistant insurance operations.

Professional liability insurance for your General Office Assistant business

In the event where a client alleges some negligence, errors, or omissions in how you conducted your General Office Assistant business for them, you can quickly have to fight a law suit.

Even if the matter against you is decided in your favor, the cost of defense can be high, and the impact on your reputation can be damaging.

Almost all small General Office Assistant 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 General Office Assistant insurance section below for average prices of professional liability insurance for your General Office Assistant 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 the results didn’t meet your description of function, or that your advice was basically incorrect.

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

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

To cover yourself against any following lawsuit, you need Product liability insurance for General Office Assistant

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

Best advice is to talk to experienced insurance agents, brokers or company representatives for guidance.

Commercial insurance

Commercial vehicle insurance for your General Office Assistant business

Take care! – practically all policies for private vehicle insurance do not cover any event 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 insure the value of any vehicle in case of accident, malicious damage, fire, or theft.

In addition, in case of any accident, the van 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, require this type of insurance.

The required value of the insurance is calculated on the depreciated value of the vehicle, and your declared level of cover of contents. 

Tools and Equipment insurance

Since your General Office Assistant business needs unique and dedicated equipment, you will realize how much it can cost to replace it in case of any damage, loss, or theft.

The gear may be subject to malicious damage, deliberate fire, theft, other such unexpected acts.

In addition, 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 should have full-level equipment insurance so that you can immediately buy everything needed to keep your General Office Assistant 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 General Office Assistant business’ equipment.

Commercial Property insurance

Any General Office Assistant business that owns or rents space in a building must have a commercial property insurance policy.

If you own the space, you probably have a substantial capital investment, along with 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 unexpected occurrences like fire and storms, and against man-made damages like theft and vandalism.

If your General Office Assistant business deals in areas of high risk, like Florida or Georgia, supplementary coverage may be needed for earthquakes and hurricanes or tornadoes.

In other states like Rhode Island, where extreme cold snaps can cause damage to outer coverings of General Office Assistant business premises, there is a need for more additional 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 General Office Assistant insurance section below to give some idea of the average prices per million dollars of property insurance for your General Office Assistant business.

Temporary insurance by month, week or day for your General Office Assistant business

Is your General Office Assistant business working part-time or casually, or is the level of business seasonal?

Using short-term insurance makes perfect sense. Business insurance by the month, day, or week – temporary insurance for General Office Assistant – 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 less premiums but still having the same risk cover.

The important feature of short-term insurance is that you pay for 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 higher business activity, get the existing cover improved.

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

Business Owners Policy BOP for your General Office Assistant 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 combines 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 General Office Assistant businesses, such as yours.

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

BOPs will not cover your professional liability or commercial vehicle policies.

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

The normal business that is allowed to take a BOP policy must have less than one hundred employees, and under five million dollars in annual turnover.

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

Workers Compensation insurance for your General Office Assistant business employees

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

Workers compensation insurance covers the enterprise against any costs that arise if an employee 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 requirements in this regard can leave you as the employer having 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 may not get 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 see the relevant authorities in your state.

Average costs of these types of insurance

Although every General Office Assistant insurance need is unique, there are enough examples of standard quotes from insurance companies for us to give rough 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 researched for the main types of insurance your General Office Assistant businesses needs.

Types of insurance Price range
Equipment insurance $340 – $1490
Product liability insurance $330 – $515
Public liability insurance $380 – $610
Commercial insurance $850 – $2875
Commercial vehicle insurance $1835 – $2950
General liability insurance $730 – $1030

Cost of insurance for your General Office Assistant operations depends on many different factors.

We have estimated these figures for small freelance General Office Assistant businesses.

In larger states like Texas, premiums are generally about 20%-30% higher than national averages, but in smaller states like Utah, they can be about 20%-30% cheaper.

The location and size and type of your General Office Assistant business can have a big effect on the cost of different policies.

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

Also 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 suburb.

FAQ

What is small business insurance for General Office Assistant operations?

This is an umbrella term used to describe common insurance policies designed to protect General Office Assistant business owners from risks like bodily injury, property damage, claims of negligence.

Does my General Office Assistant business have to have insurance?

Some of the types 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 General Office Assistant business insurance policy cover?

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

The precise cover will vary based on your own operations.

See the table in the costing section above for average prices of the best policies for General Office Assistant insurance.

How much will General Office Assistant business insurance cost?

In addition to the size of the business, several other factors, such as location and claims history, are used to determine your policy’s cost.

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

You can search for more information insurance for General Office Assistant, in the search box below, and follow the relevant links.

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