Passport and Visa Services insurance – what kind and at what cost

Whenever you budget the expenses of your business, Passport and Visa Services insurance must be high on the list because you can’t always know exactly what can happen in the future.

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With the protection provided by liability insurance and all the other kinds of insurance we will tell you about, you can protect your business and yourself in case something unforeseen happens.

Like any business owner, for your Passport and Visa Services enterprise, you must consider how much financial danger you are taking on.

If your Passport and Visa Services 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. 

Passport and Visa Services Insurance

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 we can, a rough guide to how much you can expect to pay.

The question is, can you afford to NOT have insurance for your Passport and Visa Services business?

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

Your Passport and Visa Services business is not sheltered by laws in the same way as states are, where legislation can place a “cap” on the maximum level of liability.

In some states, like Montana, there are specific monetary levels that limit the amount a court 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 claimant more than they have sort.

When you are running your Passport and Visa Services operations, you can’t avoid responsibility for the results of your actions.

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

What does Passport and Visa Services insurance protect you from?

For your Passport and Visa Services business, the most important types 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 describe the most important points any Passport and Visa Services business owner should know when negotiating the insurance needed.

The main categories of insurance for your Passport and Visa Services businesses are liability insurance, commercial insurance, asset insurance and workers compensation insurance.

Liability insurance

General liability insurance

Any Passport and Visa Services business is dealing directly with customers, and that means you usually have the danger that some accident can happen to them bodily or else something of theirs can be spoiled.

In such a case, they can demand compensation.

General liability insurance policy for your Passport and Visa Services business covers you against claims coming from injury to customers or damage to their property.

It protects your Passport and Visa Services business from the claims themselves and as well to any resulting court costs and legal fees of the lawsuits.

In many cases, it will even help you to qualify for extra business from city and state organizations, where contracts insist on proper liability insurance.

The average level of general liability insurance for your Passport and Visa Services business would be with a cap of $1 million for a single event 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 Passport and Visa Services insurance operations.

Professional liability insurance for your Passport and Visa Services business

In the event where a client alleges some negligence, errors, or omissions in how you conducted your Passport and Visa Services business for them, you can quickly face a court case.

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.

Most small Passport and Visa Services 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 Passport and Visa Services insurance section below for average prices of professional liability insurance for your Passport and Visa Services operations.

Product liability insurance

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

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

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

To cover yourself against any possible lawsuit, you need Product liability insurance for Passport and Visa Services

Only you can estimate exactly how much insurance you must have.

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

Commercial insurance

Commercial vehicle insurance for your Passport and Visa Services business

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

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

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

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

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

The required value of the insurance depends on the depreciated value of the vehicle, and your intended level of cover of contents. 

Tools and Equipment insurance

Since your Passport and Visa Services business needs unique and costly equipment, you will realize how much it can cost to replace it in case of any damage, loss, or theft.

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

Also, acts of nature like lightning strikes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and other highly damaging natural events can wipe-out your whole business in one stroke.

Unless you can afford to immediately replace such specialized gear quickly out of your own pocket, you should have full-level equipment insurance so that you can immediately buy any equipment needed to keep your Passport and Visa Services business running.

It is difficult to advise how much equipment insurance you need – it’s essentially dependent on how much you have invested in your Passport and Visa Services business’ equipment.

Commercial Property insurance

Any Passport and Visa Services 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.

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

If your Passport and Visa Services business works in areas of high risk, like Texas or South Carolina, extra coverage may be needed for earthquakes and hurricanes or tornadoes.

In other states like Illinois, where unlimited cold snaps can cause damage to outer coverings of Passport and Visa Services business premises, there is a need for more supplementary cover than in warmer climes.

Because the level of cover depends mainly 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 Passport and Visa Services insurance section below to give some estimate of the average prices per million dollars of property insurance for your Passport and Visa Services business.

Temporary insurance by month, week or day for your Passport and Visa Services business

Is your Passport and Visa Services business working part-time or casually, or is the level of business variable?

Using short-term insurance makes excellent sense. Business insurance by the month, day, or week – temporary insurance for Passport and Visa Services – are special policies where you can cover a nominated 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 identical risk cover.

The essential feature of short-term insurance is that you pay for the cover for a defined period – a specific 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 raised.

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

Business Owners Policy BOP for your Passport and Visa Services business

You have the option to combine a few 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 amalgamating 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 mostly the right choice for small and medium-sized Passport and Visa Services businesses, such as yours.

There are some 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 determine whether you are eligible to take out BOP cover.

The typical business that is eligible for a BOP policy must have less than one hundred employees, and maximum five million dollars in annual turnover.

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

Workers Compensation insurance for your Passport and Visa Services business employees

In almost all states, it is mandatory to have workers compensation insurance when your Passport and Visa Services 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 cover 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 required to pay penalties levied by the states.

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

In these states, you cannot get your workers compensation obligations from private insurance providers.

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

However, you must consult the relevant authorities in your state.

Average costs of these types of insurance

Although every Passport and Visa Services 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 researched for the main types of insurance your Passport and Visa Services businesses needs.

Types of insurance Price range
Equipment insurance $341 – $1222
Public liability insurance $296 – $794
Commercial vehicle insurance $1711 – $3434
Commercial insurance $1142 – $2161
Product liability insurance $325 – $627
General liability insurance $629 – $1056

Cost of insurance for your Passport and Visa Services operations depends on many different factors.

We have calculated these figures for small freelance Passport and Visa Services 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% lower.

The location and size and type of your Passport and Visa Services 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.

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

Another reliable source of information is the local Better Business Bureau in your city.

FAQ

What is small business insurance for Passport and Visa Services operations?

This is an umbrella term used to describe common insurance policies designed to protect Passport and Visa Services business owners from risks like bodily injury, property damage, claims of negligence.

Does my Passport and Visa Services 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.

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

What does a small Passport and Visa Services business insurance policy cover?

Liability insurance provides insurance against lawsuits or claims filed by a client 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 best policies for Passport and Visa Services insurance.

How much will Passport and Visa Services business insurance cost?

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

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

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