Virtual Assistant insurance – what kind and at what cost

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

With the protection provided by general insurance and all the other types 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 Virtual Assistant enterprise, you must consider how much financial danger you are taking on.

If your Virtual 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 consequences of their actions. 

In this article, we are giving very general guidelines for small businesses to outline 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 Virtual Assistant business?

What this means, for any Virtual Assistant business owner, is that if some customer 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 Virtual Assistant business is not harbored 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 New Jersey, there are specific monetary levels that limit the amount an adjudicator can award in any case against the state.

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

When you are running your Virtual Assistant operations, you can’t avoid responsibility for the consequences of your actions.

Even more importantly, unless you have spent up-front 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 Virtual Assistant insurance protect you from?

For your Virtual Assistant 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 describe the most important points any Virtual Assistant business owner should know when negotiating the insurance needed.

The main categories of insurance for your Virtual Assistant businesses are liability insurance, commercial insurance, asset insurance and workers compensation insurance.

Liability insurance

General liability insurance

Any Virtual Assistant business is dealing directly with customers, and that means you always have the danger that some accident can happen to them personally or else something of theirs can be spoiled.

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

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

It protects your Virtual Assistant business from the claims themselves and in addition 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 require proper liability insurance.

The average level of general liability insurance for your Virtual Assistant business would be with a boundary 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 Virtual Assistant insurance operations.

Professional liability insurance for your Virtual Assistant business

In the event where a client alleges some negligence, errors, or omissions in how you conducted your Virtual Assistant business for them, you can quickly be involved in 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.

Every small Virtual 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 Virtual Assistant insurance section below for average prices of professional liability insurance for your Virtual Assistant operations.

Product liability insurance

Whatever goods you sell or advice you give about the goods, you are running a risk that customers 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 explicit laws of product liability in your own state.

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

To cover yourself against any likely lawsuit, you need Product liability insurance for Virtual Assistant

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

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

Commercial insurance

Commercial vehicle insurance for your Virtual Assistant business

Beware! – almost all policies for private vehicle insurance do not cover any happening like theft or accidental damage when the van is being used for business purposes.

The right 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 guarantee 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 covered if your car is involved in a crash.

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

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

Tools and Equipment insurance

Since your Virtual Assistant business needs unique and costly equipment, you know 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.

As well, 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 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 Virtual Assistant business running.

It is difficult to advise how much equipment insurance you need – it’s really dependent on how much you have invested in your Virtual Assistant business’ equipment.

Commercial Property insurance

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

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

Every physical building location needs to carry insurance coverage for the value of the premises and contents against natural occurrences like fire and storms, and against man-made damages like theft and vandalism.

If your Virtual Assistant business operates in areas of high risk, like California or Georgia, extra coverage may be needed for earthquakes and hurricanes or tornadoes.

In other states like Illinois, where intense cold snaps can cause damage to outer coverings of Virtual Assistant business premises, there is a need for more extra cover than in warmer climes.

Whereas 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 Virtual Assistant insurance section below to give some idea of the average prices per million dollars of property insurance for your Virtual Assistant business.

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

Is your Virtual Assistant business working part-time or casually, or is the level of business fluctuating?

Using short-term insurance makes good sense. Business insurance by the month, day, or week – temporary insurance for Virtual 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 key 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 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 Virtual Assistant business

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

A BOP integrates 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 often the right choice for small and medium-sized Virtual Assistant businesses, such as yours.

There are a few limits that will dictate 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 rule whether you are eligible to take out BOP cover.

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

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

Workers Compensation insurance for your Virtual Assistant business employees

In almost all states, it is mandatory to have workers compensation insurance when your Virtual Assistant business has one or more employees.

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

The benefits provide for 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 allow coverage from the government-run monopoly state funds.

In these states, you may not obtain your workers compensation obligations from private insurance corporations.

Workers compensation premiums are calculated 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 Virtual Assistant insurance need is unique, there are enough examples of usual quotes from insurance companies for us to give approximate guidelines, including what are the cheapest rates offered.

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

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

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

We have estimated these figures for small self-employed Virtual Assistant businesses.

In larger states like New York, premiums are generally about 20%-30% higher than national averages, but in smaller states like Utah, they usually are about 20%-30% lower.

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

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

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

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

FAQ

What is small business insurance for Virtual Assistant operations?

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

Does my Virtual Assistant business have to have insurance?

Some of the types of insurance are not mandatory for you to run 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 Virtual Assistant business insurance policy cover?

Liability insurance provides insurance against lawsuits or claims filed by a client 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 Virtual Assistant insurance.

How much will Virtual Assistant business insurance cost?

As well as the size of the business, several 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.

Related Industries:

Virtual Assistant insurance – cost and coverage Virtual Teacher Insurance – Cost and Coverage Virtual Tour Insurance – Cost and Coverage Virtual Reality Insurance – Cost and Types Of Policies Virtual Systems Engineer Insurance – Cost and Types Of Policies Certified Dental Assistant Insurance – What Kind and at What Cost Purchasing Assistant insurance – what kind and at what cost Human Resource Assistant Insurance – What Kind and at What Cost Assistant Athletic Director insurance – what kind and at what cost Floral Assistant insurance – what kind and at what cost Photography Assistant insurance – what kind and at what cost Inventory Assistant insurance – what kind and at what cost