What Insurance Do Kelowna Florists Need?
Your customers love your flowers. You make it look easy. Your job of arranging and cutting flowers, though, isn’t without risks or mishaps. As a Kelowna florist, you need a customized florist insurance package to protect your business.
A customer could slip and fall in your flower shop or your flowers could get damaged during delivery. Florist insurance is recommended for retail, wholesale, and independent florists in Kelowna.
Your Western Financial Group business insurance expert will give you top-notch commercial insurance advice and ways to save.
What is florist insurance?
Florist insurance is a customized policy that protects Kelowna flower shop owners from the insurable risks that their businesses may face.
Customized flower insurance helps protect you as a Kelowna florist against such incidents as customer injuries, damaged inventory, fire, and vandalism.
How will florist insurance protect me?
1. You deliver birthday flowers and the person who received them said they made her nauseous and she had an allergic reaction. Product liability insurance protects your Kelowna florist business against claims of bodily injury due to your floral products. It can help cover legal, court costs, or legal settlements.
2. A customer comes into your Kelowna flower shop and trips over a water-filled bucket of flowers that wasn’t put back in a refrigeration unit. You get sued for third-party bodily injury. Commercial general liability insurance may help cover these costs and your legal fees.
3. Your Kelowna shop’s computer system is hacked and your clients’ personal information and financial information is stolen. Cyber liability insurance will help cover the containment costs related to a cyberattack on your flower business, repair costs to your system, and with the costs of potential lawsuits from clients whose information has been hacked.
As a Kelowna florist, here’s an insurance check list:
- Do you have the best business insurance rate you need as a florist?
- Do you have the right amount for your deductible and regularly review it to make sure it’s the right amount for your flower shop?
- Is your number of employees up to date?
- Have you thought about the consequences of your Kelowna flower shop being forced to close down temporarily due to a flood or fire?
Here’s the recommended insurance package that you need as a Kelowna florist:
Product liability insurance
Kelowna florists need product liability insurance for protection against defective products. This type of insurance protects your business against legal liability for claims for bodily injury or property damage arising from your floral products.
Product liability insurance is designed to help protect your flower business by giving you insurance coverage to help cover legal, court costs or compensatory damages.
Commercial general liability (CGL) insurance
CGL insurance is also called “slip and fall” insurance because it protects you against day-to-day risks while working as a Kelowna florist.
CGL insurance can protect you against claims of third-party bodily injury or property damage that occurs at your Kelowna flower shop. For example, if an injured client sues you for damages, CGL helps cover your legal expenses, any financial settlement ordered by the court, and the injured person’s medical expenses.
It’s important to note that without commercial liability insurance, you would be responsible for paying any liability costs out of your own pocket.
Your CGL policy also can help protect you from libel, slander, and false advertising allegations.
How much CGL insurance do I need?
It’s not uncommon that you would carry at least $1 million in CGL coverage or more, depending on the size of your florist business.
Commercial property insurance
It protects your Kelowna flower business and its contents, such as flower coolers computers, furniture, and your inventory, from insured risks that can happen, such as fire, theft, flood, or vandalism.
If vandals smash an office window, commercial property damage could cover the costs of replacing the window and cover any damage or vandalism inside your office or clinic.
Commercial property insurance typically includes flood insurance, but what if there’s heavy rain and the sewers back up and your Kelowna flower shop is flooded?
You should consider adding sewer backup or earthquake coverage extensions, which standard business insurance policies typically do not cover.
You may want to add business interruption coverage to your commercial property policy. Business interruption insurance will cover you for the income you lose following an insured event. For example, if your flower shop is flooded and must remain closed while repairs are underway, business interruption coverage will reimburse you for your losses.
Commercial auto insurance
If you use a van to deliver your floral arrangements to your Kelowna and area customers, you need a commercial auto policy to protect your drivers and vehicles.
Most personal car insurance policies do not cover the cost of damages or injuries due to an accident when using a vehicle for business purposes. If you have five or more vehicles for your business, you may require a commercial fleet insurance policy.
Cyber liability insurance
If your Kelowna flower shop processes debit and credit card transactions, you need cyber insurance. Your system could be vulnerable to cyberthieves.
Without cyber insurance, you will have to pay out of your pocket for the cost of restoring your - flower shop’s computer system if it’s hacked.
You may also be liable for damages to third parties whose information has been stolen and you may have to pay for notification expenses to inform customers affected by a breach.
What do I do if I have an insurance claim as a Kelowna-based florist?
- Contact your broker immediately after any business-related mishap. Waiting to file a claim can confuse insurers about the severity of the damages to your business.
- Know your policy so that when you contact your broker you are familiar with what will be covered or not.
- Document the damage. Take photos right away and write down what happened.
- Do not throw away damaged goods after taking photos. Keep the physical evidence so that your adjustor can see it.
- Do not invite lawsuits. Don’t say anything that could be used against you, especially if you aren’t sure what happened.
- Be honest about what your damaged property is worth. Damaged commercial property is generally valued according to its actual cash value or replacement value.
Western Insurance has licensed BUSINESS INSURANCE EXPERTS to get you the right insurance package as a Kelowna florist. Our experts are available now to help you navigate the business insurance journey to protect you and your flower business.
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