Why Toronto Businesses Need Commercial Property Insurance
Whether you own or rent the space that your business operates in, you need to protect it from risks like theft, fire, and vandalism. Commercial property insurance protects your Toronto business.
Commercial property insurance isn’t legally required, but it’s strongly recommended for Toronto businesses of all sizes. It provides financial protection to your business and its contents in case of unexpected events that may cause damage or loss.
Is your business in Toronto’s downtown area or does it serve clients in one of Toronto’s many neighbourhoods?
Is your business located in Scarborough, Etobicoke, North York, York, East York, or are you in Mississauga, Bolton, Caledon, Hamilton, Markham, Vaughan, Newmarket, Aurora, Orangeville, Richmond Hill, or Milton?
Wherever your business is located in Toronto, Greater Toronto Area (GTA) or anywhere in Ontario, your Western Financial Group business insurance expert will give you top-notch commercial insurance advice and ways to save on insurance for your business.
What is commercial property insurance?
Commercial property insurance helps provide your Toronto business with financial coverage for physical loss or damage to your building, property, and contents.
Commercial property insurance can also be called business property insurance or commercial building insurance.
What Toronto businesses need commercial property insurance?
Ideally all Toronto businesses should have commercial property insurance, but here’s a list of business for which it’s recommended:
- Construction companies
- Contractors
- Electricians, Plumbers, Carpenters, Welders
- Landscapers
- Retailers, including clothing stores
- Auto garages
- Bakers
- Restaurants and cafes
- Dry cleaners
- Florists
Why do I need commercial property insurance?
As a Toronto business owner, you need commercial property insurance coverage to protect your business’s physical location and its contents.
Commercial property insurance can help cover repair or replacement costs if your Toronto business’s property is damaged or destroyed due to a covered loss, such fire, theft, storms including wind and hail, or vandalism.
Commercial Property insurance helps cover the cost of repairing or rebuilding your Toronto business.
Commercial property insurance typically covers:
- Your premises, including signage and other physical structures such as a fence
- Equipment
- Machinery
- Computer systems
- Hardware
- Inventory/Stock
What’s not included:
- Equipment wear-and-tear
- An unexplained loss
- Deliberate damage to your business
- Theft at a vacant location (more than 30 days)
- Cash/securities
How much does commercial property insurance cost?
The cost of commercial property insurance for Toronto businesses will depend on factors such as:
- What sector your business operates in
- Annual revenue
- Location
- Type of property
- Square footage
- Number of employees
- Any past claims
- Any security measures
Here are 3 examples of how commercial property insurance can help your Toronto business:
- A windstorm damages the roof of your Toronto business. Commercial property insurance helps cover the repairs to your roof.
- Thieves break into your business and steal some merchandise and computers. Commercial property insurance helps cover stolen goods and computers.
- A small kitchen fire in your Toronto café leaves it damaged and there’s also some smoke damage in the café. Your commercial property insurance covers the cost to repair the kitchen, replace the damaged insured contents, and clean up the smoke damage.
Coverages you may want to add as extensions to your commercial property insurance:
Flood Sewer backup coverage: This add-on coverage helps protect your Toronto business against water damage from floods and sewer backups.
Business interruption insurance: This coverage supports you when your Toronto business can’t operate due to a covered loss.
There are a number of losses that can force your Toronto business to shut down. Some examples include:
- Damage to your equipment from fire or vandalism
- A major reduction in revenue due to a client/supplier facing losses of their own
- A disruption in your supply chain
Business interruption insurance can help with expenses such as:
- Payroll
- Rent
- Utilities
- Property taxes
- Alarm monitoring
- Relocation of your business
Business interruption insurance can be the difference between recovering from a loss and closing permanently.
Here’s an insurance checklist for Toronto businesses:
- Do you have the best Toronto business insurance rate that suits your work?
- Do you have the right amount for your deductible and regularly review it to make sure it’s the right amount for you?
- Are you or your employees using personal vehicles for work?
What do I do if there’s a claim against my Toronto business?
- 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 Financial Group has licensed BUSINESS INSURANCE EXPERTS to get you the right commercial property insurance at the right value for your Toronto business. Our experts are available now to help you navigate the business insurance journey.
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