They say when it rains it pours. Accidents happen when you least expected it. A fire breaks out and you lose precious inventory. A hurricane sends a tree smashing down into your office; your business gets robbed. For you to be able to claim for these mishaps, you need property insurance.

Property insurance protects your business against any physical damage to, or loss of your assets. Assets also include the area in which the business runs and the property furnished there. In disasters like, fire, theft, explosion or vandalism, having property insurance help you recover your loss – whether it’s to repair damaged property or replace what you’ve lost.

Every business owner must have property insurance to protect his assets. Although business property insurance isn’t required by law, it’s a very wise investment to limit your obligation in the event of a natural disaster or other calamity. Without it, it may cripple your business financially. Most business property insurance are tailored fit to the business and can cover a variety of losses, including damage from fires, electrical surges, or even theft by an employee.

Business owners can purchase additional types of coverage depending on their need. For example, a business in the mid west or in the east coast may want to purchase coverage for snow, sleet damage or ice. On the other hand, businesses in the west coast may consider an earthquake-insurance policy for them.

Property insurance can be insured in 2 ways namely: open perils and named perils. Open perils covers all the causes of loss not specifically excluded in the policy. Common types include damage resulting to earthquakes, floods, nuclear incidents, acts of terrorism and war. Named perils on the other hand, require the actual cause of loss to be listed in the policy for you to be able to claim insurance. These are the examples of named perils: damage causing events like fire, lightning, explosion and theft.

In addition, there are 2 lines of property insurance: commercial and personal lines. Commercial lines covers the following: automobiles, business owners (property and liability combined for smaller commercial customers), capital assets, crime and fidelity, electronic commerce, employment-related practices liability, equipment breakdown (known as boiler and machinery), farm, financial institutions, general liability, inland marine, management protection, market segments, medical-professional liability, package policies, property, umbrella, and workers compensation.

On the other hand, personal lines cover the following: automobile, dwelling property, homeowners (property and liability combined), inland marine (diverse personal goods), personal liability (including personal umbrella).

Tenants can also buy property insurance. Commercial and industrial tenants also purchase insurance so that in the event that their inventories are damaged, they can replace them. Since businesses can have large amounts of capital tied up in inventory and equipment, such damage could be disastrous without insurance to cover them.  Residential renters can also benefit from property insurance, even many are uninsured. Renters are sometimes overwhelmed to learn how much it will cost to replace their possessions after a flood or fire without insurance to cover their loss.

While many businesses purchase their property insurance policy through a business owner’s policy (BOP), these bundles property and liability insurance into just one policy. However, since the amount of coverage available in a BOP is generally lower than in a standard property insurance policy, companies usually require a lot of coverage that stick with a separate policy. Business interruption insurance and extra-expense insurance are 2 types of optional coverage in a property insurance policy that protects your business after a loss occurs. Business interruption insurance provides payments for expenses such as salaries, taxes and debts, as well as any loss of profit due to the interruption of business.

Extra expense insurance, on the other hand, pays the costs of temporarily relocating a business when a covered peril occurs. For example, if a fire destroys a shoe store, extra-expense insurance will pay for the business to resume operations and cover such expenses as buying or leasing equipment, buying new merchandise and informing customers about changes that have occurred.

Knowing you have to back up in times of emergencies or disaster situations is important for any property owner, whether it’s business or personal property. Everyone has the right to be insured.