Inland Marine Insurance as Part of Your Business Insurance Portfolio

Did you know that inland marine insurance gets its name from the insurance written as far back as the 1700s for cargo shipped across oceans? However, today inland marine insurance policies are written as a business insurance policy. Your business insurance portfolio or business owner's policy does not always include this type of coverage, which protects your company from a financial exposure that includes risks related to the movement of business property. There are several forms of inland marine insurance. They include:

Builder's risk
Equipment dealers
Musical Instruments
Cargo
Fine arts

Risk is the potential for financial loss, and every loss has three elements:

The item that is at risk
The peril that caused the loss
The impact of the potential loss

How are Risks Covered?

There are only two types of inland marine insurance, so pay attention to what risks are and aren't covered.

Many inland marine policies include "all risk" insurance. This type of policy only lists exclusions that are not covered by the policy. If your policy does not exclude a risk that causes you to file a claim, then your company has protection for the loss.

The other type of policy is a "named perils" inland marine policy. With this type of coverage, the loss must relate to a risk specifically named in the policy.

What Risks are Covered?

Almost anything you can think of is insurable by an inland marine policy. Examples include:

Property owned by a business, from heavy machinery to office equipment
Imports and exports
Domestic shipments

Inland marine insurance also protects high-risk property, such as a contractor's or a tradesman's tools that are not covered by standard business property insurance policies.

Also, inland marine insurance normally provides a business with insurance against damage to equipment or infrastructure involved in transporting products. This means if a company truck is carrying cargo and destroys a guard rail, you have coverage for the cost of repair to your truck and for reimbursing the authority that owns the guard rail for repair or replacement.

Speak to your insurance agent to see if your existing business insurance is adequate, or if a marine inland policy would be beneficial coverage to add to your policy.

Are you covered? Call Auto Insurance Discounters at (866) 288-6545 for more information on Kansas City business insurance.

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