Does Your Moving Company Have Enough Business Liability Insurance?
Moving companies need to protect themselves from lawsuits when they’re packing, moving, and storing their clients’ furniture. Business liability insurance is the cornerstone of your moving company insurance to protect it from legal claims.
Movers can be liable for damages to their customers’ property during a move or while in storage. A customized moving company insurance policy that’s anchored to business liability coverage will help financially protect your moving company.
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What is moving company insurance?
Moving company insurance protects the moving company from liabilities associated with moving its customers’ furniture, goods, and valuables during the moving process. It protects against the damage or loss of a customer’s goods, property damage, and third-party (client) bodily injury that could all result in lawsuits against a moving company.
Risks that movers face:
- Damaging their customers’ furniture and goods
- Auto accidents
- Third-party injury: A client could trip over a box and get injured and sue you.
- Claims of professional negligence
Here’s how moving insurance can protect you from lawsuits
Commercial general liability (CGL) insurance
Commercial general liability insurance protects your moving business against claims of third-party bodily injury or property damage occurring on your premises or as a result of your moving business’s operations. If a customer sues your moving company for damage to their furniture, CGL insurance would help cover the legal costs.
If you were sued, CGL insurance would help cover the legal costs to defend the claim against your moving company in court, as well as costs to cover damages to compensate third parties whether you win or lose your case.
Without CGL insurance, you will be responsible for paying all the costs related to third-party (customers) damage to their property or injuries.
What does commercial general liability insurance help cover?
- Injury to a third party who is not your employee
- Damage to someone’s property
- Damage to rented property
- Medical bills if someone is injured
- Legal costs and settlement costs of liability lawsuits filed against you
- Liability lawsuits related to slander and libel
Cyber liability insurance
Cyber liability insurance is an important business insurance coverage for moving companies and storage facility, given the popularity of credit, debit, and online payments. Cyber liability insurance will help protect your company financially in case of a cyber-attack.
Depending on the size of the data breach and the information that was taken, the customers who are affected can hold you liable and sue you for damages. That’s when cyber insurance can protect you financially.
Professional liability insurance
Professional liability insurance is also called errors and omissions (E&O) insurance. This type of insurance covers your moving company or storage company for claims or allegations of professional negligence, mistakes, misrepresentation, misconduct, and failing to deliver a service as promised. It is designed to cover your legal fees, settlements, and customer damages from such claims.
How much does moving/storage company insurance cost?
There isn’t a set price for moving or storage company insurance because these companies are in different locations and provide different services.
These factors are usually considered:
- Location
- Number of moving vans or trucks; makes and models of each
- Number of employees and their driving records
- Services you provide
- Years of experience
- Annual revenue
- Tools you own or rent
- Any past claims
What other types of insurance do moving companies and storage facilities need?
Fleet insurance
If your moving or storage company has 5 or more vehicles, you will need fleet insurance. Fleet insurance is typically cheaper than having individual policies on each of your company’s vehicles.
Depending on the size of your fleet, you could see a substantial saving. If you have fewer than 5 vehicles, you will need commercial auto insurance for your moving company vehicles.
Warehouse insurance
Warehouse insurance covers physical loss or damage to customers’ property when caused by the moving company at specified locations, such as a storage warehouse.
Inland marine insurance
Inland marine insurance is also called heavy equipment insurance or tools and equipment insurance. It protects expensive equipment or items transported by land or temporarily stored in third-party storage facilities. It protects them from damage or loss due to theft, vandalism, or collisions. Inland marine insurance complements cargo insurance during a move.
Cargo insurance
Cargo insurance protects your customers’ goods in transit from damage, loss, or theft while in your moving company’s care or temporarily housed at a third-party storage facility.
Commercial property insurance
Commercial property insurance keeps your moving company protected from property losses, such as theft or vandalism. You can also add earthquake insurance, sewer backup or flood coverage extensions to protect your moving company headquarters.
Property your moving company may need to insure:
- Buildings and other structures
- Furniture, equipment, supplies
- Computers
- Documents such as payroll, accounts receivable
Business interruption insurance
Business interruption insurance helps support your movers’ business when it can’t operate due to a covered loss. You’ll be responsible for bills such as repairs, rent, and payroll even if your business is forced to close temporarily.
Some examples of losses that can force your moving business to shut down:
- Your moving business is damaged by fire or vandalism
- A disruption in your supply chain
- Damage to a neighboring business prevents your business from operating
Business interruption insurance can help with expenses such as payroll, rent, utilities, property taxes and relocation of your moving business.
Note that business interruption insurance is typically purchased as an add-on, also called an endorsement, to a standard commercial property insurance policy, rather than a standalone policy.
Final thoughts
Your customers rely on your moving company to transport their goods safely and securely from one place to the next without incident. Having enough business liability insurance to financially protect your moving or storage company from lawsuits is just good business.
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