Will Property Insurance Pay for Theft in Your Business?

thief with blue eyes in mask No one wants to experience theft and/or vandalism within their business. The property damage and loss of possessions might prove costly. You will want to rebuild without significant profit losses. That’s where your commercial insurance might come in handy. Let's look a little closer at how different policy elements will apply to theft damage. The good news is, you often have a lot of protection in case of theft in your operation. Nevertheless, certain restrictions might exist. Apply different elements of your policy appropriately to the value of your operation.

Theft Risks in Businesses

Louisiana reported more than 157,000 instances of property crime in 2017. The monetary losses from burglary to non-residence properties in the U.S. that year amounted to between $2,200 and $2,300 per occurrence. If such an incident were to occur in your store, you stand to experience high costs for remediation. You might experience:

Structure and property damage, such as broken locks, doors and windows
Damage to building contents such as safes, glass cases, cash registers and even shelving and stock cabinets
Stolen materials of all shapes and sizes
Vandalism or intentional damage to the building

When each of these occurrences result, that equals another cost to you. Thus, you'll have to pay for recovery and repairs. If you can't support such recovery, you might lose critical commercial funds. The very survival of the business might even come under threat.

Recovering from Such Losses

Following a theft or vandalism incident, spring into action.

Immediately call the police to investigate the scene, photograph damage and collect evidence. They can likely help you take emergency action to quarantine the area and re-secure it.
Take stock of the damage and losses yourself. Take photos of the damage and take a careful inventory to determine stolen property.
Contact your property insurers. They will likely be able to immediately help you file a claim. Most commercial property insurance will cover damage from theft or vandalism. Therefore, you'll receive financial help in your losses.

However, keep in mind that your policy will have limits.

All policies will only pay a maximum amount of money for any given claim.
Certain policies will place per-item limits on how much it will pay for lost possessions. They'll only pay a certain amount for these items.
Some policies will not cover theft in businesses that don't have appropriate security systems, like burglar alarms.

Furthermore, check your policy to see if it will only cover certain instances of theft. Your policy might explicitly list the covered scenarios, while explicitly excluding others. Work closely with your agent to determine the appropriate theft coverage you need. Contact us now to learn more.

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