There’s always an element of risk when you’re in business for yourself — and it doesn’t take a major disaster to leave you with some massive bills. 

An occasional insurance claim is best viewed as nothing more than the price of doing business. Just the same, you can help reduce your losses by understanding what causes most commercial claims and taking steps to prevent them. 

The most common insurance claims aren’t necessarily the most expensive  

It’s smart to remember that “most common” doesn’t mean “most costly” when it comes to an insurance claim. The top five most common claims are: 

•     Burglary and/or theft (20%)
•     Damage from water or cold (15%)
•     Wind and hail damage (15%)
•     Fire and smoke damage (10%)
•     Slip-and-fall accidents (10%) 

Compare that to the most expensive claims, which include: 

•     Reputation harm (averaging $50,000 per claim)
•     Motor vehicle accidents (averaging $45,000 per claim)
•     Fire damage (averaging $35,000 per claim)
•     Product liability (averaging $35,000 per claim)
•     Injuries to customers, excluding slips and falls (averaging $30,000 per claim) 

What can you do with this information? Well, a lot of business owners focus on loss prevention in order to lower their insurance costs, but they may be wiser to focus on security for their proprietary and customer information (since identity information theft can really damage a company’s reputation), instead.  The more informed you are about where the real dangers lie when it comes to your business losses, the better you can allocate your resources. 

When you do have a commercial insurance claim , you may not find your insurer as accommodating as you expect — but you can fight back and protect what you’ve built.