888-900-0205Pet Store Insurance
Owning a pet store and pet supply establishment is similar to owning a retail store. One key difference is that you work with live animals in addition to the supply products. This means you have the added responsibility of caring for your inventory as well as keeping your employees and customers happy. While rewarding, owning a pet store can have its share of pitfalls as well. Protect your company and all parties involved by making sure you have the right types of small business insurance coverage.
General Liability
Property Coverage
Workers Compensation
Commercial Auto
General Liability Insurance
General liability is a commercial insurance policy that covers a broad spectrum of unexpected events. Unlike other insurance, GL covers most problems that arise even if they weren’t previously thought of and listed on your policy in advance. General liability can take care of damages if a customer gets hurt while in your pet store. Other things it can help your business with include product liability, advertising liability, natural disasters and general business losses or damages.
Business Owners Policy (BOP)
General liability is included with a business owners insurance policy, or BOP. A BOP lets you pick and choose specific types of coverage that apply to your pet store business’s needs.
- Equipment Breakdown – A BOP can cover the cost of repairing or replacing equipment if it malfunctions.
- Buildings and Contents – A BOP helps pay for repairs to your business structures when they’re damaged. Your pet store itself for example, can receive roof damage in a storm. The BOP protects tangible assets you have inside the store as well.
- Business Income and Extra Expense – Sometimes events cause enough damage to cause you to suspend business operations until repairs or replacements can be made. Your BOP can help with lost income during those times, and provide for extra temporary expenses you may incur as a result of the shutdown. For instance, if you had to pay for temporary shelter for your pets while your store roof was being repaired, the BOP could cover the temporary shelter expenses for you.
- Products and Completed Operations (Included in General Liability) – Some types of products can be covered by a BOP in the event that they are found to be faulty in the future.
- Electronic Data – If you keep important business files and information in digital format, a BOP can cover the replacement and recovery expenses if those files are ever damaged.
- Newly Acquired or Constructed Buildings – If you buy or build new spaces for your pet store, a BOP can protect them from damages and loss as well.
- Valuable Papers Protection – Any critical paperwork that you keep in physical form needs to be protected from loss by your BOP. If you retain pet registration, licensing and breeding information for example, they can be quite expensive and time consuming to replace if they were damaged in a flood or destroyed in a fire.
- Employee Dishonesty Coverage – When you have employees there is always the risk that one will perform dishonest acts. As the owner of the pet store, you can be held liable for those actions.
Workers Comp Insurance
Having employees means that by law you must also carry workers comp insurance. This protects them from having to pay the medical expenses if they are ever injured while performing job-specific duties.
Commercial Auto Insurance
A commercial auto insurance policy protects you from losses that can occur when you or an employee has an auto accident.