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What Types of Insurance Does a Convenience Store Need?

What Types of Insurance Does a Convenience Store Need?

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What Types of Insurance Does a Convenience Store Need?

Convenience Store Insurance Quotes

Costs for business insurance can vary greatly, and getting insurance quotes from multiple companies is recommended in order to get the best pricing.

Coverwallet and Hiscox offer easy business insurance quotes at affordable prices.

What Types of Insurance Does a Convenience Store Need?

Many people have busy, tightly packed schedules and need a quick stop for everyday essentials. Convenience stores provide that quick stop for customers. As the name suggests, these stores sell useful daily items, such as food, coffee, toiletries, tobacco products, newspapers, and magazines.

Convenience stores are often busy and profitable businesses, seeing frequent patrons throughout the day. However, many patrons also mean an increased risk of liabilities and losses. Therefore, business insurance is essential to protect from financial hardships that may follow an incident.

Related: Guide to starting a convenience store

What Are Some Risks for a Convenience Store?

Risk or hazards are events that cause damage or lawsuits and are often insurable. Convenience stores have several exposures to risk, some of which include the following:

  • Robberies
  • Employee injuries
  • Customer injuries
  • Illness from contaminated products
  • Fire damage

Robberies

Convenience stores sell various items that are small, low-cost purchases, meaning the store will have many cash transactions throughout the day. As a result, convenience stores will regularly have large amounts of cash moving through the store and kept on-site. Unfortunately, cash is a common target for theft, making the store a target for robbers.

Also, many stores operate at late hours, or even 24 hours a day, which increases their risks. In addition to robberies, internal theft is also an issue. Employee dishonesty results in lost cash or shoplifted retail, harming the business’s financial well-being.

Employee Injuries

Store employees face several injury risks, mainly from slips and falls. These accidents especially occur on poorly maintained walkways. Also, employees may be required to carry and move heavy inventory, leading to muscle injury from strains and repetitive motions.

Employees also face food preparation injuries. For example, common food preparation injuries include cuts, burns, and lacerations. In addition, hot self-serve stations introduce a hazard if hot liquids spill, the machines malfunction, or surfaces overheat.

Customer Injuries

Customers also face several injury risks, and like employees, customers may be injured from slips and falls on poorly maintained walkways. Commonly, slips happen on wet, cluttered, and uneven flooring. Customers also sustain injuries from food dispensing machines, such as shocks from vending machines or burns from self-serve machines.

Convenience stores that sell alcohol also face a liquor liability concern. Selling alcohol to minors can have significant repercussions for the store. Similarly, tobacco product sales to minors may lead to liability claims.

Illness from Contaminated Products

Convenience stores are responsible for keeping perishable foods appropriately stored and away from contaminants that may cause illness. The consumption of spoiled or contaminated food can result in severe illness and expensive lawsuits.

Some common reasons that food spoils or becomes contaminated include:

  • Dirty workspaces
  • Faulty refrigeration equipment
  • Improper hand-washing procedures
  • Pest infestation
  • Expired product
  • Mislabeled allergens

Fire Damage

Fire damage can result in expensive repairs, a loss of business, and inventory loss. For instance, a convenience store’s ill-maintained or malfunctioning equipment may spark a fire. Additionally, a fire may start from faulty wiring or smoking.

Food preparation stations and self-serving equipment may also become fire hazards. For example, warmers, burners, and coffee pots can spark fires if they overheat, the electrical system malfunctions or flammable objects are too close.

Hiscox.com

What Types of Insurance Policies Should a Convenience Store Consider?

Insurance is one of the best ways that a convenience store can protect against financial hardships resulting from accidents. Some of the insurance policies that are essential for convenience stores include:

  • Crime Insurance
  • Workers’ Compensation Insurance
  • General Liability Insurance – Premises and Operations
  • General Liability Insurance – Products and Completed Operations
  • Commercial Property Insurance

Crime Insurance

Crime insurance protects money from risks such as theft, forgery, embezzlement, and fraud. Cash is often excluded from other insurance policies, so convenience stores need to bolster their business with crime insurance to protect their money.

A crime insurance policy does not cover theft or embezzlement by owners, partners, or executives, but it will cover employee theft. Certainly, employee vetting can help reduce the risk of internal thefts, but unfortunately, it still occurs. Nevertheless, the business is protected from financial losses caused by employees and third parties with crime insurance.

Workers’ Compensation Insurance

A workers’ compensation policy covers an employee’s costs after being injured at work. This policy covers a variety of expenses, including the following:

  • Medical payments
  • Lost wages
  • Ongoing rehabilitation care
  • Disability income
  • Funeral expenses

Although many states require that businesses with employees carry this coverage, convenience stores benefit from having this policy, regardless. This is because there are many ways that employees may become injured while working, and these injuries can result in lawsuits against the business. However, workers’ compensation covers the employees for their expenses while also covering the business from potential lawsuits.

General Liability Insurance – Premises and Operations

General liability is a core policy in most insurance packages because it has wide-ranging protection for various liabilities. For example, general liability for premises and operations protects the store from claims of bodily injury or property damage that occur on-site or due to its operations (i.e., actions of its employees or harm caused by malfunctioning equipment).

One of the main coverages that premises and operations liability covers are injury claims, such as slip or fall injuries. This policy also insures the business for claims of property damage caused by the business. In the event of a claim, a general liability policy covers the following expenses:

  • Medical bills
  • Property damage repairs
  • Legal defense costs
  • Settlements

General Liability Insurance – Products and Completed Operations

Products and completed operations liability is another line of general liability that covers bodily injury and property damage claims occurring because of the products sold by the business or due to finished work provided by the business. For convenience stores, this coverage is important because it insures claims of illness or injury from consuming contaminated or spoiled foods.

This line of liability insurance covers the store for associated claim costs if an incident or illness occurs. For example, this policy covers medical bills, legal defense costs, and settlements.

Commercial Property Insurance

Property coverage is another essential policy that covers business-owned structures and property (i.e., equipment, inventory, and supplies) for the following perils:

  • Fire
  • Wind
  • Hail
  • Theft
  • Vandalism
  • Water from leaking pipes

A property insurance policy covers structures up to an agreed policy limit, determined by the building’s size, condition, permanently affixed furniture, and customization. Additionally, this policy covers business property up to an agreed policy limit, determined by an estimated total value (and usually includes a deductible).

Convenience stores benefit from this policy since several risks expose the business’s structure and property to damage. Some of the more significant damage risks are caused by thefts and fire. Fortunately, a property insurance policy covers these claims.

How Much Does Convenience Store Insurance Cost?

Although pricing can vary between insurance companies, the convenience store’s insurance coverage amounts and risk exposures are the greatest price differentiator. For instance, a large convenience store that has multiple employees, is open late, and serves many customers has greater exposure to hazards and needs generous coverage limits. As a result, this business will likely pay a higher insurance premium than a smaller store.

Insurance companies consider several factors when determining the risk exposure and coverage limits. For example, an insurance company may look at the following elements:
– The size and condition of business-owned structures
– The amount of inventory
– The number of employees on the payroll
– The amount of cash regularly stored on-site
– Food safety precautions, sanitation, and refrigeration equipment condition
– Any past or current lawsuits or insurance claims

As mentioned earlier, insurance pricing may fluctuate slightly between insurance companies. So, to ensure you get a fair price, contact multiple companies for a quote. This way, you can choose the company that offers you a policy with the best coverage for a reasonable price.

What Types of Insurance Does a Convenience Store Need?

What Types of Insurance Does a Convenience Store Need?

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