Commercial Property Insurance

Valuable Papers and Records coverage allows you to extend the insurance that applies to your Business Personal Property, covering the costs associated with replacing or restoring lost information from valuable papers and records that have been lost or damaged due to a covered loss. This essential coverage ensures that critical documents and data, which are vital to your business operations, can be recovered, minimizing disruption and helping you get back on track quickly.

Business Personal Property coverage typically only applies to property located at the addresses listed on your policy. However, there are extensions that provide limited coverage for property off-premises, under certain conditions:

• Temporarily at a Location You Do Not Own, Lease, or Operate: Coverage extends to items temporarily located off-site, such as at a client’s location.
• In Storage at a Location You Lease: Your property is covered while in storage at a leased facility.
• At Any Fair, Trade Show, or Exhibition: Coverage includes property taken to fairs, trade shows, or exhibitions.

If your business has property that doesn’t meet these criteria, or if you need to increase the coverage amount for off-premises items beyond the extension limit, you’ll likely need an Inland Marine policy. This specialized insurance provides broader protection for business property that moves or is stored off-site, ensuring your assets are fully covered wherever they go.

Commercial property insurance can extend coverage for a covered loss to include various outdoor properties that are essential to your business operations. This extension applies to:

• Outdoor Fences: Protection against damage to fences surrounding your property.
• Radio/TV Antennas: Coverage for antennas used in your business, safeguarding them from covered perils.
• Signs (Unless Attached to a Building): Coverage for standalone signs, ensuring they’re protected from damage.
• Trees, Shrubs, and Plants (Unless They Are Part of “Stock”): This coverage includes landscaping elements, such as trees, shrubs, and plants, which are not part of your inventory or stock.

This extended coverage ensures that these vital outdoor elements are included in your protection plan, helping to mitigate financial loss in the event of damage from a covered peril.

Your commercial property insurance can be extended to cover loss or damage to trailers that you do not own, provided certain conditions are met. This extension allows the insurance that applies to Your Business Personal Property to also apply to non-owned trailers under the following circumstances:

• Used in Your Business: The trailer must be actively used in your business operations.
• In Your Care, Custody, or Control: The trailer must be under your care, custody, or control while located at the premises described in the policy’s Declarations.
• Contractual Responsibility: You must have a contractual responsibility to pay for any loss or damage to the trailer.

This extension ensures that trailers integral to your business operations are protected, even if they are not owned by you, providing peace of mind and financial protection in case of a covered loss.

Under an ISO commercial property policy, computers and peripheral devices such as printers and monitors are classified as “covered property.” These items are considered “machinery and equipment,” and therefore qualify as business personal property. However, when it comes to electronic data, the coverage is more nuanced:

• Computers and Peripherals: As business personal property, your computers, monitors, printers, and other peripheral devices are covered against damage or loss under the standard commercial property insurance policy.

• Electronic Data Coverage: While electronic data itself is not included as “covered property,” a limited amount of coverage is typically added to the policy. This extension provides protection for electronic data, information, facts, or computer programs that are stored on, created, used, or transmitted via computer software.

  • Restoration or Replacement: If electronic data is damaged by a covered cause of loss, the policy covers the cost to replace or restore the data. If the data is beyond repair, the loss is valued at the cost to replace the device that stored the data.

This coverage ensures that both your physical computer equipment and the critical data stored within are protected, helping to mitigate the financial impact of data loss or damage due to covered perils.

Commercial property insurance can extend your business personal property coverage to include personal property owned by your officers or employees, as well as personal property of others that is in your care, custody, and control. However, it’s important to note a few key details:

• Personal Property of Officers and Employees: This extension allows coverage for personal items belonging to your officers or employees while on the business premises.
• Property of Others: Coverage is also extended to protect the personal property of others that is temporarily in your care, custody, and control.

However, this extension comes with specific limitations:

• Lower Coverage Limit: The limit applied to this extension is typically significantly lower than the overall business personal property limit of the policy.
• Exclusion for Theft: This extended coverage does not apply to loss or damage caused by theft, so it’s important to consider additional coverage options if theft is a significant concern.

This extension ensures that personal property under your control is protected, but understanding its limitations is crucial to fully safeguarding your business and the assets entrusted to you.

Commercial property insurance can provide coverage for direct physical loss or damage to property that is being moved or temporarily stored at another location to protect it from a Covered Cause of Loss. This specific coverage is designed to safeguard your property under the following conditions:

• Property in Transit: The coverage applies while the property is in transit, being moved to a safer location to avoid potential damage or loss.
• Temporary Storage: If the property is temporarily stored at another location to preserve it from a covered peril, this coverage ensures it is protected during that time.
• 30-Day Coverage Limit: It’s important to note that this coverage only applies to loss or damage that occurs within the first 30 days of the required move.

This coverage provides crucial protection for property that must be relocated due to imminent risk, ensuring that your assets remain safeguarded during a temporary but necessary move.

Pollution cleanup coverage is an important aspect of commercial property insurance, designed to cover the costs associated with removing pollutants from land or water at the insured premises. This coverage applies under the following conditions:

• Pollutant Extraction: The policy pays for the expense of extracting pollutants from land or water at your insured premises.
• Covered Cause of Loss: The dispersal, release, or escape of the pollutants must be caused by or result from a Covered Cause of Loss as defined in your policy.

This coverage ensures that if your property experiences environmental contamination due to a covered event, the costs of cleanup are taken care of, helping to mitigate financial and environmental impacts on your business.