In Tennessee, Your Home and Your Home Business Should Be Separate

Many people who start a business from their home in Tennessee, live with the misconception that their homeowner's insurance policy will provide adequate insurance protection for their home business.

A traditional Tennessee home policy was designed to offer insurance protection for a private residence and not a commercial business.

Some Tennessee homeowner's policies offer very limited insurance coverage for certain personal property that would be used in a home business, but, there is no business liability coverage.  Some insurance companies offer endorsements to a home policy, which provide limited coverage for an "incidental business".

For the most part, your Tennessee home business is not adequately protected by your homeowner's policy.

So, How Do You Know Whether or Not Your Tennessee Home Business is Insured?

The best thing to do is to contact a business insurance professional, tell the agent about your home business, including the type of work involved and the services offered.

Your Insurance Needs May Include:

• Business Property Insurance

You should take inventory of all Tennessee business property including; office furniture, copy machines, fax machine, computers, software, and any other equipment used in your home business.  Include in this inventory the value of any products or materials you are required to store.

• General Liability Insurance

This area will be less complicated if you thoroughly understand the exposure of your Tennessee home business to a potential lawsuit for personal injury or property damage.  Do customers come to your place of business?  Do you demonstrate products in a customer's home or place of business?  Does your home business generate e-mail campaigns to potential customers?  Think of all possibilities where your Tennessee home business could cause personal injury or property damage to someone else.

• Commercial (Business) Auto Insurance

If you use a vehicle, even your private car, in the course of operating your home business, this vehicle may need to be insured under a Commercial Auto Policy.  There are exceptions where a vehicle insured under a private auto policy can be used for business use.  This area needs to be discussed with your business insurance agent.

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If your home business consists of at least two employees, you may be eligible to purchase life and health insurance through a group benefits plan.