Does your bakery also cater and do deliveries? Then you’ll want to know about how critical auto and inland marine insurance are to your existing bakery insurance. With valuable goods en-route, you’ll want to be sure the products transported (and transporter) are covered for every possible circumstance.
Commercial Auto Insurance
If you rent or own a delivery truck or van, you will want to be sure that it is insured. Road conditions, other drivers and weather all impact the safety of your company car. There are hazards every where on the road that can cause damage to your company vehicle. Here are some possible scenarios you may encounter while making deliveries:
- Sudden traffic shift that may cause you to lose control of your vehicle
- Inclement weather such as hail
- An uninsured driver hits you
- Early morning deliveries which are often made in the dark can create low visibility
While you should have insurance for your bakery’s delivery vehicle, you should also practice a few other preventative measures. It is important to assign delivery route when necessary to increase familiarity with traffic patterns. All drivers should have commercial licensing and there should always be proper documentation that proves all vehicles are maintained. You can even insure your employees vehicles if they use them on company time.
Commercial auto insurance can help you out when you find yourself in a tough spot. If your company vehicle does get damaged, repairs can be extremely costly, more-so than normal car repairs. Take this into account when setting up a policy for your company vehicles.
Inland Marine Insurance
You may not have heard of inland marine or even how it can apply to your bakery insurance. Inland marine insurance is simply coverage for materials that are being transported. For a bakery, this would be any baked good or equipment that you transport on your delivery vehicle from location to location. If your delivery vehicle is somehow involved in an accident, your goods being transported may also be destroyed. Overturn is the major cause of damage when it involves goods in transit.
Since most generic property policies do not automatically include inland marine insurance, you will probably want to get covered. This is an important coverage even if carriers for hire are transporting your finished product. This type of policy would also encompass valuable papers and records present at an accident if recipes are proprietary. While inland marine is optional, just remember that a large amount of accidents that occur on the road are either caused by or involve delivery trucks and vans. Don’t let your hard work go to waste and consider covering your goods in transit in your bakery insurance.