Protect your strip mall from everyday risk with quality commercial insurance. ALIGNED can save you time and money by helping you find an insurance policy that meets the specific and unique needs of your strip mall or plaza. Keep reading to learn more about the coverage, cost, and benefits of insurance for strip malls and plazas from ALIGNED Insurance.
What risks do strip malls and plazas face?
Operating a strip mall or plaza comes with many risks. Between multiple tenants selling a variety of products and customers visiting your mall on a daily basis, there are many things that can go wrong. That’s what makes insurance for strip malls so important. Below, the experts at ALIGNED have compiled a list of some of the most common risks that strip malls face (all of which can be mitigated with commercial insurance):
- Storm, fire, or water damage to physical structures
- Break-ins, theft, or vandalism
- Unforeseen breakdown of machinery, such as HVAC systems, mechanical, or electrical machinery
- Parking lot or outdoor sign damage
- Customer slips, trips, and falls
Insurance coverage highlights for strip malls
If you’re wondering what strip mall insurance covers, you’re in the right place. Though commercial insurance policies for strip malls vary, they typically include the likes of commercial property insurance and commercial general liability insurance. But beyond that, you will need to decide what other insurance coverages to include with your policy. Keep reading to discover some of the recommended coverage types for strip mall owners.
- Commercial general liability insurance: Commercial general liability insurance, sometimes referred to as “slip-and-fall insurance,” protects against the day-to-day risks that come with owning a strip mall. For example, if a customer slips and falls on a wet floor in the mall, they could sue you. In such an instance, your insurer might help pay for medical bills, along with legal defence fees, settlement fees, and more. Similarly, if a customer’s car was damaged in the parking lot of your strip mall, your general liability coverage might help pay for the repair bills. Another example is if a competitor claims you slandered them in an advertisement and sues you. In this scenario, your insurance company might cover any relevant legal costs. Overall, commercial general liability coverage may cover the cost of medical expenses, repair bills, legal fees, etc. for claims related to third party injury, property damage, libel or slander, and more.
- Commercial property insurance: Protect the physical structure of your strip mall and any business-related contents from unforeseen circumstances like theft, vandalism, fire, water damage, etc with commercial property insurance. When you add commercial property coverage to your strip mall insurance policy, your insurance provider may pay for repairs or replacements in the event of loss or damage caused by an insured peril.
- Cyber liability insurance: If your strip mall stores confidential information online about it’s tenants, customers patterns etc., then cyber liability insurance is important. With cyber liability coverage, if a hacker breaches your system and steals important data, your insurance provider may help cover the associated costs, which could include credit monitoring, legal fees, crisis control, patient notification, and more.
- Business interruption insurance: Business interruption insurance can protect your strip mall business from lost income if it is forced to close due to an insured peril. Insured perils covered by business interruption insurance vary but can include theft, fire, vandalism, windstorms, water damage, and more.
- Equipment breakdown insurance: If a piece of equipment, such as an HVAC unit, suffers an internal failure (e.g. a mechanical or electrical breakdown), equipment breakdown insurance could help cover the cost of repairing or replacing it. Even better, business income lost as a result of the equipment breakdown may also be covered by the insurance company.
- Commercial auto insurance: If your strip mall uses vehicles for business purposes, such as to patrol for crime, you may benefit from commercial auto insurance coverage. Policies vary but may include third party liability coverage, uninsured automobile coverage, accident benefits coverage, etc.
- Crime insurance: Crime insurance can help mitigate the financial losses of employees or customer crimes related to your strip mall, such as employee dishonesty, fraud, burglary, robbery, theft, etc.
- Umbrella liability insurance: Umbrella liability insurance takes effect when regular liability limits are reached, meaning it can protect your strip mall against unforeseen or catastrophic events.
How to reduce your risks as the owner of a strip mall
As the owner of a strip mall, you might be curious to learn how you can reduce your potential risks. The reality is that the best way to mitigate risk is by purchasing a commercial insurance policy for your strip mall. If you currently lease the space your strip mall operates in, then your landlord might require you to purchase commercial tenant’s insurance. However, beyond that, we recommend purchasing a complete commercial insurance policy to protect against other unforeseen events. To learn more about the financial risks of operating a strip mall and how to protect against them, contact ALIGNED.
Do I need professional liability insurance for my strip mall?
Some strip mall owners would be wise to include professional liability insurance with their policies if they also provide property management services. It’s important to speak with a trusted broker who can help you determine your needs for this type of coverage, also known as errors & omissions insurance. Generally speaking, professional liability insurance can provide coverage relating to claims of negligence, discrimination, wrongful evictions, failure to deliver a service as promised or perform professional duties according to your contracts, and more. If you add professional liability insurance to your policy, your insurance provider might cover everything from legal defence costs and settlement fees to attorney fees, etc.
Explaining the cost of insurance for strip malls
Now that you know more about what coverage is included with strip mall insurance, you might be wondering how much it costs. Cost is a significant factor for policyholders, as you never want to spend more than you have to on insurance. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to determine the cost of insurance for strip malls without knowing some key details about your business. This is because insurance companies use many factors to calculate premiums. These factors can range from the location and size of your strip mall to the number of people it employs. Therefore, strip mall insurance policies vary in price. To discover some of the main factors impacting the cost of insurance for strip malls, keep reading.
- The location and size of your strip mall
- Your insurance claims history
- The security measures in place at your strip mall
- Your policy coverages, limits, and deductibles you choose
- The number of employees who work for your strip mall
- The annual and projected revenue of your strip mall
- The number and types of tenants at your strip mall
Since the cost of strip mall insurance varies so widely, we recommend contacting an insurance brokerage for an estimate. ALIGNED is pleased to offer commercial insurance quotes to strip malls. Simply get in touch, provide us with some basic information about your strip mall and overage needs, and one of our licensed brokers will provide you with an accurate, competitive, and obligation-free quote in no time. At that time, we can also offer some tips on how to save money on commercial insurance for your strip mall.
When discussing the cost of strip mall insurance, it is important to note that insurance companies are responsible for setting premiums, not brokers. So while ALIGNED can help you find a great policy and even unlock discounts on your behalf, we do not determine rates. Give us a call or continue reading to learn more about the advantages of working with an insurance broker.
The benefits of purchasing strip mall insurance from an ALIGNED broker
If you aren’t sure whether to purchase strip mall insurance through an insurance company or a broker, you’ve come to the right place. We outline three benefits of purchasing strip mall insurance from an ALIGNED broker below.
- ALIGNED brokers have unmatched resources and expertise: ALIGNED insurance brokers are not only fully licensed but they are experts in their fields. They can help you find any type of commercial insurance coverage and are eager to share their resources and expertise.
- ALIGNED brokers provide unbiased, objective advice: ALIGNED brokers work independently of insurance providers, which allows us to offer unbiased, objective advice to each of our customers. If you want an insurance specialist that will put your needs first, contact ALIGNED.
- ALIGNED brokers take care of everything: One final benefit of working with a broker is that they do all the heavy lifting. While you sit back, relax, and spend your free time however you like, your dedicated ALIGNED broker will be working behind the scenes to find you a great policy. From contacting insurance companies and obtaining quotes to comparing policies and unlocking discounts, we will take care of everything.
ALIGN your strip mall with the right insurance policy
Contact ALIGNED to protect your strip mall with commercial insurance. Our team of friendly and licensed insurance advisors is eager to help find the right policy for your strip mall. We listen to your strip mall’s unique needs and will always put them first. Get in touch with ALIGNED to learn more about insurance for strip malls or click here for a free quote.
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