WJR Business Beat: What This Summer's Storms Taught Us About Insurance Coverage (Episode 288)

WJR Business Beat_Episode 288_What This Summer's Storms Taught Us About Insurance Coverage

Jeff Sloan: Good morning, Paul. Well, as we all know too well, we've had an incredible pattern of storm after storm this summer in our region. And it's been really tough for our local businesses. And in some cases, unfortunately, even catastrophic. The lesson: Make sure your insurance coverages have you covered. Well, we've got Michael Spath of the Kapnick Insurance Group with us to help us understand specifically what kind of coverages we need to have in place.

Michael first, tell us about what we've learned as a result of these storms as it relates to property coverage. 

Michael Spath: So that was one of the big things we've learned this summer, Jeff, is that in, you know, your physical property and in your casualty, there's all these little subsets. It's not as simple as saying, “Hey, I have property coverage.”

So, what I've told people is, one thing to look at, talk to your insurance agent is how much water and sewer backup insurance do I have. If you are on a first floor of a retail space, you've got a lot of stuff in there, you need more than $10,000. You need $50,000. You need $100,000.

Well, think about this the next time that a major storm rolled through. The next time that happens they're going to go to sleep at night, as you just said, without worrying about it because they're like, Hey, if it happens and we go downstairs in the morning and we've got water damage, well, we are now covered and oh, we get 90,000 hours more coverage, you know, it costs us $181.

Jeff Sloan: So the lesson there, it's not just about having coverage. It's about having the right level of coverage. And then we need to consider the cost of business interruption as well. 

Michael Spath: Another lesson we've learned this summer is, again, these storms have been taking place and your power goes out because a power line was knocked down somewhere else.

And if you're without power for a couple of days, and you're losing out on restaurant business, you're losing out on rental income or something like that, you can replace that income through business income interruption insurance. Now there's a little diner that my wife and I love to go to in Royal Oak. It was closed for five straight days because they didn't have any power.

And now they're asking like, well, am I covered for this? And the answer is probably not because most people don't have business income interruption insurance for utility services. 

Jeff Sloan: For me, buying the right insurance coverage is simply buying peace of mind. You want that, too? Michael Spath and our friends at Kapnick Insurance Group are here to help you get covered right.

I'm Jeff Sloan, founder and CEO of startupnation.com and that's today's business beat on the Great Voice of the Great Lakes on WJR.