Top Tips To Help Roofing Contractors Avoid Liability Insurance Scams

Top Tips To Help Roofing Contractors Avoid Liability Insurance Scams

Photo by Zohair Mirza on Unsplash

We are all vulnerable when it comes to areas of business that are unfamiliar. Investing in liability insurance is just one of the things that can intimidate small business owners. As a roofing contractor, you should watch out for business insurance scams. 

Watch out for these 4 liability insurance traps 

• Claims made

As a roofing business, you probably are (or should be) interested in a liability insurance policy that would protect you from a potential lawsuit in case one of your roofer gets in an accident or is otherwise involved in property damage.

One important factor to keep an eye on is whether the insurance policy covers “claims made”. This means that the insurance coverage is only valid for claims made during the duration of the insurance policy. Look instead for an insurance policy that covers “occurrences,” which will cover you for incidents that took place while the insurance policy was active, even if you only make the claim after it expires.

• Per policy

Unfortunately as human beings, we are very easy to scam because we are overly trusting by design. Additionally, we tend to be lazy when it comes to things that are out of our domain, hence the popular wisdom to “always read the fine print.”

One example of the importance of the fine print is the “per policy” insurance policy. Policies of this kind only provide insurance coverage up to the specified amount for the entire duration of the policy, rather than per project. This means that a roofing business could easy reach the limit of their liability insurance coverage with a single project and render it completely useless for any other projects even within the duration of the insurance policy.

• Your work

When roofing contractors are shopping for liability insurance, they’re likely to want to save a buck, as anyone would. This can prove tremendously misguided in the future if the business insurance doesn’t cover “your work.”

This might seem like a given, but it’s more common than you think. Let’s say your roofers are on a job and they mess up the home’s garden on their way in. That would be covered by an insurance policy that doesn’t cover “your work,” but that same policy wouldn’t cover damage to the roof.

• Sliding

Sliding refers to when an insurance company packs in as many different kinds of coverage as they can in order to charge you more, even though you won’t be needing, interested in or perhaps even aware of the additional insurance coverage because it doesn’t apply to your line of work. This is a predatory and deceptive tactic used by unscrupulous insurance agents at your expense.

The previous advice of reading the fine print applies again here. Another wise piece of advice would be to never buy anything you don’t understand. If you can’t drill through it and account for everything, hire a lawyer. They’re not only knowledgeable on all the legalese that is intentionally used to confuse you, but they’ve likely faced similar situations in the past and know how to deal with them.

How roofing contractors can avoid being scammed

A quicker and easier way to avoid being scammed is to get your insurance policies from a reputable insurance company. Look out for these features when choosing your insurance agents:

• Work with A-rated insurance companies, to get you service that you can trust
• Provide you with customer service, tailored to your needs from a licensed insurance agent
• Create a customized General Contractor General Liability Insurance policy that fits with your needs
• Provide you with the lowest price for the best coverage out of any of our competitors

Find out how Contractors Liability will protect your business by providing a free quote for the best insurance policies at the best rate from the best insurance carriers. For more information, contact ContractorsLiability.com or call us at (866) 225-1950.