Often times, especially in these tough economic times, businesses have to make decisions about how their money is spent and what they have to have versus what is a nice to have. Unfortunately, many businesses think business insurance is a “nice to have” instead of something that is a necessity for sound business practice.
Regardless what they do or their size, businesses make decisions that affect how they are covered. There are many factors that go into choices about what needs to be protected, such as:
Buildings
Machinery
Equipment
Business Furnishings
Vehicles
Inventory
and other assets
Besides physical assets, companies have to make coverage decisions to protect themselves against loss that involve injury and damage they cause to others when they arise from their business operations.
Going Bare
When trying to arrange coverage for property, the major issue is affordability. When coverage is not affordable, companies may decide that it can afford to keep that risk that it can do without coverage. When trying to arrange coverage for liability (responsibility for things the company does), the issues may be affordability and….availability. When a business decides to go without insurance; it’s referred to “going bare”.
A decision to go bare is a deliberate one; as opposed to a company that has overlooked a coverage need. Going bare is an accurate description, producing an image that an organization is, in some important respect, nakedly vulnerable to a serious loss.
Typically a company that has gone bare has limited options. The situation may develop because a company can’t find either a standard or specialty source of insurance that is willing to provided coverage at an affordable level. In some instances, coverage just isn’t available at any price and companies choose to continue business under the threat of a crippling loss possibility; rather than cease operations.
Risk Retention Groups
In some cases, an entire industry or market niche may face temporary coverage crises. A number of alternatives have been created in response to severe coverage gaps; such as the creation and growth of risk retention groups (RRGs).
RRGs are formal groups of companies that enter into an agreement to pool financial resources in order to cover each others’ exposure to a similar source of loss that traditional insurance companies have either abandoned or have never chosen to provide coverage.
Let’s Talk About Your Options
Regardless the reason, going bare for any significant amount of time is a dangerous situation for any company. Of course we think it should never be selected if there is any chance to find a viable coverage alternative; however, we also understand that there are special circumstances.
Let us know what about your situation. Let’s talk about your options. We’re small business owners, too. We understand what it means to face tough choices. Together, we can work on finding a coverage solution.