As soon as you practice your profession as an individual, you are subject to certain risks that it is wise to insure. This gives you the opportunity to protect your property and third parties who may be affected by damage. Certain professions are subject to professional insurance by law.
Summary
What is professional insurance?
Professional insurance is insurance that can cover the immovable and movable property of a company, as well as the liability it incurs. It therefore guarantees the sustainability of the company’s activity. It includes two parts:
- The public liability : you are all familiar with it as an individual, but it is also intended for professionals who are also required to repair damage caused to others. If a third party suffers damages as a result of the exercise of your activity, it is the civil liability of the company which then intervenes in the process of compensation and reparation.
- The professional multi-risk intervenes in the event of damage caused to property, whether material or immovable, of your company. Once compensated by your insurance, you can ensure the continuation of your activities, which is why it is useful in many cases and fairly common situations.
What’s the point ?
Professional insurance covers all damages that may occur in the exercise of your activity. It is valid whether the damage was caused by:
- yourselves;
- Your employees;
- Your animals (in the agricultural field, etc.);
- Your machines, tools, objects that you own or rent;
- Your subcontractors.
To be covered, the damage must take place within the framework of a construction site or a mission within the company or outside. The causes of the damage can be diverse: professional misconduct, recklessness, negligence, etc.
Multi-risk professional insurance covers claims affecting a person (customer, employee, etc.), the company’s activity or property. Here is a list of these risks:
- A stoppage of activity caused by a disaster and which jeopardizes the company’s cash flow;
- A business premises damaged by burglary, explosion, fire, storm;
- The absence of a key person for the smooth running of the company due to disability or death, which would endanger the company financially;
- A car fleet or a car unavailable for various reasons: theft, accident, exceptional weather conditions.
Some concrete examples:
- Restaurant: several customers have been victims of food poisoning, you use your professional insurance.
- Merchant: a customer slips and is injured in the store, once again it is your insurance that takes care of the loss.
- Building: your scaffolding collapses on cars and causes injuries, your insurance covers the costs incurred.
- Real estate agent: you are required to check various points before putting the house up for sale, your client will realize once the purchase has been made of certain poor workmanship. It is the professional RC which intervenes then
Is there compulsory professional insurance?
L’professional liability insurance (RC) is made mandatory by law for all so-called regulated professions :
- Legal professionals : lawyers, bailiffs, notaries… These are professions which oblige to respect the duty of loyalty, advice, prudence and diligence, but also to maintain an efficiency of the acts.
- Health professionals : doctors, nurses, dentists, midwives… due to the high risk of malpractice.
- Accountants.
- Real estate agencies.
- travel agencies.
- General insurance agents.
Concerning the other professions, it remains optional, but recommended and justified, because the company can be impacted by a claim or called into question by a customer, a third party or a supplier.
Good to know : the insured damage can be bodily (physical injury), pecuniary (significant financial loss), material (damaged property putting the business at risk).
Read also: Carpimko: the retirement fund for liberal medical professions
Important guarantees to have
You have to be very careful about the guarantees you benefit from when choosing your professional insurance. You have many possibilities to choose your insurance and you have to be very vigilant.
Thélem assurances offers you insurance particularly adapted to your activity and the conditions under which you exercise it. This insurance provides you with guarantees that will be essential and that will cover the full extent of possible risks due to your profession. You will find the essential guarantees such as fire, damage caused by natural disasters, theft or interior or exterior vandalism, breakage of glass and signs, civil liability and criminal defenses and remedies, machinery breakdown and damage to electrical appliances, and some optional guarantees if you wish. Among them: riots, sabotage, civil unrest, operating losses and the fees of the expert you may have commissioned.
In the event of a flood, you are compensated without waiting for the declaration of a natural disaster and in the context of electrical damage, you will also be reimbursed without waiting to have found the origin of the breakdown. These are significant advantages.
Read also: Life insurance or PEA: what solution for the retirement of the liberal professions?
