Warehouse Insurance

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Trusted by over 300,000 Canadian small business owners!

Save up to 35% on your insurance

Instant price and coverage in just a few clicks!

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Insurance for warehouses

Nearly every industry uses various types of warehouses to store their products. From general dry storage, cold storage, and specialty warehouses to distribution centres, smart warehouses, bonded warehouses, and on-demand storage spaces, each serve an essential function in helping companies protect their property.

However, protecting your business’s products and assets from damage and loss goes beyond the type of warehouse you use, as any warehouse is susceptible to a variety of risks. A customized warehouse insurance policy is your company’s financial backstop for protecting those goods and your finances.

What is warehouse liability insurance?

Warehouse liability insurance is a tailored policy featuring several coverages to address the risks business owners face, whether storing goods in a warehouse they own, or at a third party’s site.

From protecting the building’s physical structure and its contents to the items it holds, a warehouse insurance policy coverage from Zensurance is the foundational part of your company’s risk management strategy.

What does warehouse insurance coverage provide?

A comprehensive warehouse and storage insurance policy typically includes the following coverages:

Commercial Property Insurance: Also referred to as Commercial Warehouse Property Insurance, covers the cost of damage or loss to your warehouse and its contents resulting from fire, flooding, a natural disaster, vandalism, and theft. It also covers the inventory you store in it. Commercial property coverage may also include business interruption insurance to cover any income you lose if you must close your warehouse for repairs following an insurable loss. If it doesn’t, you can add business interruption coverage to your policy as a rider.

Commercial General Liability (CGL) Insurance: CGL, or general liability insurance, provides protection against third-party bodily injury or property damage claims due to an accident or negligence in your daily operations. If you are sued, CGL is designed to provide you with funds to cover your legal expenses and compensation awarded to a plaintiff. CGL also provides warehouse owners with product liability insurance to cover third-party injuries or property damage caused by any product they manufacture, distribute, or sell, coverage for dealing with allegations of defamation and false advertising, and tenants’ legal liability protection for repairing or replacing property that you’re renting or occupying.

Equipment Breakdown Insurance: Your warehouse likely has expensive machinery and systems in it ranging from HVAC systems, refrigerators and freezers to production systems and boiler and pressure vessels. Equipment breakdown insurance protects against the cost of repairing or replacing these systems and equipment if damages occur unexpectedly because of mechanical failure, power surges, and electrical malfunctions.

Cyber Liability Insurance: Also referred to as cyber insurance, cyber liability insurance covers costs associated with data breaches and cyber-attacks on your warehouse business’s technology systems and customer data. It provides you with funds to pay for repairs and restoration of your software and hardware because of a cyber event, your legal expenses, credit monitoring and crisis management fees, and any losses you sustain from an outage due to a cyber-attack.

Commercial Crime Insurance: No business is immune to the risk of internal theft, forgery, and other acts of employee dishonesty. Adding commercial crime coverage to your overall policy provides business owners with financial support to cover a wide range of employee-related crime, including fraud, inventory theft, embezzlement, and computer and wire transfer fraud committed by full-, part-time, and temporary employees.

There may be additional coverages your policy requires. For example, you may require warehouseman’s legal liability coverage to protect against claims for damages caused by negligence to goods in your care, custody, or control while in storage.

Speak to a licensed Zensurance broker about your business and get their guidance on other types of insurance you may need.

How much does warehouse cost?

What a warehouse insurance policy may cost your organization depends on a variety of factors insurance providers consider, including:

The location, type, and size of your warehouse
Your years of experience in your industry
The raw materials, finished goods, and other products you typically store
What equipment is used in the warehouse (such as forklifts, hand trucks, cranes, pallet racks, and dollies)
How many employees you have
Your annual and gross projected revenue
Your business’s insurance claim history

Getting insured is quick and easy!

Complete our 5-minute online application for a free warehouse liability insurance quote.

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Common claims scenarios

Problem: Your warehouse’s refrigeration systems malfunction overnight leading to thousands of dollars in losses of perishable goods.

Outcome: Your equipment breakdown insurance may cover the cost to repair your refrigeration systems, and your commercial property insurance may pay to replace the spoiled perishable goods

Problem: A fire ignites in your dry storage warehouse that damages the interior of the building and some of your equipment.

Outcome: Your warehouse property insurance may cover the cost to repair the damages to your warehouse and the business contents that were damaged up to your policy’s limit.

Problem: A data breach exposes your customers’ confidential information to fraud.

Outcome: Your cyber liability insurance may pay to provide you with funds for legal advice, restoration of damaged software, crisis management services, credit monitoring, and customer notification fees.

Frequently asked questions

My warehouse property has a railroad sidetrack. Does a warehouse insurance policy cover it?Zensurance

My warehouse property has a railroad sidetrack. Does a warehouse insurance policy cover it?

You may need to add additional coverage known as railroad protective liability insurance. Speak to a Zensurance licensed broker for more information.

What coverage limits should my warehouse insurance policy have?Zensurance

What coverage limits should my warehouse insurance policy have?

Different insurance coverages may provide various amounts of coverage limits. Most warehouse businesses will purchase a general liability policy with a $5 million coverage limit, but you have the option to choose a lower or higher amount. Speak to one of our insurance experts to determine what the right amount of coverage is for your policy.

What additional coverages are available to enhance a warehouse insurance policy?Zensurance

What additional coverages are available to enhance a warehouse insurance policy?

Depending on your business, you may want to include warehouse operators’ legal liability insurance to protect against loss or damage due to maintenance issues or negligence by employees. Also, adding commercial fleet insurance to your policy is necessary if your organization owns up to five vehicles.