General Liability Insurance for Gas Stations
General liability insurance is one of the most common forms of insurance for businesses like gas stations. The function of this inclusion in gas station insurance is to cover personal injury and property damage claims. Here are some example scenarios for you to further understand:
You or an employee refueled a diesel car with gasoline. As a result, the customer’s car incurred some minor damages on its engine. The client filed a claim against your business and asked you to pay for his damaged property. General liability insurance will cover expenses in this situation and will cover defense costs if the aggrieved client decides to take the matter in court
Vendors are restocking supplies in your gas station’s convenience store. One of them stepped on the pool of water your employee didn’t clean. A slip and fall accident happened and the vendor had fractured hips. The vendor filed a claim and demanded you pay for his pain and suffering. In this situation, general liability insurance can help and will pay for the vendor’s medication and compensation. If things are taken to court, then general liability insurance will pay your attorney
General liability insurance won’t only take care of personal injury claims and property damage claims. There’s an optional policy called advertising injury coverage. Advertising injury coverage will protect your business if third parties decide to file a claim for:
Copyright infringement - Your gas station copied the elements or all of the elements of another business’s ad, slogan, or signage. Because of this, the business filed a claim. Advertising injury coverage will pay for defense costs and settlements on your behalf
Reputational harm - Your business might be accused of slander, libel, or defamation, and advertising injury coverage in general liability insurance will cover defense costs and settlements
General liability insurance is also useful if you’re renting or leasing a commercial space. Some companies underwrite general liability insurance including rented premises liability coverage or can be endorsed with rented premises liability coverage, which will cover you if you end up inadvertently damaging the property that your landlord is renting or leasing.
Keep in mind that general liability insurance doesn’t cover claims from employees. This is the job of another insurance called employer’s liability insurance.
How Much General Liability Insurance Do Gas Stations Need?
Gas stations don’t need to follow state-mandated requirements that determine how much general liability insurance is needed. But still, personal injury claims and property damage claims can scale between $10,000 - $500,000 or more. Considering this fact, your gas station needs to at least have $500,000 general liability insurance coverage to get basic protection. However, if you want the most comprehensive shield against property damage and personal injuries, get $2 million general liability insurance coverage.
Commercial Property Insurance for Gas Stations
Of course, your gas station’s physical assets are very important and you need to cover those with commercial property insurance.
Commercial property insurance will help reconstruct your gas station if it gets destroyed by fire or extreme weather. This insurance will also pay for reconstruction costs if your gas station is only damaged by fire, extreme weather, vandalism, theft, and other covered perils.
Your gas station has pumps and other specialized tools and equipment customers can use. Commercial property insurance takes care of those through its business equipment and tools coverage. Business equipment and tools coverage will reimburse your losses if your gas station's pump, hose, and other valuables considered as equipment/tools become damaged or lost due to fire, theft, vandalism, and other covered perils.
Your gas station also sells food and other consumer goods. Commercial property insurance covers those through its stocks and contents coverage. Stocks and contents coverage will reimburse losses if consumer goods you’re selling become damaged or lost because of fire, theft, vandalism, and other covered perils. In fact, this will even cover chairs, tables, display stands, lightings, and other items owned, which are within the premises of your gas station.
Gas Station Business Owner’s Policy
If you’re planning to get commercial property insurance and general liability insurance for your gas station, we suggest you purchase a business owner’s policy to save on premiums.
A business owner’s policy is basically a fusion of general liability insurance and commercial property insurance. It's way cheaper than if you decided to buy commercial property and general liability separately. For example, if buying individually will cost $80 per month, then a business owner’s policy will be somewhere at $67 per month - very cost-efficient.
Furthermore, some insurance companies include additional policies in their business owner’s policies. For example, there’s CoverWallet that offers a business owner’s policy with workers' compensation insurance.
Employer’s Liability Insurance for Gas Stations
Gas station employer’s liability insurance will protect you if an employee decides to sue your gas station after experiencing a work-related injury. In practice, this will pay for defense costs and compensatory payments. Employer’s liability insurance is an inclusion in workers' compensation insurance or can be sold as a stand-alone policy.
Employer’s liability insurance doesn’t cover wrongful termination, sexual harassment, and other related events. Covering these is the job of employment practices liability insurance, which also covers defense costs and compensatory payments on your behalf.
Workers’ Compensation Insurance for Gas Stations
Workplace accidents can happen in gas stations. Your employees might experience a slip and fall accident, be run over by a drunk customer, or be robbed at gunpoint. Continuous exposure to gasoline and diesel might result in gastrointestinal disorders, cardiovascular diseases, endocrine diseases, and more.
Work-related hazards in gas stations are real and apparent. Here are some examples to prove this point:
At 5: 35 a.m. on July 3, 2018, an employee working at a gas station and convenience store, was shot and killed while standing next to the cash register
At 10: 00 a.m. on March 7, 2018, an employee was working for a gas station and was responding to a service call of a semi-truck. When the semi-truck moved, the employee was dragged resulting in numerous injuries to his internal organs
At 9: 30 p.m. on January 31, 2018, an employee was throwing off the garbage and was robbed and hit with a blunt object. He was killed as a result
At 5: 37 a.m. on October 17, 2017, an employee working for a gas station became the target of an attempted robbery and was killed as a result
At approximately 10: 30 p.m. on January 13, 2015, an employee was working by himself at the gas station when two armed men entered the premises and demanded money. Despite complying with the criminal’s request, the employee was shot and killed
On June 25, 2007, an employee was working on the underground tank of a gas station and was found by responders unconscious
Workers comp laws or labor laws mandate your gas station to take care of the employee if he or she suffers from a work-related hazard. We’re sure that you don’t want to use business funds. This is where workers' compensation insurance becomes helpful.
As the name suggests, this kind of insurance exists to cover employees in case they end up getting injured or sick because of a job-related activity. There are several things that workers’ comp will do for you. The bullet below outlines how workers compensation insurance works :
Workers compensation insurance will cover medical treatments/procedures, hospitalization, rehab, and medication. In some states, workers' compensation insurance will also reimburse the travel expenses of the employee if he or she needs to visit far to get periodic treatment and checkups
If the injured or sick employee needs to take a break to continue healing, workers' compensation insurance will reimburse the income he or she would have earned. Lost income compensation is equal to two-thirds or 67% of the average weekly wage. If we do the math, gas station employees earn $546.4 weekly. Therefore, the lost income compensation workers comp provides will be $366.08
If the employee dies because of his or her work-related sickness/injury, workers' compensation insurance will provide death benefits to the children, spouse, or any other dependents. The death benefits will be equal to two thirds or 67% of the average weekly wage
Workers' compensation insurance also provides a degree of protection. Some states adopt a workers comp law that prevents employees from suing employers who have workers compensation insurance
Will Workers Compensation Insurance Cover If It's The Employee's Fault?
Workers’ compensation insurance is a type of no-fault insurance, meaning that it will pay out regardless if the employee got injured or sick whether it's his/her fault or your fault.
Commercial Auto Insurance for Gas Stations
Many gas stations use company vehicles, and a commercial auto insurance policy will allow you to cover these vehicles while they're on the job. Commercial auto insurance is entirely separate from personal auto insurance because of how much more frequently commercial vehicles are used than personal vehicles.
A car that spends more time on the road will be more likely to get into an accident, and this means that your insurance carrier will be accepting more of a risk when covering a commercial vehicle. And so, commercial auto insurance is more expensive than personal car insurance.
But this is alright. If you continue to cover a commercial vehicle with personal car insurance, two things can happen; (1) The insurance company will put a significant increase on premiums (2) The personal car insurance will be terminated and the insurance company won’t reinsure you.
So how does commercial auto insurance help? This insurance offers the following protection for your gas station:
Auto liability coverage - If your gas station’s commercial vehicle caused an accident, auto liability coverage will pay for the medical expenses of the injured parties and will also reimburse the losses of individuals who had their property damaged. Furthermore, auto liability coverage will pay attorney fees and settlements if someone decides to sue
Physical damage coverage - Physical damage has two forms - collision and comprehensive - which kick in depending on how your commercial vehicle incurred damage. If your gas station’s commercial vehicle incurred damage because it collided with a vehicle or object, collision physical damage coverage will pay for parts repair or replacement. Comprehensive physical damage coverage will take care of parts repair or replacement if fire, theft, vandalism, hail, wind, storm, other acts of nature, or other covered perils damaged your gas station’s commercial vehicle
Medical payments/personal injury protection - Medical payments/personal injury protection will take care of the treatment of the commercial vehicle’s driver and passengers (if there are any) injured because of a vehicular accident
