Insurance Audits
Going through an insurance audit is never fun, especially if at the end of it, you have an additional premium, especially a large one.
Unfortunately audits are an annual exercise that you need to do every single year to verify the exposures that your business have to make sure that you are paying the right amount of insurance premiums.
Nothing too high, nothing too low based on the actual exposure, but the only way the insurance company can determine this is by doing an annual audit.
Now, nobody likes to do them, but they can be relatively easy, especially if you are correct with your initial estimates and there isn’t going to be a large audited premium.
Who wants to pay an additional audited premium after you’ve just renewed your insurance policies?
It’s a hassle, especially for a business, like a restaurant. Restaurants run on such tight profit margins that unexpected expenses can really put a damper in the owner’s ability to run that business.
Pay as you Go Worker’s Compensation
One of the best ways to avoid an additional premium on especially your Worker’s Compensation is to go on a pay as you go worker’s comp policy, if you can. What is a pay as you go policy?
A pay as you go Worker’s Compensation policy will allow you to submit your true payroll on a weekly, biweekly, or monthly basis.
The insurance companies will only charge you for the payroll that you are running.
Some restaurants, especially here in New York, might be heavy seasonal. They’re a lot busier during the summer, because they have outdoor spacing, or maybe they’re busier in the winter because it’s that type of restaurant that people want to go inside to eat.
Doesn’t matter if that’s the case, but if your payroll fluctuates from week-to-week, from month-to-month, having a pay as you go workers’ comp policy is going to help you in the long run.
Self Audits
Now, most every insurance company that writes workers comp for restaurants have some ability to do a pay as you go option.
There’s also options to pair in your payroll company to help with these things, but if you do not have that option for your workers’ comp, or for on your liabilities policy, make sure you’re using an agent that can run their own estimated audits every few months, or semi-annually, so that you’re on target with what you need to be.
Again, heavy seasonal business, or high fluctuating payroll business, those are the key ones that need to do this. This can help avoid that audited premium, that large audited premium.
If there is a change that needs to be made either up or down in the exposure, you’re going to be able to have that agent make that change for you during the policy term.
This way, you can pay for the additional premium through the remaining installments to make your life, as a business owner, much easier.
Insurance Agent
If you don’t have an agent that is willing to take the time to do that, or have an agent that you can even talk to determine what’s best for your restaurant business, please reach out to the team at Crowley Insurance.
The team at Crowley Insurance specializes in restaurant insurance.
We’d be glad to help you get the proper insurance, give you the different options, so that we can make sure that your business is running as efficiently as possible.
If you are ready to start working with an agency that is willing to help you properly plan your business, reach out to the team at Crowley Insurance by clicking on the button below. 
