McComas Insurance

What happens in the first 24 hours after a loss often matters as much as the policy itself. The right moves protect the claim. The wrong ones quietly shrink it.

Call your carrier or agent first, before you touch anything. Photograph and film the damage before you move or clean a single item. Prevent further damage where it's safe, since most policies require it, but hold off on permanent repairs until the adjuster signs off. Save every receipt for emergency costs. Write down a timeline while the details are still sharp.

Cleaning up too soon, tossing damaged property before it's documented, and starting repairs before approval. Any one of those can sink part of the claim. The policy may cover the loss. What gets paid depends on what happens in the first day.

Every liability policy has a ceiling. Excess Liability is what happens when a claim goes through it.

A serious accident, a major injury, a lawsuit that lands above your policy limit. When the underlying coverage runs out, the rest of the judgment falls on the business and its assets. An umbrella policy may extend the limits of your General Liability, Commercial Auto, and Employer's Liability once those limits are exhausted, picking up the difference up to its own ceiling.

It doesn't add new types of coverage. It raises the height of what you already carry. With mega verdicts climbing year over year, a $1 million limit that felt generous five years ago can be wiped out by a single claim. Under insured limits, no umbrella in place, and gaps between the underlying policy and the excess layer. Any one of those can turn a covered loss into a personal one.

If a claim larger than your policy limit would end your business, it's worth knowing what's actually covered, and what's not.

A captive agent represents one insurance company. They offer you that company's product at that company's price, and that's the end of the conversation. If the rate goes up at renewal, the burden of shopping around falls back on you.

An independent agency works differently. We represent multiple carriers, which means we may shop your coverage across several companies to find the right fit instead of selling you the only option on the shelf. When renewal comes around, we re-shop it. When your business grows or changes, we adjust the coverage to keep up. One relationship covers every line you carry.

Superior service, quality coverage, and cost effective solutions. That's not a slogan we picked at random. It's the reason the independent model exists.

If you've never had your coverage shopped across carriers, it's worth seeing what's actually out there.

The strength of a property claim isn't the policy. It's the documentation behind it. Most owners only learn that after the loss, when the adjuster asks for proof and the answers don't exist.

One afternoon of work covers it. A video walkthrough of the entire space, narrated room by room. Photos of every major asset with serial and model numbers visible. A written inventory list with purchase dates and replacement values. Digital copies of receipts for high value items. Store everything in the cloud so the records survive even if the building doesn't.

Missing documentation, outdated inventory lists, and receipts that burned with everything else. Each of those quietly cuts the claim down. The policy may cover the loss. The payout still depends on what can be proven.

If you'd struggle to list everything in the business from memory, it's worth fixing before the loss instead of during it.

Workers' Compensation is the policy that quietly decides whether one bad day on the job becomes a manageable claim or a six figure problem.

It may help cover medical bills for a work related injury, a portion of lost wages during recovery, rehab and physical therapy, and the legal defense if the employee sues. In most states it's required the moment a business has employees. Texas is one of the few that makes it optional. Going without it doesn't make the injury go away. It just makes the owner personally responsible for everything the policy would have paid.

Misclassified employees in the wrong rate code, underreported payroll triggering audit penalties, uninsured subcontractors who get hurt on a jobsite, and the choice to go without coverage entirely. Any one of those is a claim waiting to be denied. The exposure grows quietly. The bill arrives all at once.

If your business has employees, or hires subs who work on your behalf, it's worth knowing what's actually covered, and what's not.

Forty percent of small businesses never reopen after a disaster. Another quarter of the ones that do close within a year. Federally declared disasters have nearly doubled in the last decade. The math is brutal and most owners don't see it coming.

Property insurance is only half the equation. It may help rebuild the building. It doesn't replace the income lost while the business is closed, or cover the rent and payroll that keep running whether the doors are open or not. That's what Business Interruption coverage is built for, and the majority of small businesses still don't carry it.

Missing Business Interruption coverage, indemnity periods too short to outlast the rebuild, and excluded perils like flood or wind that wipe out the claim entirely. Each of those is a closure waiting to happen. The policy stays the same. The exposure grows quietly. The doors don't reopen.

If your business couldn't survive 30 days of closed doors, it's worth knowing what's actually covered, and what's not.

A policy bought three years ago was priced for a business that no longer exists. Revenue grew. Headcount changed. New equipment landed in the shop. New contracts were signed. The policy stayed where it was.

Five questions to run before every renewal. Has revenue grown more than 15%? Liability and property limits may need to scale with it. Have you added employees? Workers' Comp class codes and payroll need updating. New equipment or vehicles? Each one needs to be on the schedule. New contracts requiring specific coverage or additional insured language? Confirm the policy meets the requirement. Has the building's rebuild cost risen? Replacement cost limits may need adjusting.

Outgrown limits, missing equipment, outdated payroll figures, and contract gaps. Each one is a claim waiting to be denied. The policy stays the same. The exposure grows quietly. The bill arrives all at once.

Twenty minutes a year. That's the cost of catching it.

Commercial Auto is one of the most misunderstood policies in a small business's coverage stack. Owners assume one line item covers every vehicle, every driver, and every situation. It doesn't work that way.
Liability may help cover injuries and property damage the business causes to someone else. Collision and comprehensive may help cover damage to the business's own vehicle. Hired and non owned auto may help cover employees driving their personal vehicles for work or company errands. Each piece is a separate decision with separate limits.
Vehicles missing from the policy schedule, employees using personal cars for deliveries without coverage, and underinsured liability limits that don't match today's verdict environment. Those are some of the most expensive gaps we see. And most owners don't find out the policy doesn't fully cover their operation until a claim gets denied or paid short.
If your business owns vehicles or sends employees on the road, it's worth knowing what's covered, and what's not.

Commercial rebuild costs rose another 4% over the past year. Construction input prices are up more than 43% since 2020. Most owners haven't updated their property limits to match.

That gap is where the coinsurance penalty lives. Most commercial property policies require the building to be insured at 80%, 90%, or sometimes 100% of full replacement cost. If the limit falls short, the insurer may pay only a percentage of the claim. Even on a partial loss. Even on a kitchen fire or a roof leak.

Outdated valuations, missing inflation guard endorsements, and replacement cost limits set at pre 2020 prices. Those are some of the most expensive gaps we see. And most owners don't find out until the claim check comes in lower than the repair bill.

If your property limits haven't been reviewed in the last two years, it's worth knowing what's actually covered, and what's not.

A Certificate of Insurance only protects the business that knows how to read it. Most owners glance at the logo, see the carrier name, and assume everything checks out. That's how claims get denied months later when nobody catches the gap.

Five things to check every time. Effective and expiration dates covering the full project. Coverage limits that meet your contract minimums. Each line of coverage listed separately — General Liability, Auto, Workers' Comp. Your business name listed as additional insured. A cancellation notice requirement.

Expired certificates, missing additional insured language, and coverage types that don't match the work being done — those are some of the most common gaps we see. And most owners don't find out the COI has a hole in it until the claim is already in dispute.

Three minutes per certificate. That's the cost of catching it.