Few things are as critical to your business’s branding and success as your company’s signage. Once you have created a unique logo, getting it out where the public can see it can help both attract spontaneous traffic flow to your business and ensure that interested parties can easily find you when they need the services or goods you have to offer them.
Sadly, business signs are frequently casualties of hurricanes, as high winds can easily damage even professionally installed signage. Given that your signs probably cost thousands of dollars, you likely want your insurance to cover the cost of repairing or replacing it.
Wind damage to sign can vary in severity
Large business signs, particularly freestanding ones, have design features meant to help them withstand inclement weather. However, hurricanes have a way of exceeding the wind speed and strength that many different kinds of man-made structures can withstand.
Business signs can wind up ripped down and even cause secondary damage to nearby buildings. They can wind up partially pulled out of the ground or tilted, requiring expensive manual labor to make them safe again. Your company may not have the resources to cover those expenses, especially if it isn’t currently doing business in the aftermath of a hurricane.
Before you file a claim, double-check your policy
Many commercial business policies protect the facility but not necessarily exterior features. Landscaping and signs may require that you add extra riders to your policy. Without that additional coverage, your insurance company may deny a claim for damage to your business’s signs, leaving you in a situation where you will have to pay out-of-pocket.
However, if you have the correct coverage that extends to exterior fixtures and not just the interior of a building, you need to take action if your insurance company isn’t upholding their obligation to you.