A company should be properly insured by the first day it’s open for business. From there, the owners need to ensure there’s enough money in the budget to maintain the insurance contract and regularly renew it. When they do this, the insurer establishes a continuity date.
A continuity date pinpoints an official starting date when a company began its insurance coverage. This date normally applies to claims-based policies. These are programs that only accept and reimburse for claims that are created while the policy is in effect.
The date that’s established might relate to the time when a current policy became active. On the other hand, it might go back to the business’ first insurance plan. Thus, it can be from a policy with another company. The continuity date might be the timeframe where the business purchased its first policy.
Overall, it details the time when interrupted coverage began. Even if a company leaves one insurer for another, the continuity date won’t change. This is regardless if there was a moment of limbo between two policies or if the business purchased nose or tail Coverage to handle claims.
As long as a claim is filed within the realm of a continuity date, it will be considered for review. In certain situations, a business will need extra coverage to handle issues that take place in the space between two different policies. This falls under riders and endorsements like prior acts coverage.
On the other hand, the continuity date for a new small business policy is the moment when the contract was signed. Therefore, any tort (civil) claims filed against the company before that timeframe won’t be accepted by the insurer. Thus, they would need to be paid for out of pocket by the business.