Glossary term

Business interruption

Coverage that replaces income lost and extra expenses incurred while covered physical damage is repaired. It is usually part of a property policy, and the physical loss is what triggers it.

Why it matters for your company

A fire that closes your lab for three months costs more than the benches. Business interruption pays the profit you would have earned and the fixed costs that continue, for the period it takes to restore operations, subject to a waiting period.

The trigger is covered damage to property, so a lost customer or a software outage with nothing physical broken is outside it. Cyber policies carry their own version for systems downtime.

Related terms

Inland marineProperty insurance for equipment that moves: in transit, at job sites, on pilots and demos. For a robotics company it is the line that follows the machines once they leave the building.
First-party and third-party cyber coverageFirst-party cyber pays your own costs after an attack, such as forensics, notification and lost income. Third-party cyber pays claims others bring against you for a breach, such as customers suing over exposed data.

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This page describes coverage in general terms. It is not an offer of insurance, and carrier appetite, policy wording, licensing, and availability govern every quote and every claim.