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Business insurance is a type of coverage that protects your business against the risk of loss. It can help safeguard you, your employees, and your assets from damage or injury that could result from various natural disasters, unforeseen accidents, and lawsuits. You’ll need to find the right coverage for your business during this tumultuous time period. We’ve evaluated the best business insurance providers based on coverage, financial stability, customer satisfaction, and overall quality.
Simply Business provides insurance policies for a range of professions and small businesses.
For more than 200 years, the Hartford Insurance helped over 1 million businesses just like yours.
Coverwallet began its journey in New York City in 2015 operating under the Aon Insurance banner. At Coverwallet, you can access everything you need to keep your company well-protected at an unbeatable price.
Next Insurance leverages AI technology to streamline the process to purchase insurance, track claims, and manage policies at no additional cost.
With a 100-year history of insuring businesses, Hiscox is well-known across America and globally. With more than 500,000 small business customers, Hiscox is fully aware and trained in the unique risks a business can face.
Thimble provides business insurance that can be tailored to your business by the year, month, day, or even the job. At Thimble, the process to getting the right business insurance is simple, scalable, and flexible.
Idaho requires businesses to carry general liability insurance. This covers anything that causes you to be liable to others for things like property damage, bodily injury, or loss of life. In addition to the basic forms of business insurance, most companies are required to carry additional coverage such as workers’ compensation, contract workers’ compensation, and automobile liability.
Here are some of the types of insurance that businesses need:
General liability insurance covers any legal action that might arise out of accidents at work or from the company itself. This can include anything from lawsuits stemming from a car accident at work to mistakes made by the company itself. If a customer sues your company for something you did wrong or an employee sues for a claim related to his job, this is covered under general liability. What does general liability business insurance exclude?
Workers’ compensation insurance covers the costs associated with an injury to an employee. It can cover medical bills, lost wages, and even future medical costs if the employee is permanently disabled as a result of their work-related injuries.
In a nutshell, a workers compensation business insurance plan excludes all lawsuits, claims, injury, or death related to negligence. In other words, if you’re hit by a car while crossing the street and you want to sue the person who drove it into you, that won’t be covered.
It doesn’t cover damages caused by chronic illness or disability either.
Professional liability or Errors and omissions (E&O) insurance covers you for claims caused by other people’s mistakes. The policy pays for a loss that results from a known or controllable event. In an E&O policy, the insured must show their actions were appropriate under the circumstances.
If you run a fleet of vehicles, this type of coverage will cover you against any claims from your drivers. Depending on the policy, it might also cover theft, vandalism, and damage to other commercial vehicles (such as trucks).
This protects your business against damage to property — such as buildings, computers, or equipment — that’s part of your business operations. The most common policies are for business interruption losses, which pay for the time a business is closed while repairs are made.
The cost of business insurance coverage varies widely based on the type of business and the amount of coverage you want. Here are some factors that determine the cost of business insurance policy:
If you’re self-employed, your annual premium is likely to be lower than if you’re an employee, especially if you provide only services rather than goods or products.
The larger your business is, the more likely it is that it’s a significant financial risk for an insurer. However, insurers often charge more for larger companies because they spend money on things like underwriting and general administration that smaller firms don’t have to pay for. Insurance companies make money by charging different rates for different risks.
Every insurance policy has a rating of “severity” that describes the likelihood of claims being filed against your business. The higher the severity, the more likely it is that claims will be made against your company.
The longer your policy lasts, the higher the cost. A three-year policy is going to be less expensive than one that expires in 30 days. Most policies last for as long as you want to cover yourself, but you might find a policy that only lasts one year if you’re just starting out and don’t have much in the way of assets or liabilities, like a small business with no employees.
Here are five tips on how to choose the best business insurance.
Different businesses have different risks and need different types of coverage. For example, a real estate agent may need less coverage than an auto body shop because the agent likely works out of an office and has little physical inventory or equipment. But an auto body shop has the potential for customer lawsuits if their vehicle is damaged while in their care.
Generally, small businesses can’t afford to self-insure, which means paying for any damages out of pocket rather than using insurance to cover it. Instead, your monthly premiums are shared with other businesses and paid into an insurance company’s pool for claims. And like any other monthly expense, business insurance should be built into your budget and accounted for in your pricing structure so you can stay profitable.
Your industry will help determine what kind of insurance you’ll need, but there are common coverages that most small businesses should consider: general liability; property; commercial auto; worker’s compensation; product liability; professional liability and cyber liability.
Some industries are inherently riskier than others. Take stock of the products or services you provide and how you provide them. Then, assess your potential liability in areas like personal injury, property damage, and marketing.
If you’ve been in business for a while, review your existing policies to see what’s working and what could be improved. Consider whether some risks now have different exposures than before. For example, if your customer base has changed or grown substantially, that may affect your need for both liability and worker’s compensation coverage.
