Business Insurance

Business Owner’s Insurance

What does a business owner’s policy cover?

Insurance companies selling business insurance offer policies that combine protection from all major property and liability risks in one package (they also sell coverage separately). One package purchased by small and mid-sized businesses is the business owner’s policy (BOP). Package policies are created for businesses that generally face the same kind and degree of risk. Larger companies might purchase a commercial package policy or customize their policies to meet the special risks they face.

BOPs do NOT cover professional liability, auto insurance, worker’s compensation or health and disability insurance. You’ll need separate insurance policies to cover professional services, vehicles and your employees.

BOPs include:

Property insurance for buildings and contents owned by the company – there are two different forms, standard and special, which provides more comprehensive coverage.
Business interruption insurance, which covers the loss of income resulting from a fire or other catastrophe that disrupts the operation of the business. It can also include the extra expense of operating out of a temporary location.
Liability protection, which covers your company’s legal responsibility for the harm it may cause to others. This harm is a result of things that you and your employees do or fail to do in your business operations that may cause bodily injury or property damage due to defective products, faulty installations and errors in services provided.

Business Automobile Insurance

As a business owner, you need the same kind of insurance coverage for the car you use in your business as you do for a car used for personal travel – liability, collision and comprehensive, medical payments and coverage for uninsured motorists. In fact, many business people use the same vehicle for both business and pleasure. If the vehicle is owned by the business, make sure the name of the business appears on the policy as the “principal insured” rather than your name. This will avoid possible confusion in the event that you need to file a claim or a claim is filed against you.

Whether you need to buy a business auto insurance policy will depend on the kind of driving you do. A good insurance agent will ask you many details about how you use vehicles in your business, who will be driving them and whether employees, if you have them, are likely to be driving their own cars for your business.

While the major coverage is the same, a business auto policy differs from a personal auto policy in many technical respects. Ask your insurance agent to explain all the differences and options.

If you have a personal umbrella liability policy, there’s generally an exclusion for business-related liability. Make sure you have sufficient auto liability coverage.

Professional Liability Insurance

Professionals that operate their own businesses need professional liability insurance in addition to an in-home business or business owner’s policy. This protects them against financial losses from lawsuits filed against them by their clients.

Professionals are expected to have extensive technical knowledge or training in their particular area of expertise. They are also expected to perform the services for which they were hired, according to the standards of conduct in their profession. If they fail to use the degree of skill expected of them, they can be held responsible in a court of law for any harm they cause to another person or business. When liability is limited to acts of negligence, professional liability insurance may be called “errors and omissions” liability.

Professional liability insurance is a specialty coverage. Professional liability coverage is not provided under homeowners endorsements, in-home business policies or business owner’s policies (BOPs).

Commercial Umbrella Insurance

A commercial umbrella policy will provide a layer of protection above that afforded by underlying policies. When losses exceed the coverage limits of standard Business Auto, Commercial Liability or business owner’s Policies, Commercial Umbrella policies take effect to cover the balance (subject to policy limits and other conditions).

A great deal of coverage is provided through a Commercial Umbrella policy for a comparatively minimal premium. Coverage limits typically range from $1 million to $10 million.

Workers’ Compensation

Employers have a legal responsibility to their employees to make the work place safe. However, accidents happen even when every reasonable safety measure has been taken.

To protect employers from lawsuits resulting from workplace accidents and to provide medical care and compensation for lost income to employees hurt in workplace accidents, in almost every state, businesses are required to buy workers compensation insurance. Workers compensation insurance covers workers injured on the ob, whether they’re hurt on the workplace premises or elsewhere, or in auto accidents while on business. It also covers work-related illnesses.

Workers compensation provides payments to injured workers, without regard to who was at fault in the accident, for time lost from work and for medical and rehabilitation services. It also provides death benefits to surviving spouses and dependents.

Each state has different laws governing the amount and duration of lost income benefits, the provision of medical and rehabilitation services and how the system is administered. For example, in most states there are regulations that cover whether the worker or employer can choose the doctor who treats the injuries and how disputes about benefits are resolved.

Workers compensation insurance must be bought as a separate policy. Although in-home business and business owner’s policies (BOPs) are sold as package policies, they don’t include coverage for workers’ injuries.