Business Insurance

There are numerous factors that can impact your business insurance costs, including the policy types you are considering and your business operations. Here are some of the most common factors that can affect the price of your policies:

• Type of business or Industry: Different professions carry different levels of relative risk.
• Number of employees: The cost of your insurance will depend on whether you are a sole proprietor or have numerous employees. Workers’ compensation insurance, in particular, is affected by your payroll, the number of employees, and the type of work or business.
• Claim history: Insurance companies use certain metrics to determine a company’s level of risk, and an agency will likely ask for your insurance loss runs if you are applying for a new policy. One way to keep your claims to a minimum is to make sure that employees are properly and continually trained on safety protocols specific to your workplace.
• Risk: While the type of business that you are in is the biggest determinant of risk, there might be other factors besides the level of risk for your employees. For example, if your company has a location that is frequented by the public, there might be risks associated with walkways, parking lots, or other issues with the physical premises that you might not have if your business isn’t frequented much by the public.

Your business should have a general liability policy to protect you because accidents do happen. You also may need the following:

• Building insurance if you own your building
• Business personal property insurance to cover your equipment, tools, furniture, and inventory
• Workers compensation insurance to protect your employees
• Business automobile insurance if your business owns vehicles

General liability insurance provides insurance protection for a company’s assets, financial obligations, legal defense, and any settlements or judgments awarded to an injured party. It may also include claims for copyright infringement, false or misleading advertising, or libel and slander. If a patron is injured in some way in the course of doing business with your company, your general liability insurance will provide coverage to protect you.

BOP stands for Business Owners Policy and is often appropriate for small to medium-sized businesses, usually covering property, casualty, liability, and business interruption coverage. A business is likely to pay less expensive premiums with a package deal instead of having separate policies.