When you own a business, you’re constantly juggling a million things. Tracking expenses, managing employees, ensuring supplies are stocked and more. With so much up in the air, it could be easy to drop the ball on one of the most important protections for your business: proper insurance coverage.
While there are many optional policies available which will cover your business in every possible situation that could arise, you need to make sure that you – at least – have basic coverages in place in order to protect your business assets.
A business owner’s policy (BOP) offers coverage that combines general liability and commercial property insurance, comprehensively protecting your business from the most common perils that it might face.
How Does a Business Owner’s Policy Work?
By combining multiple business coverages into one affordable policy, BOPs provide comprehensive coverage that assures you will not have to pay high out-of-pocket costs should the unexpected occur.
Typically packaging together commercial property insurance with general liability coverage, BOPs provide business owners with peace of mind knowing that their assets will be protected should their business face the consequences of perils such as theft, fire, or injury.
BOP’s are generally a more affordable way to get the basic protection your business needs. Since a BOP combines multiple coverages into one single policy, it typically costs less than buying a general liability policy and commercial property policy separately.
Here’s how a BOP can protect your business:
General Liability Coverage
A foundational policy and the cornerstone of every business’ insurance portfolio, general liability coverage is there to protect your business against some of the most common risks of being in business: third-party injuries and property damage.
Could you afford to pay out of pocket for the costs associated with a lawsuit? The answer for most businesses is a resounding no.
What Does General Liability Cover?
Pulling tight the safety net under your business, general liability protects you with various coverage options, including:
- Property damage coverage
- Advertising liability coverage, including copyright infringement
- Personal injury coverage, such as slander or libel
- Bodily injury claims
Feel like you work in a low-risk industry and think that your business is immune to accidents?
Whether you’re at fault or not, all it takes is one small accident and you could have a lawsuit brought against your business.
One of the most common obstacles in the path of a business’s success is the high cost of paying out for lawyer fees, judgments, and court fees associated with a lawsuit. In fact, many businesses find that when it comes to general liability insurance, it’s not so much a matter of ‘if’ they will have to use it but rather ‘when’.
The average slip and fall accident will cost a business $40,000. Perhaps your business won’t be affected if you have to pay that amount out. Most will.
It can be very difficult for a business to recover financially after paying out for accidental injury, unintentional slander, or copyright infringement. With general liability insurance on your side, you won’t have to foot the bill when the unexpected inevitably occurs.
Commercial Property Insurance
Also known as business property insurance, commercial property insurance offers protection for property, inventory, and other business assets against damage or loss due to accidents, theft or something outside of your control, including:
- Severe weather events
- Theft
- Fire
- Vandalism
- Many other perils
Covering your business property as well as damaged, lost, or stolen business assets that are away from the commercial location, the benefits of commercial property insurance offer far-reaching protections for your business.
What Does Commercial Property Insurance Cover?
Commercial property insurance offers protection for the building where you run your business, as well as the business assets you keep inside.
With commercial property coverage, you won’t have to worry about costs for building repairs, or for replacing other business property including supplies, fixtures, furnishings, inventory and equipment that are damaged or lost.
Commercial property insurance protects your business against losses from:
- accidental damage: financial protection against accidental damage of supplies, inventory, equipment, and furnishings.
- stolen property: both your business assets and client property that is in your possession are covered against theft.
- building repairs: own or rent it, your property is covered for repairs following such perils as severe weather, vandalism, or fire.
- equipment loss: coverage for when something happens to the work equipment you take on the go.
Both general liability and commercial property are important coverages to protect your business against some of the most common risks you’ll face. A BOP combines these coverages into one affordable policy.
What a BOP Doesn’t Cover
It’s important to note that most BOP policies do not cover some of the things your business may need protections against, which could be protected with the following:
- Earthquake Insurance
- Flood Coverage
- Cyber Liability Insurance
- Commercial Auto Coverage
- Workers’ Compensation Insurance
Be sure to talk to your agent to ascertain if your business is at high risk for or could benefit from any of these coverages in addition to your BOP package.
What are the Benefits of a BOP?
Packaging two foundational policies that protect your business property and assets, both from physical and financial losses, associated with lawsuits, a BOP policy works as a comprehensive foundational policy to help assure that you can keep your hard-earned money where you need it – in your own pocket.
Protect your business from the most common perils it faces with a business owner’s policy designed to keep your business afloat so that it can thrive.