Business Owners Policy
Embroker’s Business Owners Policy (BOP) includes market-leading commercial property, general liability, and business interruption insurance. Get it in minutes, not days.
Business Owners Policy
Take care of the basics. Get coverage for what you need, and nothing more.
What Is BOP Insurance?
A Business Owners Policy (BOP) is a package of insurance policies that the majority of business owners need to have—which is why insurance carriers bundle these coverages and sell them as one product.
More often than not, a BOP is sold to small and medium-sized businesses, since large corporations tend to have more complex risks that require customized policies.
In a typical BOP, businesses buy the following policies as one bundle or insurance package:
What’s The Difference Between a Business Owners Policy and a Commercial Package Policy (CPP)?
The main difference between a BOP and a CPP is that the CPP is much more flexible, which means that your business has greater options when it comes to putting together a coverage package that works best for your company’s specific needs.
In any case, whether or not you purchase a BOP or CPP is going to depend on two things; your coverage needs and your eligibility.
For more, read our full guide on business owners policy vs. commercial package policy.
What’s the Difference Between a BOP and General Liability?
While this might seem like a concept that’s easy to understand, it’s still one of the most commonly asked questions by business owners who want to buy their first insurance policies.
The difference between a BOP and general liability is that a BOP provides more coverage. A BOP will cover the liability losses that a general liability policy will cover, but it will also cover property losses and business interruption costs.
A commercial general liability policy typically covers third-party property damage, bodily injury, and advertising injury, along with defense costs if you are being sued for a covered loss.
A BOP covers all this as well since commercial general liability is an integral part of the policy package, but it also covers your business property. That means that it can cover everything a commercial property policy covers, including property damage, loss and restoration of paperwork and records, equipment breakdown, and more.
A BOP can be customized to fit your business needs, which means that additional coverages can be added to it, even commercial auto insurance. General liability covers what it covers and you can’t add different types of coverages to this policy like you can to a BOP.
However, sometimes it is better to buy your general liability and property insurance as separate policies if you need them to be very robust and specific since the coverage you get with a BOP can sometimes be limited.
A BOP is a perfect solution for a small business with a low-risk profile and basic coverage needs.
Who Is BOP Insurance For?
A Business Owners Policy is a policy package that was created with small businesses in mind. It was designed to cover many of the business risks that a majority of small businesses share, regardless of industry.
Large companies with more complex insurance needs usually don’t qualify for a BOP, meaning that the coverage they need can’t be provided by a Business Owners Policy. These large businesses would most likely be better off purchasing a variety of individual insurance policies that are all tailored to cover their specific needs based on their more complex risk profile.
If you fit into the following profile, a Business Owners Policy could probably be the right solution for covering your basic business insurance needs:
- You have less than 100 employees
- You make less than $10 million in annual sales
- You have a physical location (could be your home) where most of your business is conducted
If these statements describe your business, you can get a risk-free, instant business owners policy quote with Embroker in just a few minutes.
Are There Requirements for Purchasing a BOP?
Every insurer has its own requirements regarding the location of your business, its size, its revenue, and class of business when it comes to selling a BOP. This simply means that not all businesses qualify for a BOP and might have to purchase either a CPP or all of their policies separately.
Usually, insurers won’t offer a BOP to companies that handle their business off-premises. Insurers usually have property parameters that go into their profile for a BOP and will not offer the policy package to businesses that have more or less property than they are willing to cover.
Smaller, office-based businesses (lawyers, real estate agencies, and other professional service providers), smaller restaurants and cafes, and retail stores are some of the types of businesses that typically do qualify for a BOP.
Why Do You Need a Business Owners Policy?
A common misconception is that big companies need insurance more than small businesses. That simply isn’t true. While large companies might have more complex risks, one unforeseen event or misstep can be financially crippling to a small business if it is not insured.
A large business will probably have the money to pay for a lawsuit without insurance or repair their office if a hurricane destroys it. But with less cash flow, a small business most likely wouldn’t have the funds to cover the additional costs from such events. Insurance is there to provide financial support and relief for such unexpected circumstances.
Business Owners Policy Insurance can offer business owners peace of mind. This policy package makes it easy for business owners to maintain all of the most common insurance policies they need without having to manage several policies or sign contracts with different insurers. When you buy a BOP you have one policy that you’ve purchased from one insurer, making any eventual claims much simpler to handle.
The Advantages of Having a BOP
The most obvious advantage of having a BOP is that it casts a wide net of protection and provides you with a broad range of coverage while having to only purchase one bundled policy.
The other most obvious benefit is the fact that you end up saving money. Every cent counts when you’re running a small business, which is why BOPs are an attractive option for smaller companies that needs basic insurance coverage and would like to spend as little as possible on it.
Another great thing about a BOP is that it can be modified and customized to fit your business’s specific needs. You buy what you need and you don’t buy what you don’t need. It’s very easy to add various endorsements to your BOP that will cover common risks such as equipment breakdown or personal and advertising injury.
Finally, another key advantage of a BOP is that it’s an incredibly popular insurance option that is offered by all the top insurers and even smaller insurance carriers, meaning that you can really shop around to find the best BOP for your business in terms of coverage and cost.
What Does Business Owners Policy Cover?
When you purchase a Business Owners Policy, you will be covered for risks by the three insurance policies that are packaged into the BOP. Let’s take a deeper look into what those specific insurance policies cover.
Commercial Property Insurance
Commercial property insurance will protect you in the event that your business property is damaged or any equipment and other business contents you might own are damaged or stolen.
If your property is damaged by severe weather or vandalized, this policy will kick in to cover the costs of dealing with such issues. If any work equipment or inventory is stolen or damaged, a proper commercial property policy should cover those losses as well.
There are, generally, two important decisions to make when purchasing a commercial property policy. One is deciding between replacement cost and actual cash coverage. This means that you are either buying a policy that will cover the full replacement costs of your property or one that will only cover its depreciated value.
The second is deciding between a named perils and all-risk insurance policy. The first policy type covers damage incurred only by perils that are explicitly listed in the policy, while all-risk policies cover all risks that aren’t specifically excluded from the commercial property policy.
In any case, all businesses that either rent or own commercial property need to have property insurance and most tenants won’t rent to businesses that aren’t covered.
General Liability Insurance
Another insurance policy that every business needs is general liability. If a claim is filed against your business related to third-party bodily injury or property damage, a general liability policy should be able to cover defense costs and possible settlements.
It’s very common to hear about businesses being sued because of customer or client slip-and-fall accidents. A general liability policy would cover such claims. If someone who doesn’t work for your company is injured on your property, general liability would cover defense costs if a claim arises, as well as medical costs and any other expenses that could be related to the injury.
Business Interruption Insurance
If your business experiences a natural disaster, theft, or vandalism, commercial property insurance will cover these losses. However, it won’t cover the loss of income your business could incur if it is forced to close down for a period of time. That’s why every BOP should also include business interruption insurance.
A standard business interruption policy usually covers your business income for up to a full year, but only if you are forced to suspend operations for a reason that is covered within the policy. This helps companies make rent payments and pay their employees while the business is recovering or relocating and, therefore, not making money.
BOP Endorsements and Additional Coverages
Your average BOP includes the package of general liability, property, and business interruption insurance. However, businesses can also add to and customize their existing BOPs to meet their individual business needs. Here are some examples of potential add-ons for a business owner’s policy:
Professional Liability Insurance
Professional liability insurance, not to be confused with general liability insurance, is an important add-on to consider for your BOP. General liability covers your business against lawsuits and legal issues, while professional liability insurance protects you from the financial burdens of professional mistakes.
For example, professional liability insurance for accounting firms is extremely important. If an employee makes a major mistake on a client’s tax return that causes them to be fined by the IRS, professional liability insurance can protect you.
Workers Compensation Insurance
If your business has employees, you’ll likely be required to have Worker’s Comp Insurance. In fact, the only state that doesn’t require businesses to have this coverage is Texas. This BOP add-on ensures that your company is able to compensate your employees in the case of a work-related injury or illness.
Commercial Auto Insurance
If your business owns or leases company vehicles, it is incredibly important to include commercial auto insurance in your BOP. Commercial auto insurance covers the cost of a vehicular accident when someone in your company is at fault.
Cyber Liability Insurance
Cyber attacks and data breaches have unfortunately only become more and more common in recent years, so the need for increased cyber security and insurance has also increased. A data breach or cyber insurance covers your company for many different possible costs that you may accrue when recovering from a cyber attack. This can include legal services, remediation, and issuing refunds.
Employee Theft
While certainly one of the last things you may expect someone within your company to do, employee theft is a harsh reality for many businesses. If an employee steals company property commercial crime insurance will cover any financial losses.
Spoilage
Spoilage insurance covers the cost of replacing perishable inventory that has gone bad due to a malfunction or issue with utilities, such as a power outage.
These are just a few examples of endorsements (or riders) that you can add to your BOP, depending on business needs. Keep in mind that the price of your BOP increases with every additional endorsement.
Inland Marine Insurance
If your business frequently ships and transports products by land (trucks, vans, or trains), you should consider inland marine insurance, which covers losses from cargo, equipment, and materials in land transport-related issues.
What’s Not Covered?
A typical BOP covers only what you would expect the coverage included in it to cover. And even though the coverage that a BOP provides is standard coverage that just about every business will need, there’s a good chance that your business will need to buy additional coverage that does not fall into the scope of what a BOP can offer you.
There are policies that most small businesses need that simply cannot be attached to a BOP in any way. Workers compensation insurance and commercial auto insurance are good examples of popular coverage options that usually need to be purchased alongside a BOP.
However, BOPs are still fairly customizable, meaning that there are plenty of endorsements that can be attached to your BOP in order to provide you with more comprehensive coverage, including policies such as professional liability, EPLI, and common commercial property endorsements such as spoiled merchandise and mechanical breakdown coverage.
Naturally, the more endorsements you add to your BOP and the broader the scope of your coverage becomes, the more expensive your BOP will be.
What Does a Business Owners Policy Cost?
Just like any other business insurance product that your company needs to purchase, there are several general factors that will determine the cost of your BOP, including the following:
Industry
The greater the workplace-related risks associated with your industry, the more you’ll pay. That means that a restaurant will almost always pay more for a BOP than a software company, for example.
Location
If your business is located in a region that is known for flooding or earthquakes, then your BOP will be more expensive compared to what a business located in a lower-risk geographic location would have to pay.
Longevity
If you are a brand new business, you will pay more for your BOP than a business that has been successfully operating for several years.
Number of Employees
The more employees you have, the more you will have to pay for a BOP.
Value of Property
The greater the value of your property and the harder and more expensive it is to replace your business contents and equipment, the higher your BOP premium will be.
Claims History
If your business has a history of property and general liability-related claims, you will pay more for your BOP.
Average Cost of a Business Owners Policy
Just like every other business insurance policy or package of policies that your company can purchase, the price of a BOP depends greatly on a multitude of factors that are taken into consideration during the underwriting process. And naturally, the more optional coverages you add to your BOP, the more it will cost.
However, the average price that small businesses with a lower risk profile can expect to pay for a BOP is about $1,000 per year. Some small companies can pay as little as $500 while others may pay up to $3,500 for a year of BOP coverage, depending on their risk profiles.
Most insurers will set the minimum premium for a BOP purchased by a low-risk business at about $250-$500.
Why Get It With Embroker?
Easy.
We know time is money. Without sifting through documents or taking the day off to visit an insurance broker, Embroker is easily accessible right from your business. Find the policy that meets your business needs and purchase complete BOP coverage within minutes.
Affordable.
We save you time and most importantly money by eliminating unnecessary administrative fees and offering you complete business coverage. Sign up with Embroker’s digital insurance platform and take advantage of our competitive prices.
Complete.
You’re proud of your business and therefore you should protect it. Create a custom BOP and choose your limit and deductible to meet your business needs.
Human.
Communication is key, and customers want to speak to a representative no matter what time of day. We are available around the clock via phone, email, or live chat. Speak with your personal account manager about your BOP needs today.
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