What Does Business Insurance Cover?

Business insurance can help pay the costs of property damage, lawsuits, lost business income, and other covered losses. To help protect against specific risks unique to their situation, businesses often buy multiple coverages and combine several in one policy. A Business Owner's Policy, for example, combines property, general liability and business income coverage into one convenient policy.

 

Among the most popular business policies is a Business Owner’s Policy (BOP). A BOP generally includes business property, general liability and business income coverages in one policy. Combining these coverages can help save money on business insurance and it’s convenient.

 

Insurance helps protect from the cost of bodily injury or property damage claims against your business. For example, a customer may make a claim against your business if he is injured in your store. General liability can help cover you against the costs of the claim and potential defense costs. It also helps protect your business from the costs of errors in your advertising.

 

Business personal property insurance helps protect your business's buildings and personal property. This might include furniture, tools, equipment and inventory.

 

Business income insurance helps replace lost income if you close temporarily due to a covered loss like theft or property damage from a fire. It can also help you continue paying expenses while your property is replaced or repaired.

 

Professional liability insurance helps cover costs related to claims that your business made errors in providing its services. For example, if you make a clerical error and it causes a client to lose thousands of dollars, professional liability insurance can help cover the costs if the client makes a claim. A business doesn’t need to do anything wrong to be sued. Depending on the scenario, coverage would apply to defend a business if sued.

 

Workers' compensation insurance helps cover costs to employees while they are unable to work after suffering a work-related injury or illness. Workers’ comp from The Hartford also provides programs to help employees prepare to return to work after their absence. And, if a worker's family decides to sue your business, Workers’ comp can also help cover the legal fees.

 

A commercial auto policy helps protect your business from the costs of a work-related auto accident. If you or an employee is in an accident while driving for business reasons, commercial auto can help cover the costs that results from the accident.

 

Data breach insurance helps protect your business from the costs of cyber threats or attacks. If your business is attacked, coverage from The Hartford can help cover the costs: to find the source of the breach and mitigate the damage; of communicating to those affected within and outside the company; and for public relations to manage your company’s reputation through the crisis. Our data breach insurance policy even includes access to services that teach you best practices that help prevent breaches from happening.

 

Commercial umbrella insurance acts as a safety net that provides additional coverage when other liability policies reach their limits. For example, say a customer slips and injures himself in your store. He then makes a claim against your business for $200,000. If your general liability policy has a limit of $150,000, commercial umbrella insurance would help cover the remaining $50,000. Businesses find this coverage is essential for helping protect against financially devastating lawsuits and claims.

 

Commercial flood insurance helps protect your business from the costs of covered flood damage. This includes damage to physical location of your business as well as its assets. For example, say melting snow floods the basement of your business. The floodwater damages the floor and some tools. If this happens, commercial flood can help cover the cost to repair the damaged floor and tools.

 

Employment practices liability (EPL) helps protect your business if an employee sues you. Even if you are not at fault, defending a lawsuit can be costly. Employees may make a claim against your business for reasons such as discrimination, harassment or wrongful termination. If they do, EPL can help cover the related costs.

 

Risk engineering services from The Hartford help mid- and large-size businesses with loss control solutions designed to create a safer work environment. Risk engineering professionals evaluate your business’s risk exposures and then create improvement plans, and programs to train you and your staff to safely handle accidents and follow safety protocols. This can result in a safer, more productive and profitable business.

 

Multinational insurance can help streamline coverages if your business has operations outside the U.S. This coverage from The Hartford creates a single point of contact for all your business insurance needs. Our Multinational Insurance policy offers coverage in over 150 countries.

 

Surety bonds – A surety bond is a contract between three parties that helps ensure a project gets completed or a commitment is met and guarantees a payment if they are not. Fidelity bonds are a form of insurance that protects businesses from financial loss due to employee theft or fraud.

 

Home-based business insurance helps cover the costs of property and liability risks to businesses that operate out of a business owner’s home. If you keep supplies, equipment or other business property at your home, or have customers stopping by, consider adding this coverage.

 

Losses from certain types of natural disasters, floods and other major weather events may not be covered by standard commercial property insurance policies. The same applies for customers’ property that is stored at your business. Things like intentional and fraudulent acts are not covered by standard professional liability policies; a Fidelity Bond could cover some acts of fraud or theft. Standard general liability polices do not cover auto accidents – you would need commercial auto coverage for that.

 

Standard types of business insurance policies don’t cover everything, but it is possible to add coverage riders to standard policies to help cover additional risks.

 

Compare Different Business Insurance Coverages

• Business Owner's Policy vs. General Liability Insurance
• General Liability vs. Errors & Omissions Insurance
• General Liability Insurance vs. Workers' Comp
• Professional Liability vs. Errors and Omissions Insurance