A business owner's policy (also businessowner's policy, business owners policy or BOP) is a special type of commercial insurance designed for small and medium-sized businesses. [1] BOPs are cost-effective and convenient for business owners, as they provide comprehensive protection against common risks like property damage, lawsuits, and income loss due to unforeseen events. By bundling general liability insurance and property insurance into a single policy, BOPs typically offer a reduced premium, often making them a more cost-effective option than separately purchased policies. [2]
Specific coverage included in a business owner's policy varies among insurance providers, but most policies require that businesses meet eligibility criteria to qualify.
A typical business owner's policy includes property and liability insurance.
The property insurance portion of a BOP is available most often as named-peril coverage, which provides compensation only for damage caused by events specifically listed in the policy (typically fire, explosion, wind damage, vandalism, smoke damage, etc.). [3] Some BOPs offer open-peril or “all-risk” coverage; this option is available from the “special” BOP form rather than the “standard.” [4] Types of property covered by a BOP usually include:
In addition, many business owner's policies include business interruption insurance as part of their property coverage. Business interruption insurance provides up to 12 months’ income for covered businesses when they are forced to shut down operations because of a covered property event.
The liability portion of a business owner's policy offers coverage for third parties who suffer property damage, advertising injury or personal injury on a covered business's premises or caused by the business's owner or employees. [5] This coverage typically takes the form of compensation for legal fees related to third-party lawsuits over such incidents (including lawyers’ fees, settlements and court costs). In addition, BOP liability coverage may include compensation for medical expenses that result from an injury to a third party on a covered business's premises for up to one year after the incident occurs. [4] In addition to standard coverages, most insurance providers offer optional additions or endorsements on business owner's policies that business owners can use to tailor a policy to their specific needs.
Business owner's policies do not include the following types of insurance: [5]
Many insurance companies offer businesses the option to customize a BOP based on specific coverage needs. Optional property endorsements that can be added to a BOP include coverage for certain crimes, spoilage of merchandise, computer equipment, mechanical breakdown, forgery and fidelity bond, but the coverage limits for these inclusions are typically low. [6]
Business owner's policies are not available to every business. [7] Eligibility requirements vary among insurance providers, but the typical business that is eligible for a business owner's policy: [8]
Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect against the risk of a contingent or uncertain loss.
Vehicle insurance is insurance for cars, trucks, motorcycles, and other road vehicles. Its primary use is to provide financial protection against physical damage or bodily injury resulting from traffic collisions and against liability that could also arise from incidents in a vehicle. Vehicle insurance may additionally offer financial protection against theft of the vehicle, and against damage to the vehicle sustained from events other than traffic collisions, such as vandalism, weather or natural disasters, and damage sustained by colliding with stationary objects. The specific terms of vehicle insurance vary with legal regulations in each region.
In an insurance policy, the deductible is the amount paid out of pocket by the policy holder before an insurance provider will pay any expenses. In general usage, the term deductible may be used to describe one of several types of clauses that are used by insurance companies as a threshold for policy payments.
Home insurance, also commonly called homeowner's insurance, is a type of property insurance that covers a private residence. It is an insurance policy that combines various personal insurance protections, which can include losses occurring to one's home, its contents, loss of use, or loss of other personal possessions of the homeowner, as well as liability insurance for accidents that may happen at the home or at the hands of the homeowner within the policy territory.
A rental agreement is a contract of rental, usually written, between the owner of a property and a renter who desires to have temporary possession of the property; it is distinguished from a lease, which is more typically for a fixed term. As a minimum, the agreement identifies the parties, the property, the term of the rental, and the amount of rent for the term. The owner of the property may be referred to as the lessor and the renter as the lessee.
In its broadest sense, no-fault insurance is any type of insurance contract under which the insured party is indemnified by their own insurance company for losses, regardless of the source of the cause of loss. In this sense, it is similar to first-party coverage. The term "no-fault" is most commonly used in the United States, Australia, and Canada when referring to state or provincial automobile insurance laws where a policyholder and their passengers are reimbursed by the policyholder's own insurance company without proof of fault, and are restricted in their right to seek recovery through the civil-justice system for losses caused by other parties. No-fault insurance has the goal of lowering premium costs by avoiding expensive litigation over the causes of the collision, while providing quick payments for injuries or loss of property.
Liability insurance is a part of the general insurance system of risk financing to protect the purchaser from the risks of liabilities imposed by lawsuits and similar claims and protects the insured if the purchaser is sued for claims that come within the coverage of the insurance policy.
Personal injury protection (PIP) is an extension of car insurance available in some U.S. states that covers medical expenses and, in some cases, lost wages and other damages. PIP is sometimes referred to as "no-fault" coverage, because the statutes enacting it are generally known as no-fault laws, and PIP is designed to be paid without regard to "fault," or more properly, legal liability. That is, even if the person seeking PIP coverage caused the accident, they are entitled to make a claim under the PIP portion of their policy. "No-Fault" does not mean that insurance premium of the person making the claim will not increase. Typically a PIP claim is made by the insured driver to their own insurance company, however, there are several exceptions that allow persons who have been injured in an accident to make a PIP claim if they do not own a vehicle. The particular state law and policy language of the insurer should be reviewed to see what exceptions exist in that state.
Personal injury is a legal term for an injury to the body, mind, or emotions, as opposed to an injury to property. In common law jurisdictions the term is most commonly used to refer to a type of tort lawsuit in which the person bringing the suit has suffered harm to their body or mind. Personal injury lawsuits are filed against the person or entity that caused the harm through negligence, gross negligence, reckless conduct, or intentional misconduct, and in some cases on the basis of strict liability. Different jurisdictions describe the damages in different ways, but damages typically include the injured person's medical bills, pain and suffering, and diminished quality of life.
Pet sitting is the act of temporarily taking care of another person's pet for a given time frame. It commonly occurs at the pet owner's home, but may also occur at the provider's home or at a pet sitting place of business or organization. Pet sitting is a more personal and individualized arrangement for care compared to boarding or kenneling. Specialized training is usually not required for pet sitting.
Business overhead expense (BOE) disability insurance, also known as Business Expense Insurance, pays the insured's business overhead expenses if he or she becomes disabled. A BOE policy pays a monthly benefit based on actual expenses, not anticipated profits. It is designed for businesses that rely on a small number of people to produce revenue.
Inland marine insurance is an insurance category in the United States that indemnifies loss to movable or specialized types of property, historically developing as an outgrowth of ocean marine insurance. The term marine is of historical origin and the insurance definition has evolved to include a wide range of property and materials that are not marine related but may be in transit or deemed mobile including: property in transit, property in the custody of a bailee, property deemed to be an instrumentality of transportation or communication, such as bridges and radio towers, mobile medical equipment, and contractors equipment.
Expatriate insurance are insurance policies that are designed to cover financial and other risks incurred specifically by expatriates while living and working in a country other than one's own. The insurances that expatriates need are similar to individuals living in the country but may be more complex to arrange because they are not native. There may also be specific risks for high-risk areas of the world where specialty insurance can provide coverage for war and terrorism, kidnap and ransom.
Landlords' insurance is an insurance policy that covers a property owner from financial losses connected with rental properties. The policy covers the building, with the option of insuring any contents that belong to the landlord that are inside. Landlords' insurance is often referred to as buy-to-let insurance, however buy-to-let insurance is a type of landlords' insurance. It is important to distinguish between buy-to-let insurance which generally covers one property that has been purchased with a buy-to-let mortgage, and multi-property insurance, which covers two or more properties. Each of these types of landlords' insurance covers different things. Landlord insurance is separate from landlords' emergency cover.
Professional liability insurance (PLI), also called professional indemnity insurance (PII) but more commonly known as errors & omissions (E&O) in the US, is a form of liability insurance which helps protect professional advising, consulting, and service-providing individuals and companies from bearing the full cost of defending against a negligence claim made by a client in a civil lawsuit. The coverage focuses on alleged failure to perform on the part of, financial loss caused by, and error or omission in the service or product sold by the policyholder. These are causes for legal action that would not be covered by a more general liability insurance policy which addresses more direct forms of harm. Professional liability insurance may take on different forms and names depending on the profession, especially medical and legal, and is sometimes required under contract by other businesses that are the beneficiaries of the advice or service.
Renters' insurance, often called tenants' insurance, is an insurance policy that provides some of the benefits of homeowners' insurance, but does not include coverage for the dwelling, or structure, with the exception of small alterations that a tenant makes to the structure. It provides liability insurance and the tenant's personal property is covered against named perils such as fire, theft, and vandalism. It also pays expenses when the dwelling becomes uninhabitable. Due to renters' insurance existing mainly to protect against losses to the tenant's personal property and provide them with liability coverage but not to insure the actual dwelling, it is significantly less expensive than a homeowners' policy.The owner of the building is responsible for insuring the dwelling itself but bears no responsibility for the tenant's belongings.
Business interruption insurance is a type of insurance that covers the loss of income that a business suffers after a disaster. The income loss covered may be due to disaster-related closing of the business facility or due to the rebuilding process after a disaster.
Vehicle insurance in the United States is designed to cover the risk of financial liability or the loss of a motor vehicle that the owner may face if their vehicle is involved in a collision that results in property or physical damage. Most states require a motor vehicle owner to carry some minimum level of liability insurance. States that do not require the vehicle owner to carry car insurance include New Hampshire and Mississippi, which offers vehicle owners the option to post cash bonds. The privileges and immunities clause of Article IV of the U.S. Constitution protects the rights of citizens in each respective state when traveling to another. A motor vehicle owner typically pays insurers a monthly or yearly fee, often called an insurance premium. The insurance premium a motor vehicle owner pays is usually determined by a variety of factors including the type of covered vehicle, marital status, credit score, whether the driver rents or owns a home, the age and gender of any covered drivers, their driving history, and the location where the vehicle is primarily driven and stored. Most insurance companies will increase insurance premium rates based on these factors and offer discounts less frequently.
Multiple-peril insurance coverage is a kind of insurance that bundles together multiple coverages that typically would be needed with each other. Typically the package may include coverage for business crime, business automobile, boiler and machinery, marine, or farm. The benefits to purchasing multiple-peril insurance coverage include lower overall premium costs for the insured because of the benefits that the insured receives on the basis of an all-in-one type package, as well as broader coverage for losses that typically occur together, like flood damage to an insured's basement and wind damage to an insured's roof.
Commercial general liability insurance is a broad type of insurance policy which provides liability insurance for general business risks. In the United States insurance market this is known as Commercial General Liability (CGL).