Small businesses are categorized by the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy as businesses with less than 500 employees total. There are 28.8 million of these businesses in the United States, accounting for 99.7% of all businesses in the country. The small business community covers a wide range of industries including; retail, construction, healthcare, food services, finance, manufacturing, information technologies, education and so much more. Each small business is unique, with varying needs, making a one-size-fits-all insurance policy not a great option for small businesses nationwide.
What is a Business Owners Policy?
A business owners policy (BOP) is an insurance package that includes a variety of different policies combined together to provide small businesses with comprehensive coverage. This convenient package combines a basic general liability policy with other policies that cover property, inventory, income, and more. BOPs can benefit small businesses in a multitude of industries because of how customizable they are.
What Does a Business Owners Policy Entail?
Since BOPs are extremely customizable, each insurance agency may have a different list of included policies. Here are some of the typical coverage plans that would be found in a business owners policy:
- General Liability: Every business owners policy includes general liability, sometimes called commercial general liability (CGL), which protects a business against losses resulting from common litigation risks associated with running a business. CGL typically covers tort liability cases such as bodily injury or property damage on the business premises, bodily injury or property damage due to business operations, medical payments, libel, slander and copyright infringement.
- Property: Commercial property insurance protects against loss from accidental damage to the property, not including damage from floods or earthquakes. It typically covers the building structure and some interior items such as walls, ceilings, floorings and attached furnishings.
- Business Income: Business interruption (BI) insurance covers the actual loss of business income resulting from the necessary suspension of business operations during a period of restoration following direct physical loss, damage or destruction to the business’s property as the result of a covered form of peril.
- Money & Securities: Money and securities coverage typically includes both an inside the premises policy and outside the premises policy. Both policies cover the loss of money and securities resulting directly from theft, disappearance or destruction by persons not employed by the business.
- Theft: For money and securities losses that are a result of owner, executive or employee action, there is employee theft coverage, or employee dishonesty coverage.
Additional policies can be added to a business owner policy as needed, making BOPs an ideal product for all small business owners.
About American Team Managers Insurance Services
Founded in 1998 by Chris C. Michaels, American Team Managers Insurance Services (ATM) has provided wholesale and MGA services to more than 5,000 independent insurance agents throughout the United States. Our goal is to establish close, long-term relationships with our agency partners and insurance carriers and provide competitive products for the Exclusive and Non-Exclusive markets that we serve. For more information on our products and services, give us a call at (714) 414-1200 to speak to a representative.