No two businesses need the same insurance, and most of the difference comes down to four things: whether you have employees, whether anyone comes to your premises, whether vehicles are used for work, and whether you give advice or hold other people’s data. Answer those and the shortlist mostly writes itself.
Your Personalized Checklist
How to read your checklist
What you get is a shortlist to take to a broker or a quote form, not a quote. The categories map to real policies you can ask for by name, which matters more than it sounds — asking for “general liability and professional liability” gets you a very different conversation from asking for “business insurance”.
If several lines come back essential, ask specifically about a Business Owner’s Policy. A BOP bundles general liability and commercial property at a lower combined price than buying them separately, and it is designed for exactly the small, lower-risk businesses most likely to be reading this.
What this cannot tell you
- What your state requires. Workers’ compensation is the big one: the threshold at which it becomes mandatory varies by state, and in some it applies from the first employee. Check with your own state’s regulator rather than an article.
- What your contracts require. Landlords, clients and licensing bodies routinely mandate specific limits, and those requirements override any general advice. Read the certificate of insurance you have been asked to produce before you buy.
- What it will cost. Price is driven largely by how your business is classified, and a misclassification quietly overcharges you for years. Ask which class code you have been placed in, and why that one.
- Whether you are being placed with an admitted carrier. An admitted carrier is backed by the state guaranty fund if it fails; a surplus lines carrier is not, which is the trade for writing risks nobody else will. Worth knowing before you sign.
Related reading
- Best business insurance providers — which carriers suit which kind of business.
- A guide to commercial business insurance — the seven main coverage types explained, and a walk-through of what a real claim looks like.
- Small business insurance guide
- How we rank insurance companies
Ryan Hearn is a licensed insurance producer in California, licence #0L14758. This page is educational and is not a recommendation to buy any specific policy. Insightful Coverage is an independent publisher, not an agency, broker or carrier.