Commercial Property and Liability Insurance: Separating Fact From Fiction

If you’re feeling confounded over your choices of business insurance policies, don’t worry – you’re not alone. It can be overwhelming when you start thinking about everything that could go wrong – and what insurance you might need to protect yourself and your business.

For example, you may think you need to buy commercial property insurance liability coverage. In reality, this specific type of insurance doesn’t exist in a single policy. What’s recommended for small and medium businesses is coverage provided by different coverages , such as commercial liability insurance and business property insurance. Another option is a basic business owner’s policy, which includes elements of both, in addition to other types of coverage specifically for your business.

Let’s take a closer look at these different types of insurance.

Commercial liability insurance

A commercial or business liability insurance policy pays for losses arising from real or alleged injury [that results in a lawsuit filed against your company]. It covers bodily injury occurring on your business premises or arising from your operations, such as someone falling and breaking an arm, property damage such as an appliance installation worker damaging a family heirloom. And, it also protects you for such things as libel, copyright infringement or wrongful eviction. For anyone owning a business, commercial general liability insurance is something you cannot do without.

Property Insurance

Property insurance is any type of commercial insurance that reimburses a party that has suffered a loss because property has been damaged or destroyed. “Property” is considered to be any item that has value, and is classified as real property, such a building; or personal property, such as someone’s computer.

Basic property insurance policies typically cover explosions, fire, lightning, windstorm, hail, smoke, aircraft or vehicle damage, vandalism, sprinkler leakage and sinkhole collapse. Additional coverage can be added for water damage, damage from the weight of snow, ice or sleet, breakage of glass and coverage for falling objects.

Business owner's policy (BOP)

Sometimes known as a BOP, this policy combines standard levels of property, liability and other types of coverage (known as endorsements), which can be added to customize the policy and meet the specific needs of a business. A business owner’s policy is usually recommended for businesses with less than 100 employees and under $5 million in sales.

Contact a Nationwide agent today, and learn why this is one of the easiest business decisions you can make today.