Business Owners Policy in South Coast MA & RI

Offering comprehensive and affordable insurance for business owners in Fall River and throughout the South Coast of MA & RI

People who start their own businesses have always been the lifeblood of the economy, but today, entrepreneurs like you and their companies are more critical to our economy than ever before. There are currently more than 30 million small businesses employing 60 million people in the United States. This means a whopping 99.9% of our country’s economy is reliant on small businesses like yours.

That’s why the team at HIG is so proud to say that we have been here helping safeguard the future of small businesses in Massachusetts and Rhode Island since 1912. With our industry experience and our longtime relationships with the top insurance carriers, we are able to provide small business owners with access to competitively-priced insurance coverage that addresses the many risks their companies face daily.

How a Business Owners Policy (BOP) provides smaller companies with affordable and effective coverage

While large organizations typically can manage their losses swiftly and without too much fallout, your smaller business might be completely devastated by even the most common losses. Without a solid business insurance plan in place, a theft, fire, flood, legal liability claim, or employee injury or disability, could unravel your company’s operations, assets, and reputation.

However, for many small business owners, talk of insuring all their company’s risks sets off warning sirens in their heads. The perception is that this broad level of insurance coverage will add up to a lot of money.

But, in fact, most of the insurance policies that you need to keep your business out of the worst kind of trouble can be rolled up all together into a highly cost-effective package, called a Business Owners Policy (BOP).

A BOP is a multi-line insurance package policy specifically designed to cover businesses like yours. The typical BOP bundles several key commercial insurance products, including General Liability, Commercial Property, and Business Income, into one convenient – and budget-friendly – policy.

While the breadth of coverage is very similar to what you might find in an individual property or liability policy, a BOP has some unique features that make them advantageous for qualifying businesses, like their versatility.

Contrary to what many small business owners might assume, an economical BOP is not a “one-size-fits-all” policy. Many carriers offer a BOP program, with a range of endorsements that you can choose from to enhance your coverage. Thus, it’s critical to work with a local agent, like HIG, who will first take the time to get to know all about you and your level of risk before selecting the best options to protect your company.

The HIG team is highly skilled at tailoring BOPs to meet each small business’ special insurance needs

The basic BOP, with liability, property and business income (also called business interruption) insurance, is an excellent foundation of coverage for any small business. However, depending on the risks associated with your specific industry or company, you may require additional coverage options.

For example, if you…

• Provide a professional service or advice, then we strongly encourage you to consider enhancing your BOP with Professional Liability Insurance (also called Errors and Omissions). This coverage provides important protection for many businesses, including accountants, IT consultants, investment advisors, architects, and real estate agents, who are vulnerable to claims of negligence due to unintentional errors or alleged misinformation.
• Depend on properly-functioning machines or equipment, like computers, air conditioners, refrigeration systems, boilers, elevators, water pumps, engines, and generators, to keep your business running smoothly, then Equipment Breakdown coverage (also called Boiler and Machinery) is critical. Consider if any of your mechanical, electrical or communication systems were to malfunction. You would have to put out the money to repair or replace the damaged equipment, find a way to pay for ruined inventory, and try to recoup all the income you may have lost during the restoration period. However, by adding equipment breakdown to your BOP, you can have peace of mind that this coverage will likely help pay for all these expenses and more.
• Maintain personal information and private data about your company, customers, vendors, and/or employees online, then you would be smart to consider adding Cyber Liability coverage to your BOP. If your company is ever the victim of a data breach, this insurance could help to cover many of the resulting costs, including identity protection solutions and credit monitoring for affected parties, public relations, legal fees, and professional assistance with compliance laws and regulations.

As your insurance professional, HIG can easily add optional insurance coverages like cyber liability, equipment breakdown, and errors and omissions to your business owners policy. However, we will only recommend you do so if these additional endorsements make sense for your business.

Many other extra options can be added to a BOP which might provide the enhanced protection your small business needs. From crime insurance to hired/non-owned auto, to inland marine, our team will provide you with expert guidance and support so you can select the right ones for your business owners policy.

Finally, but just as important, your HIG professional can also help you secure important small business insurance solutions that are not available in a BOP, including Commercial Auto and Workers’ Compensation.

Let the professionals at HIG help you decide if a BOP is right for you and your business

Clearly, a BOP is a great way for smaller businesses to save money on their commercial insurance policies without sacrificing coverage. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that a BOP will be the right insurance solution for your company.

When you work with HIG, one of the most important things we will do at the start of our relationship is to evaluate if your business insurance needs are actually a fit with this coverage option.

Our team will be able to determine if your company is not only eligible for a BOP but also if this package policy is the right coverage solution, by guiding you through questions like the following:

• What level of risk does your industry carry?
• What type of physical location do you work out of, e.g., your home, an office, a store?
• What is the likelihood that you will be sued?
• How many employees do you have?
• What are your annual revenues?
• How many months of business interruption insurance will you need?
• What are your company assets, e.g., furniture, inventory, equipment, customer data?

Once we have gathered this information, and more, we may recommend a typical business owners policy with liability, property, and business income coverage as the right fit, or we may determine that you require a more customized insurance policy to protect your company. HIG will put our experience and knowledge to work for you and your company to find the quality insurance you deserve at the greatest value.

Please contact us today for a complimentary review of your current business insurance policies, for a quote on a new policy, or with your questions about a business owners policy. The HIG team looks forward to helping you make the best insurance decisions for your very important small business.