Small business owners need effective business insurance, but they also cannot pay an arm and a leg for it. To get both affordable and coordinated benefits, countless small business owners enroll in what is called a business owners policy, also called a BOP. Businesses that buy BOPs can qualify for numerous essential benefits at prices they can afford.

However, just because you own a small business, that doesn’t mean you can use a BOP as an insurance solution. Even if you can, you might still need to add other benefits to your insurance portfolio. Let’s take a closer look at how to optimize this plan for you.

What is a BOP?

BOPs are designed to offer critical coverage that small businesses need. The coverage limits, terms and premiums of these plans are usually easily managed and affordable to smaller operations.

Generally, BOPs offer three primary benefits:

• Property Insurance
• General Liability Insurance
• Business Interruption Coverage

However, businesses must tailor the terms of the BOP to their advantage, so they can receive optimized benefits in case of a claim. Still, sometimes small business owners can’t insure all their assets and liabilities under a BOP alone.

Does my business qualify for a BOP?

Only small businesses, which usually have lower operating risks, qualify for BOPs. Usually, these are businesses that have lower payrolls, operate in low-risk industries, have smaller incomes and net worths and fewer insurable assets. The smaller amount of insurable risks might make it easier for the BOP to adequately cover the operation.

To determine if you qualify for a BOP, you can work with one of our agents. We will help you evaluate your company's risks and determine if they can benefit from this coverage. If you do not qualify, then we will gladly point you in the direction of other policy options that can still offer you optimize protection.

Will I need other coverage?

Even if your business does qualify for a BOP, that does not mean that this coverage alone will provide all-encompassing risk management. That’s why in addition to the BOP, you will usually have to buy other coverage.

Some of the additional policies that you might need to buy alongside your BOP include:

• Commercial Auto Insurance
• Professional Umbrella Liability Insurance
• Workers’ Compensation Insurance
• Errors & Omissions Insurance
• EPLI Insurance
• Directors & Officers Coverage
• Inland Marine Insurance
• Extra Property Insurance

In some cases, you will be able to add these policies into your BOP itself as coverage endorsements. In others, however, you will have to buy this coverage separately. For example, most BOPs do not support commercial auto and workers’ compensation coverage. These are specialty policies that need their own terms and conditions.

If you are concerned about the best way to put together your BOP, just contact one of our agents.