What is commercial insurance?
Omaha, Nebraska, June 14, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Every business—large or small—faces risks. From lawsuits to employee injuries to property damage, the threat of an unexpected expense is always out there. Fortunately, commercial insurance can protect your company. What is commercial insurance? What does it cover? Where and how do you get it? This guide answers these and other crucial questions business owners ask.
Read on to learn about commercial insurance policies and why they’re essential to your company’s financial protection.
Real-world commercial insurance coverage scenarios
To set the stage for our conversation about why commercial insurance coverage is essential, let’s imagine some types of scenarios that happen to U.S. businesses every day:
- A customer sues, saying they lost money as a result of an alleged error in a company’s professional advice.
- A worker falls from a ladder and breaks their arm.
- A severe storm tears off a section of a company’s roof.
- A hacker steals sensitive information and uses it to commit fraud.
- An employee driving a company vehicle runs a red light and causes an accident.
- Someone sues the business for more than its commercial insurance policy covers.
These theoretical events can become actual events in a heartbeat. You don’t have to talk with many business owners to find one who’s been through one or more of these scenarios. If your business experiences them, you’ll need to figure out how to pay the costs.
But that reality shouldn’t stress you out! These risks are why commercial insurance policies exist. Some people call this type of coverage business insurance, but whatever term is used, the policies provide payment for covered incidents, meaning your business doesn’t end up facing a huge expense.
That’s critical since what might seem like a “minor” incident can result in major costs—tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. Take a so-called slip-and-fall accident, for example.
It’s winter, and the snow from customers’ shoes is melting in the entryway of your store. You’re busy and don’t have a chance to address the issue. A shopper comes in, slips on the slick linoleum, and falls. They tear a ligament in their knee and have to be transported by ambulance to the hospital.
They’ll need surgery to repair the damage, post-surgery physical therapy, and time away from work to recover. They sue your business to cover all those costs, which total more than $125,000, and the court finds your company liable. In a flash, what had been shaping up to be a profitable day for your business took a very costly turn.
The good news is you have general liability insurance, and your insurer pays your claim, protecting your business from financial disaster.
What types and amounts of commercial insurance coverage does my business need?
If you were unsure whether your business needed commercial insurance policies, the information above probably has made it clear that every company does! Now, you might be wondering, “What types of commercial insurance do we need?”
That’s an excellent question! The answer depends on several factors, including the type of work you do, and state and local insurance requirements for companies like yours. It’s important to do some research to determine your needs.
State and local agencies in your area will have information on insurance requirements. For example, almost every state requires businesses with employees to have workers’ compensation insurance. Your clients or landlord might also have insurance requirements, so it’s important to talk with them. Then, if you’re purchasing your policies and aren’t sure how much you need, biBerk can help you decide on your coverage limits.
biBerk offers seven essential commercial insurance policies:
Workers’ Compensation insurance
As mentioned above, states typically require this insurance for businesses with employees. It can pay for related costs if an employee gets hurt, becomes sick, or dies due to an incident on the job. It can cover the person’s medical expenses and lost wages during recovery or provide a death benefit to the employee’s family.
General Liability insurance
This policy covers damages and legal costs related to lawsuits from non-employees (customers, for example). That includes lawsuits over bodily injuries and damage to the person’s property in your possession. Landlords typically require this type of coverage.
Business Owners Policy (BOP)
Also called a property & liability policy, a BOP conveniently includes general liability insurance with company property coverage. It can protect a building you own or the space you lease and property needed to run your business, like your equipment and inventory. It also covers business interruption, including lost income resulting from property damage, and costs to resume business operations after suffering property damage (renting a temporary location, for instance).
Commercial Auto insurance
This policy covers liability from accidents caused by people driving company-owned or leased vehicles. It can protect your business from lawsuits filed by other parties and pay for repairs to your vehicle. The policy can provide payment for an incident even if you use the vehicle for personal activities outside of its primary business use.
Errors & Omissions insurance
In some industries, this is called professional liability insurance. It can pay the cost of damages and legal fees if someone says your professional advice or service caused them or their business financial harm. Coverage includes mistakes on the part of your business (errors) and the failure to perform a service (omissions).
Cyber insurance
Purchased as an add-on to a biBerk general liability, professional liability, or business owners policy, this insurance helps cover costs if someone steals sensitive information from you and uses it to commit fraud or is likely to. The policy can pay for specified expenses, including notifying customers and providing credit monitoring.
Umbrella insurance
This type of insurance can cover the difference when a claim exceeds the limit of another biBerk liability policy—up to the umbrella policy’s limit. It keeps you from having to pay the amount that your liability policy won’t cover.
How to get commercial insurance
You’ve done your research and know what types and amounts of coverage you need, but how do you actually get commercial insurance? With biBerk, it’s a fast, straightforward process.
You’ll surely want to know you’ll pay for coverage before making your purchase. You can get quotes for commercial insurance policies online whenever it’s convenient. You simply provide some details about your business, and our system assesses the information and provides a quote. And you’ll be happy to know that our rates are as much as 20% less than those of other providers, thanks to our direct-to-you approach. We don’t work through brokers or other intermediaries, which enables us to offer excellent coverage at great rates.
When you’re ready to purchase your policies, you also do that online. The transaction is fast and efficient, and your coverage is active as soon as the following day in most cases. Got busy and forgot to purchase insurance for your new business, which opens its doors soon? No problem! We can get you covered quickly so you’re protected from risks when you greet your first customer or client.
How does commercial insurance work?
Commercial insurance works like the coverage you might have for your home or vehicle. If an incident occurs, it’s a good idea to take notes about what happened as soon as you can so that you can refer to them later if necessary. Then, you should notify us right away. You can report a claim on our website 24/7 to get the process started.
Communication is critical in commercial insurance claims. We’ll stay in touch with you, and we ask that you reply as soon as possible to our questions or requests for information. Once we have everything we need, we evaluate your claim and, if your policy covers the incident, provide payment promptly.
Our goal is to help you move past an incident as quickly as possible so you can get back to focusing on operating your business, and our claims process is optimized to do that.
Buy commercial insurance from a provider you can trust.
If you’re unfamiliar with business coverage, “What is commercial insurance?” is a critical question. Once you learn how important financial protection is and how to get commercial insurance, you’ll want to connect with biBerk to purchase your policies.
Business owners trust us because we’ve proven ourselves to be a reliable insurance provider for small businesses throughout the U.S. Plus, we’re part of the Berkshire Hathaway Insurance Group, with all of our parent company’s resources and experience to draw from.
Business risks are real, but so is the peace of mind you get from having the right commercial insurance in place. Take action today to safeguard your company’s future!
About biBerk Business Insurance
biBerk can help you with all your small business insurance needs, including: commercial auto, general liability, property and liability, umbrella, and workers’ compensation. https://www.biberk.com
Media Contact:
Rakesh Gupta | 402-408-2870
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