One of the best ways to protect your company is by buying the right small business insurance. Business insurance protects your company from unexpected situations, such as natural disasters, theft, and product defects. Without insurance, small business owners might lose profits, or even worse, be forced to shutter their doors.
Chubb is a well-known name in the insurance space. They are the world’s largest publicly traded property and casualty insurer, offering several types of personal and business insurance. More than half of Chubb’s revenue comes from commercial insurance, and they have several products specifically designed for small business. We’ll cover what products Chubb offers, pros and cons, rates, and best alternatives.
Chubb Small Business Insurance Fast Facts
Business Insurance Products Offered
- General liability insurance
- Commercial property insurance
- Business owner’s policy (combines general liability and property insurance)
- Professional liability
- Product liability and inland marine insurance
- Commercial auto insurance
- Workers compensation
- Environmental liability insurance
- Cyber insurance
- Specialty casualty insurance
- Umbrella and excess liability (offers coverage that goes beyond a primary insurance policy)
- Surplus lines insurance (offers coverage for hard-to-place industries and risks)
A.M. Best Financial Strength Rating: A++ (highest rating)
A.M. Best is a credit rating agency that assigns letter grades to insurance companies based on their financial strength and ability to pay claims. A.M. Best ratings are commonly used within the insurance industry. Higher ratings signify more financial stability.
How to Buy Chubb Insurance
- Work with an independent agent or broker; or
- Get a quote and buy online (available for general liability, professional liability, business owner’s policy, and cyber insurance)
Who Should Use Chubb?
Chubb is a good option both for small business owners who want to buy insurance through an agent, as well as for business owners who prefer an online experience. Independent insurance agents can help you get a custom quote for your company. Alternatively, you can buy four Chubb products online—general liability, professional liability, business owner’s policy, and cyber insurance.
This insurer is also a good option for newer industries or businesses that have had trouble finding coverage elsewhere. Chubb offers a variety of different insurance products, and some products are targeted at riskier, newer, or hard to place industries.
Adam Clark, CEO of Tangible Solutions, which makes 3D Printed Titanium Implants, bought liability and property insurance through Chubb.
“We went through an agent, who shopped around for us, and we continually found the best rates with Chubb. Chubb had a great understanding of the risk within our business, and they sought out many different details within our business to ensure we had the best rates. Our agent looked at a number of different places, and Chubb seemed to offer everything we needed, and really understood the life sciences industry.”
Photo credit: Chubb
Chubb Small Business Insurance—Main Products Offered
Chubb offers so many insurance products that it would be nearly impossible to list all of them here. As one of the largest 10 insurers in the world, Chubb has the ability to tap into multiple markets and insure all types of industries and risks.
Here are Chubb’s main small business insurance products:
General Liability Insurance
General liability insurance is basic liability insurance that protects small businesses from legal claims of bodily injuries or property damage. For example, general liability insurance is what covers your business if a customer slips and falls at your shop. Similarly, if you accidentally damage a neighboring business owner’s window while hanging up a sign in your shop, that’s where general liability insurance kicks in.
Commercial Property Insurance
Property insurance covers the assets that are most essential to your business, such as your equipment, inventory, and electronic data. If these assets are damaged by a fire, theft, vandalism, or other type of accidental damage, commercial property insurance will pay for their restoration or replacement. This is essential coverage for brick-and-mortar businesses and online businesses.
Business Owner’s Policy
Chubb offers a business owner’s policy (BOP) that combines general liability insurance and commercial property insurance in one policy. Bringing both coverages under one policy typically helps you save on premium costs. You can add on additional coverages, like data breach insurance or equipment breakdown insurance, that are important for your company.
Professional Liability Insurance
Professional liability insurance, or errors and omissions insurance, protects professionals and service businesses against negligence claims. Negligence claims are common, and any mistake you make on the job could become the subject of a lawsuit.
Chubb offers industry-targeted professional liability insurance, as well as a miscellaneous professional liability policy that suits a variety of service businesses. Doctors and lawyers are required to carry professional liability insurance, but any service professional should carry this coverage.
Product Liability Insurance
Product liability insurance is a must-have for any business that manufactures, repairs, or sells a product. This insurance covers claims arising from manufacturing, design, and marketing defects.
Chubb offers product liability insurance that’s customized for businesses at various stages of the supply chain. Their ESIS ProClaim team will even help you prevent claims by recommending product safety and quality control processes, all part of a holistic product liability strategy. They also provide related product recall insurance.
Commercial Auto Insurance
Commercial auto insurance is specially designed to cover claims of bodily injury or property damage that happen when you’re using a business vehicle. Most Chubb commercial auto policies also insure theft, weather damage, or vandalism against a business vehicle.
Workers Compensation Insurance
Although the other insurance products listed so far are optional, workers compensation is a legal requirement for most businesses with employees. Workers compensation insurance pays for medical expenses and lost income when your employees get hurt or sick on the job. Chubb offers workers comp coverage for small businesses with one or more employees and up to $30 million in annual revenue.
Pros and Cons of Chubb Small Business Insurance
Small business insurance is a crowded space, with many options to buy coverage for your business. If you’re considering Chubb for your business insurance needs, it’s important to know the advantages and disadvantages of working with them.
Here’s a rundown of the pros and cons of Chubb small business insurance:
Chubb Pros
- Wide range of insurance products
- Business owner’s policy available: Offers cost savings by combining general liability and property insurance
- Home business discount
- Startup friendly
- Surplus lines insurance: Chubb offers surplus lines insurance through their subsidiary Westchester. Surplus lines insurers sell insurance to businesses that have been declined by standard insurers.
- In-house claims handling expertise
- High customer ratings: JD Power and Associates ranked Chubb third in a rating of large commercial insurers.
Chubb Cons
- Limited online capacity: Only general liability, professional liability, business owner’s policy, and cyber insurance are available for end-to-end online service. That’s just a small fraction of Chubb’s insurance products. However, you can pay premiums and get proof of insurance online.
- Not very transparent about rates: Chubb doesn’t publish average insurance costs. The only way to get a cost estimate is to provide detailed information about your business and get a quote.
Chubb Small Business Insurance Rates
Like most big insurance companies, Chubb doesn’t publish rates publicly. Insurance costs vary significantly based on the business and risk that’s being insured, so much like getting a business loan, an insurer needs to see a bunch of details about your business before they can quote you a monthly premium.
That said, Chubb is one of the largest insurance companies in the U.S. Large insurers have access to multiple markets and can absorb claim payouts more easily, so they’re more likely than a boutique agency to give you a good rate.
To give you an idea of costs, here are average annual premiums for different types of business insurance:
- General liability: $400 to $600 per year
- Commercial property insurance: $500 to $3,000 per year
- Professional liability: $400 to $800 per year
- Product liability insurance: $0.25 per $1,000 in product sales
- Commercial auto insurance: $1,100 per year to insure one business vehicle
- Workers compensation insurance: $0.75 to $2.74 per $100 in employee wages
Unless otherwise noted, this cost data comes from Insureon, an insurance comparison site that works with large insurers like Chubb.
Photo credit: CoverWallet
Top Alternatives to Chubb Small Business Insurance
Depending on your business’s specific situation, Chubb might not be your preferred option for small business insurance. A big insurance company like Chubb is just one way to buy insurance for your company. You can also go to a smaller boutique agency or insurance comparison site.
Here are some of the best alternatives to Chubb small business insurance:
CoverWallet
Shopping for insurance at CoverWallet offers a very different experience from Chubb. Unlike Chubb, CoverWallet is not an insurance company. CoverWallet is an insurance comparison platform. Provide some financial information about your business, and they’ll let you compare policy terms and rates from multiple A-rated insurance companies. Think of CoverWallet as your own personal online broker.
When you buy small business insurance through Chubb, you’re buying a policy straight from the insurance company. The benefit of doing this as that you work with the same sales reps throughout the process, and they become familiar enough with your company that they can recommend a policy that’s tailored for you.
The downside is that you don’t have anything to compare them to. Different insurance companies have an appetite for different types of risk and charge different rates for different businesses. Using an insurance comparison site like CoverWallet lets you uncover those differences and choose the most comprehensive business coverage at the best value. Chubb partners with CoverWallet, so you’ll be able to compare Chubb head to head against other insurers on their site.
Hiscox
Hiscox is a large insurance company similar to Chubb. They are A rated by A.M. Best, a very strong rating but two notches lower than Chubb’s A++ financial strength rating. Many insurance comparison sites and smaller insurers team up with Hiscox to deliver insurance. Hiscox has been around since 1901, so they have hundreds of years of experience with commercial insurance and are equipped to handle any industry’s insurance needs.
Similar to Chubb, Hiscox offers a wide range of business insurance products and an online purchase option. If you prefer to use a broker, general liability, property, professional liability, and cyber insurance are available through independent brokers as well.
Next Insurance
Although Next Insurance lacks the name recognition of Chubb, they are quickly making a name for themselves in the small business insurance space. While Chubb utilizes agents and an online option, Next definitely emphasizes the latter. 90% of Next Insurance policies are sold without any human interaction. Currently, Next sells three business insurance products—general liability, professional liability, and commercial auto insurance (a workers compensation product is coming soon).
Next Insurance keeps everything online and in-house, from applying for a policy to premium payment to claims filing. You can manage your policy and get proof of insurance from your Next account. Since they do everything online, Next has less overhead than an insurer like Chubb and might be able to offer your company better rates on insurance. Large insurance companies Chubb often assess administrative fees or cancellation fees, but Next charges no fees.
Bottom Line on Chubb Small Business Insurance
Chubb is one of the most respected names in small business insurance, and they’ve evolved to keep pace with changes in the business environment. Many small business owners these days prefer to buy and manage their policies online, at their own convenience, and Chubb gives you that option for their most popular insurance products. For those that prefer a more human connection or the ability to shop around, you can also go through an independent broker or one of Chubb’s insurance comparison site partners.
At the end of the day, Chubb can work with you to develop custom, comprehensive coverage for your small business. That way, you can focus on what you do best—running your company—but be ready for anything that comes your way.
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from Fundera Ledger https://www.fundera.com/blog/chubb-small-business-insurance/
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