Missouri Business Insurance

The Missouri Business Owners Policy

This policy is intended for main street businesses and combines building, personal property, and liability insurance coverage with other attractive options into one package.   The BOP is an efficient way to provide the Missouri commercial insurance coverage that most small businesses need.

Are You Eligible for a BOP?

The two keys to BOP eligibility are type of business and square footage. General examples:

• apartment buildings

• office buildings

• buildings used primarily for mercantile, service or processing purposes

• wholesalers

• contractors

• mixed use, e.g., stores in an apartment building.

Square footage guidelines can relate to overall building space or a business’s rental space. Generally, the cutoff for BOP eligibility is 25,000 square feet; however, this varies between Missouri business insurance companies.  We will determine if a business is eligible for a BOP and if the BOP option is the best value.

BOP Coverages:

Missouri Business Insurance Personal Property Coverage

Business personal property coverage can include:

• a building owners’ business personal property in an apartment building

• office business personal property

• business personal property for merchants, wholesalers, and service or processing organizations

• commercial condo unit owners.

When you own a building, the same BOP must cover both the building and the business personal property. Otherwise business personal property can be insured alone in a BOP. This is good for businesses that lease or rent space.

Different BOP Forms

The BOP named peril form will:

• have coverage for a dozen or so perils such as fire, lightning, windstorm and hail, sprinkler leakage, and vandalism

• usually cost less.

The Special peril form will:

• have coverage for all risks of direct physical damage except as limited in the policy

• have broader coverage than one setting forth specific perils.

Additional Coverages

By nature, the Special form has more coverages built in. The Standard form has approximately a dozen additional coverages.  Among these are:

• debris removal

• counterfeit money orders and paper currency

• increased cost of construction

• forgery exterior glass and lettering (this includes replacement and repair of items on the outside of the building, commonly advertising-related materials)

• collapse and water damage.

Don’t worry, we’re not ignoring loss of business income and extra expenses from a direct insured loss. Frequently a loss from a fire or other insured peril goes beyond the direct damage caused by the fire. Even minor damage can close your business for a long time. This means your business has no income to maintain salaries and other expenses. Don’t ignore loss of income protection!

* Tip. Business interruption coverage is not a luxury.

Coverage Extensions

Recall that extensions are an opportunity for you to have certain property covered after a loss. Extensions are controlled by:

• a limit on expendable dollar amounts

• an after-the-fact additional premium, or

• a territorial restriction.

The ISO BOP’s make provisions for the following:

• newly acquired property

• personal property off-premises

• outdoor property personal effects (non business property)

• valuable papers and records

• collapse and water damage.

Coverage is limited in these areas. You may need specific insurance to cover one or more of these extension areas for your business.

Exclusions & Conditions

Exclusions and conditions are common in insurance policies. BOP’s are no exception. You’ll find some exclusions and conditions from policy to policy, regardless of the type of insurance. Conditions are normally procedural matters and loss adjustments. Exclusions are matters the insurance is not designed to cover.

Note. Remember an insurance policy must be read as a unit, not as independent paragraphs or sections.

“One policy does not fits all commercial insurance needs.”  Missouri Business insurance needs are all different.  Everyone has a different type of property, amount of property, location, ownership, and so on. Your insurance coverage protection should closely reflect your risk of loss.   This customized approach allows you to save money– you pay for only the insurance you really need.

The Commercial Package Policy (CPP)

The Missouri commercial Insurance Package Policy can be issued to include almost any type of coverage offered, from property and liability to auto, crime, inland marine and professional liability.  When your business risks goes beyond the coverages in a BOP, the flexibility offered by a Packaged Policy provides the opportunity to design a policy specifically for the needs of an organization.  It also enables you to have almost all your coverage in one convenient package.

Most policies offer expanded coverage endorsements. These endorsements provide additional coverages or increase your current coverages for lower premiums than purchasing each coverage separately.  After assessing your business risks and determining that a package policy is what you need, we will design a custom insurance package policy with specific coverages.

Here are a few main coverages included in most packages:

Commercial property coverages:

• buildings, including additions under construction, permanently installed machinery and building glass

• business personal property

• leased business personal property used in your business

• property of others left in your care for which you are legally liable

• sales samples

Your business personal property doesn’t stay in one place, and neither does your coverage.  Most policies cover your business personal property while in transit, at trade shows, or temporarily at locations you don’t own or lease.

After a covered loss, your policy may pay for the extra costs of:

• removing debris of covered property from your premises

• cleaning up pollutants from land and water on your premises

• taking inventory and preparing claims statements

• securing appraisals

• recharging fire extinguishers

A property loss can slow down or even stop your operation until repairs are made – and that may mean lost income. You receive several business income coverages that can reimburse your loss of income and necessary extra expenses you incur to keep your business operating after a covered loss.

Options to Suit Your Needs

• Ordinance or Law Coverage – provides coverage for the necessary demolition of the undamaged portion of your building and subsequent upgrades to meet current building codes after a covered loss.

• Inflation guard coverage – provides coverage for inflationary increases in your building and business personal property values. The limit of insurance on your policy automatically increases at the annual percentage rate you choose.

• Equipment breakdown coverage– provides coverage for loss resulting from the sudden and accidental breakdown of machinery and equipment used in your business.

• Utility services – provides coverage when a covered loss to a power, communication or water utility interrupts service to your premises, which then causes a covered loss to your building, business personal property or loss of income.

• And Many More—Contact us for a detailed risks assessment and insurance proposal.

Learn More:  Insurance for Different Business Types

On the right sidebar of this page, we have links to a number of business insurance resources.  Click on any of the different business types to learn more about the insurance coverages for that type of business.   Please call one of our commercial insurance agents at MJM Insurance™ of Fenton for any assistance.