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Small businesses operating in rental units may need commercial renters insurance to protect the property from damage and loss. Check out our top four picks.
Matt has been helping small businesses make decisions since 2017. He has written reviews and articles across many different channels but specializes in the point of sale, payroll, and small business insurance categories and has been quoted in articles for Fox Business, Forbes, and other publications. Prior to joining Merchant Maverick, Matt was a journalist and editor for 14 years for a pair of weekly newspapers. He is a graduate of the University of Oregon and currently resides in Gladstone, Oregon.
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Matt ShermanMatt has been helping small businesses make decisions since 2017. He has written reviews and articles across many different channels but specializes in the point of sale, payroll, and small business insurance categories and has been quoted in articles for Fox Business, Forbes, and other publications. Prior to joining Merchant Maverick, Matt was a journalist and editor for 14 years for a pair of weekly newspapers. He is a graduate of the University of Oregon and currently resides in Gladstone, Oregon.
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Shelbi WescottShelbi Wescott began working for Merchant Maverick in 2019 after 17 years as a journalism educator and publications advisor, where she has extensive knowledge of newsroom systems and editorial workflows. She has overseen multiple print and online publications and mentored hundreds of emerging writers. Shelbi is also an award-winning journalist, published author, and former small business owner with a Master of Arts in Teaching from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon.
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Commercial renters insurance protects your business assets against certain types of damage and loss. If you operate a small business out of any type of rented space, you might be required to have renters insurance as a condition of your lease or rental agreement. When it comes to property damage, the owner of the building is responsible for properly securing insurance.
Still, if your property inside the building is damaged by fire, vandalism, or theft, you need commercial renters insurance to protect your business’s physical assets.
Here are our top four choices for commercial renters insurance and why we think you should consider them in your research.
The Best Commercial Renters Insurance For Small Business
We’ve ranked and rated all of the top small business insurance providers based on pricing, features, customer service, and the claims process. We hope it makes your decision a little easier as you narrow down your list.
Why We Chose The Hartford For Best Features For Small Business Owners
The Hartford is one of the biggest insurance companies in the country, available in 48 states. It's ranked Number One in customer satisfaction in the J.D. Power 2022 study, and Ethisphere named it a "World’s Most Ethical Company" 15 times. If you've had a bad experience with an insurance provider in the past, The Hartford is determined to ensure happy clients.
With a strong reputation and a variety of policies aimed at small businesses, we think Hartford definitely deserves its spot on this list.
Where The Hartford really shines for us is in its features and options. It offers a variety of business insurance choices and several unique tools to help clients, such as risk engineering and banking features.
The Hartford Pricing
Like most insurance providers, The Hartford provides personalized quotes for business customers. Personalized quotes are available online or by phone, and you can expect to receive a quote the same day you request it.
While The Hartford does offer stand-alone business property coverage, the company steers customers toward a bundled business owner’s policy (BOP) that combines general liability, business income insurance, and commercial property coverage (including rental insurance coverage).
The Hartford says the average annual premium for its BOP is $3,125 or $261/month.
The Hartford Features
Commercial property coverage from The Hartford covers losses from:
Fire
Burglary
Theft
Wind
Lightning
What will be protected under a property policy from The Hartford? Your physical assets, such as the following, will be protected:
Equipment
Tools
Inventory
Furniture
Personal property
The Hartford’s BOP also includes business interruption insurance. That means that if you are unable to operate your business because of property damage, your lost income should be covered, too.
Choose The Hartford If:
You want an innovative but established insurance provider
You want a company with a strong commitment to customer service
Why We Chose Next For Best Pricing For Small Business Owners
We love Next for its instant quotes and easy application process.
And Next pricing is some of the best available, with commercial property insurance that can start as low as $17/month, which is why we think you should consider Next if you're a smaller business or a business on a budget. You can still get great policy coverage at this price. For us, it's the fast quotes and inexpensive options that make this the best option.
Next Pricing
Next’s commercial property insurance could be a cost-effective choice, with coverage starting $17/month. The company says that 50% of its customers pay between $25-$45/month.
You can visit Next’s website, enter some basic information about your business, and receive an instant quote for coverage.
Next Features
Next’s commercial renters coverage comes through a customized commercial property policy. You can design your policy to cover:
Business goods and gear
Inventory
Buildings
Equipment breakdowns
Business income interruptions
Next policies cover damage from water, fire, wind, vandalism, and other risks. That includes damages related to wildfires, tornados, and windstorms. Next does not offer protection for earthquakes, volcanoes, and flood.
Choose Next If:
You need quick, basic coverage
You want an affordable option versus having more features
Some small businesses have changing insurance needs over the course of a typical year. Maybe your business is cyclical or seasonal, or perhaps you just experience sharp ups and downs in your inventory.
Thimble can be a great choice for those types of businesses because it lets you adjust your coverage periodically without fees or penalties. This is great for people who employ contractors or temporary employees, and it's a great fit for gig-economy workers who might only need coverage on occasion.
Thimble is best suited for small businesses -- and even excludes businesses with over 50 employees.
Thimble Pricing
Like most insurance companies, Thimble provides pricing information by individual quote only. What you’ll pay for renters insurance coverage will depend on factors such as your business size and location.
Fortunately, with Thimble you can access almost instantaneous quotes and obtain coverage fast.
Thimble Features
You can purchase Thimble coverage by the job, by the month, or by the year. Thimble also allows you to change your coverage, pause, or cancel it as needed — and they make it easy to do so.
Thimble also allows you to pay for your coverage annually or monthly, with no added fees tacked on for spreading out your payments. You can also add additional coverage from Thimble, including a business owner’s policy (BOP), business interruption, product liability, and more.
Use the highly-rated Thimble app for iOS and Android to manage your account.
Why We Chose Hiscox For Coverage Of Multiple Locations
Hiscox commercial property coverage protects your business equipment, whether you're in the office or on a job site. That includes computers and audio-visual equipment, trade show booth items, and more. With a Hiscox policy, your business property is covered no matter where you're at.
Hiscox Pricing
You can get a quick quote from Hiscox online or via phone. If you go the online route, you can be fully insured within 10 minutes.
Hiscox Features
When you purchase commercial property insurance from Hiscox, you gain some impressive features. In addition to being covered in and out of the office, you’ll also gain protection for lost business income and added expenses, electronic data, and accounts receivable.
Hiscox also covers any tenant improvements you may make to rental facilities. For example, if you install new carpeting, build storage, or build a wall with the landlord’s permission, it’s covered under your Hiscox policy.
Your commercial property policy also includes up to $2,500 for each location for personal items that are damaged or destroyed.
You won’t see any deductions for depreciation. However, a commercial renters policy from Hiscox will not offer protection from dishonesty, faulty utilities, errors or omissions, or computer testing, installation, and repair. As usual, damage from earthquakes, floods, and volcanoes is not covered.
Merchant Maverick has been researching and reviewing business insurance since 2020. Our writers have tested over twenty different major insurance companies. In each review, we evaluate pricing, features, customer service, and user reviews.
When comparing different business insurance companies, we consider many data points, including relative pricing, the number of standard insurance policies available, and the ability to create custom policies. Our lists of the best business insurance providers include only those we’ve deemed worthwhile from multiple vantage points and often share qualities such as low cost, a variety of niche business insurance policies, multiple ways to file claims, and excellent customer support.
We spend an average of 10-15 hours researching and updating each one of our lists, ensuring that the business insurance companies included meet our internal standards for quality and reputation.
What To Look For In Commercial Renters Insurance
Commercial renters insurance is a type of policy aimed at business owners who rent the space where their business operates. If you’re renting your workspace, warehouse, or storefront, the building you work in will be covered by the building owner’s insurance coverage.
Your business assets, however, including equipment and any products you make and sell, are not covered under the building owner’s insurance policy.
In other words, if the building and your property inside are damaged by fire, vandalism, or theft, you need commercial renters insurance to protect your business’s physical assets.
What Does Business Renters Insurance Cover?
Commercial renters insurance policies can vary a bit, so it’s important to talk with your contact at the insurance company you choose to make sure you understand your coverage. In general, business renters insurance should cover lost, stolen, or damaged company property.
Here are some examples:
Your business inventory
Computers and other electronic equipment stored in the rental property
Office or warehouse furnishings
Damages to the location resulting from your business operations, such as smoke damage from a fire caused by your equipment
Basic commercial property insurance typically does not cover intentional damage or damage caused by natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes. If you use vehicles to conduct your business, you’ll need separate policies for each vehicle.
Is Commercial Renters Insurance Required?
Commercial renters insurance is not required by law. However, it’s common for landlords to require tenants to obtain coverage. Make sure that you understand and conform to the terms of your lease, including insurance requirements.
How Much Should Commercial Renters Insurance Cost?
In most cases, you will need to speak to an insurance provider or fill out an online form and provide general or specific information about your business in order to receive an accurate pricing quote. Pricing will depend on factors like where you’re located, how long you’ve been in business, how many employees you have, your industry, your claims history, and so on.
Industry experts provide a range of averages for small business rental insurance coverage. The outlook is especially murky for commercial renters insurance, which often goes by a different name, such as a BOP or commercial property coverage, and includes different coverage.
According to InsuranceTrak, you can expect to pay $250-$450 per year to cover your business property and equipment.
Matt has been helping small businesses make decisions since 2017. He has written reviews and articles across many different channels but specializes in the point of sale, payroll, and small business insurance categories and has been quoted in articles for Fox Business, Forbes, and other publications. Prior to joining Merchant Maverick, Matt was a journalist and editor for 14 years for a pair of weekly newspapers. He is a graduate of the University of Oregon and currently resides in Gladstone, Oregon.
View Matt Sherman's professional experience on LinkedIn.
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The vendors that appear on this list were chosen by subject matter experts on the basis of product quality, wide usage and availability, and positive reputation.
Merchant Maverick’s ratings are editorial in nature, and are not aggregated from user reviews. Each staff reviewer at Merchant Maverick is a subject matter expert with experience researching, testing, and evaluating small business software and services. The rating of this company or service is based on the author’s expert opinion and analysis of the product, and assessed and seconded by another subject matter expert on staff before publication. Merchant Maverick’s ratings are not influenced by affiliate partnerships.
Our unbiased reviews and content are supported in part by affiliate partnerships, and we adhere to strict guidelines to preserve editorial integrity. The editorial content on this page is not provided by any of the companies mentioned and has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone.
Expert ERC Filing SupportTrust ERC Specialists to maximize your tax credits.Experience competitive rates, excellent customer support, and a fast & easy claim process. Request a free analysis today.Get StartedClaim your ERC now