Commercial Property Insurance for Convenience Stores
| CoverWallet | NEXT (Best) | Thimble | Hiscox |
|---|
| Building coverage limit (minimum) | $50,000 | $730,0000 | $25,000/$500,000 | $25,000 |
| Contents coverage limit (minimum) | $50,000 | $67,000 | $25,000/$500,000 | $15,000 |
| Outdoor signs | Excluded | $2,500 | Excluded | Included |
| Accounts receivable | Excluded | Excluded | $5,000/$10,000 | Included |
| Money and securities | Excluded | $2,500 | $1,000 | Included |
| Lock and keys | Excluded | $2,500 | Excluded | Included |
| Business interruption floater | Excluded | Included | Included | Included |
| Equipment breakdown floater | Excluded | Included | Excluded | Included |
| Inland marine insurance floater | Excluded | Excluded | $10,000 | Excluded |
| Employee dishonesty floater | Excluded | $5,000 | $2,500 | Excluded |
How do you own the building of your convenience store? Are you the owner or just a tenant? Either way, you’ve invested a lot in your convenience store’s commercial building. That said, it’s smart to have a commercial property policy.
Don’t think twice about investing in this insurance because store fires are common.
This can be caused by faulty electrical wiring, arsonists, and defective equipment. Use the table above to see which insurance company offers the best commercial property insurance for convenience stores.
How Do You Make Use of Commercial Property Insurance?
You use commercial property insurance to recover some or all of the investments for building construction or remodeling after your convenience store’s physical space succumbs to:
Fire
Theft
Vandalism
Riot
Civil commotion
Sinkhole collapse
Volcanic action
Lightning
Weather
Aircraft
Vehicle
Falling objects
Impact
Sprinkler leakage
Will Commercial Property Insurance Cover My Convenience Store’s Shelves, Dispensers, Refrigerators, Hot Dog Equipment, Microwave Oven, Popcorn Machine, and Other Valuables?
Yes. Commercial property insurance is underwritten to not only protect your convenience store’s building but also what’s inside. And so, you’ll get a reimbursement equal to the estimated actual cash value or replacement cost of all equipment that got damaged or destroyed because of fire, theft, vandalism, and other covered perils.
Someone Has Placed a Vending Machine in My Convenience Store. Is This Covered by My Commercial Property Insurance?
Definitely not. The vending machine, though placed in your convenience store, is considered a third-party property. Commercial property insurance doesn’t cover the properties of others in your custody due to its CCC exclusion. And so, coverage won’t apply to the vending machine if a covered peril happens.
Business Owner’s Policy for Convenience Stores
| CoverWallet | NEXT (Best) | Hiscox | Thimble |
|---|
| General liability aggregate limit | $2,000,000 | $500,000/$2,000,000 | $300,000/$2,000,000 | $1,000,000/$2,000,000 |
| Commercial property coverage limit | $50,000 | $730,000 | $25,000 | $25,000/$500,000 |
| Optional policies can be added? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Name additional insureds for free? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| BOP discount? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
This is a type of convenience shop insurance that fuses general liability insurance and commercial property insurance. Use the table above to see which company offers the best business owner’s policy for convenience stores.
Why is It Better to Get a BOP Than Buy General Liability and Commercial Property Insurance Separately?
Purchasing a business owner’s policy is the better choice because its premiums are 5%-10% lower than when you buy general liability and commercial property insurance as stand-alone policies.
| NEXT | Thimble | FLIP (Best) | Hiscox |
|---|
| Aggregate limit | $3,000/$10,000 | $2,500/$5,000 | $10,000 | $15,000/$25,000 |
| Covers hired and borrowed equipment? | $3,000/$10,000 | $2,500/$5,000 | $50,000 | No |
| Miscellaneous equipment also covered? | $5,000/$10,000 | No | Yes | Yes |
| Offered as an endorsement to general liability insurance? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Deductible | $500 | $500 | $0 | $0 |
Commercial property insurance covers business equipment but not comprehensively. This is why it’s good to get an extra layer of protection for your convenience store’s microwave oven, popcorn machine, POS machine, hot dog equipment, etc.
This extra layer of coverage comes in the form of tools and equipment insurance. Use the table above to see which insurance company offers the best tools and equipment insurance for convenience stores.
Tools and equipment insurance will recover financial losses if convenience store equipment gets damaged or lost because of:
Fire
Theft
Vandalism
Operator error
Electrical surge
Electrical breakdown
Upset
Mechanical breakdown
Tools and equipment insurance, when availed as an optional add-on to a general liability policy, provides $3,000-$25,000 coverage for your convenience store’s business equipment insurance. You can also avail this as a stand-alone coverage with limits reaching up to $10 million-$25 million.
Workers Compensation Insurance for Convenience Stores
Insurance companies will ask if your convenience store has one or more part-time employees. And if you attest that this is the case, they will recommend adding a worker's compensation policy to your convenience store business insurance package.
Workers' compensation insurance helps your convenience store provide state-mandated work benefits if an employee sustains a work-related injury or disease. Costs that this insurance usually covers are:
Medical treatment
Hospitalization
Medication
Rehabilitation
Retraining
Lost wages
Death benefits
A Robber Attacked and Shot My Employee. Does Worker's Compensation Insurance Cover This?
An employee getting attacked during a robbery incident in your convenience store still counts as a work-related accident, provided that this happened during his or her shift. Given such circumstances, workers' compensation insurance will provide coverage.
Typically, workers' compensation insurance only covers part-time and full-time employees by default. But note that insurance companies allow you to name yourself as an additional insured. And if you did so, then workers' compensation insurance will cover unexpected costs if you experienced a work-related accident in your convenience store.
Employee Dishonesty Insurance for Convenience Stores
Employee dishonesty insurance is as important as workers' compensation insurance when you hire people to mind your convenience store.
Employees might commit dishonest acts while they’re in charge and you’re not watching. This will result in financial losses that employee dishonesty insurance functions to reimburse.
What Types of Dishonest Acts Does Employee Dishonesty Insurance Cover?
Employee dishonesty insurance will kick in if an employee commits any of the following dishonest acts against your convenience store :
Theft
Social engineering
Credit card fraud
Embezzlement
Fraudulent refunds
Forgery and alteration
Is Employee Dishonesty Insurance Available as an Add-On?
A $10,000-$15,000 employee dishonesty insurance may be automatically offered as an add-on to commercial property insurance.
Food Spoilage and Contamination Insurance for Convenience Stores
Food spoilage and contamination insurance is an endorsement to commercial property insurance. This will reimburse the value of stocks if spoilage or contamination occurs due to:
Insurance companies design their food spoilage and contamination insurance differently from one another.
Some allow the policy to cover product recall and the cleanup of contaminated equipment. Others even design their food spoilage insurance to cover medical treatments and legal expenses if a customer accidentally bought a spoiled or contaminated product from your convenience store.
Excess Liability Insurance for Convenience Stores
Excess liability insurance grants an additional limit to the existing limits of your convenience store’s general liability policy. For example, if a $2 million bodily injury claim is filed and your general liability insurance adds $1 million, excess liability insurance grants an additional $1 million worth of coverage so that the claim can be fully covered.
Business Interruption Insurance for Convenience Stores
Business interruption insurance covers operational costs and supplements some lost income if your convenience store needs to renovate, relocate, or close because of weather, economic crisis, and other covered perils. You can avail this as an add-on to commercial property insurance.
