The Hartford Small Business Insurance Review

One step you should never overlook in the business formation process is acquiring the necessary insurance policies to protect your company’s assets. The vast majority of businesses with physical locations — and many home-based and remote companies as well — should have at least one insurance policy.

Finding the right insurance company for your needs is every bit as important as choosing the right type of insurance coverage. And it’s hard to break down a single “best small business insurance company” because different companies have varying needs from insurers. That’s why we put together our guide to the top small business insurers in seven different categories to help your business find the right insurance company.

Which Small Business Insurance Policies Does The Hartford Offer?

With The Hartford, small business customers have access to a wide variety of policies, including these popular coverages:

• General liability: This type of insurance protects your business from third-party bodily injury or property damage claims, as well as matters of libel and slander.
• Business property: If you own or rent physical space for your business, or if your company uses equipment in its operations, this policy provides coverage for these assets.
• Business income: Often referred to as business interruption insurance, this policy replaces your company’s lost income if it’s forced to close temporarily due to a covered peril.
• Business Owner’s Policy (BOP): The Hartford’s BOP combines all three of the above coverages into one convenient policy. Some companies have different arrangements for BOPs (for example, State Farm excludes business income insurance, while Nationwide adds equipment breakdown coverage).
• Workers’ compensation: If you have employees, your state requires you to have workers’ comp to protect them from injuries and illnesses (unless you’re in Texas, the only state that doesn’t require it).
• Commercial auto: If you own or rent vehicles for your business activities, you should protect them with commercial auto insurance policies.
• Commercial umbrella: An umbrella policy extends the limits in your existing liability insurance policies.
• Professional liability: Does your business operate in a licensed profession (such as for doctors, lawyers, chiropractors, etc.)? If so, professional liability insurance will protect you against professional errors, which is why this is also sometimes referred to as errors and omissions insurance.
• Cyber: If your business suffers a data breach, this policy will help you cover the expenses of having your customers’ personal information exposed.

The Hartford Small Business Insurance Review

The Hartford is Incorporation Guru’s top overall pick for the company with the best experience and expertise among small business insurance providers. Let’s dig into the details to find out why and determine if this is the right company to provide your small business insurance policies.

Company Background

The Hartford has been around for more than 200 years. Based in Hartford, Connecticut, The Hartford has become one of the most trusted small business insurance providers in the entire world. In addition to its business insurance offerings, The Hartford also offers a wide variety of home and auto insurance policies, as well as employee benefit services for larger employers.

Selling Points

To begin, let’s discuss how The Hartford excels in the area of customer complaint ratios. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) has a feature called the Company Complaint Index that compares how many complaints from customers each insurer receives relative to the others.

The Hartford has several insurance subsidiaries that provide various policies. For small business insurance, you’ll likely deal with Hartford Casualty Insurance Company, which has an excellent 0.74 score in this metric. The national index is 1.00, with scores above that indicating the company has more complaints than the typical insurer, while scores below means the company has fewer complaints. The Hartford’s 0.74 score means this company receives roughly 1/4 fewer complaints than the average insurer!

In addition, you might expect that a company with centuries of experience could easily get stuck in its ways and fall behind younger, hungrier companies. However, that’s simply not the case with The Hartford. Not only does The Hartford have just as many tech-savvy features as its competitors, but we actually think it has the most advanced online quote tool in the industry.

We’re also huge fans of how efficient The Hartford is. For most businesses, you’ll be able to fill out The Hartford’s online order forms for small business insurance within just ten minutes or less. When many legacy insurers don’t offer online quote tools at all, we’re thoroughly impressed by how quick and convenient The Hartford makes this process.

Pricing Info

When it comes to pricing, The Hartford rates out as being roughly average. If you shop around and get quotes from a variety of insurers — which we always recommend doing — it’s quite unlikely that The Hartford will be your cheapest or most expensive option.

While there definitely are cheaper insurers out there, the world of small business insurance is one where you often get what you pay for. We think that The Hartford is an outstanding option, even if it might cost a bit more than some competing companies.

Our Final Thoughts

The Hartford is our top pick for small business insurance customers seeking a company with experience and expertise. With more than two centuries in the industry, The Hartford is still finding ways to innovate and modernize its small business insurance offerings.

With a broad selection of business insurance policies and an outstanding reputation, we wouldn’t hesitate to recommend The Hartford to our family and friends.

Still, if you want to take a look at our recommended insurers for other categories — such as the best options for industry-specific policies, fast claims payment, and more — take a look at our complete guide to the best small business insurance providers.