Commercial Crime Insurance

Commercial Crime Insurance protects your business against financial losses caused by theft, burglary, robbery, forgery, and fraud.

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Get a quote on Commercial Crime Insurance

Commercial Crime Insurance can help protect your business against financial losses resulting from crimes such as theft, burglary, robbery, forgery, and fraud. For many small businesses, while there is risk of external bad actors at play, more often than not, protections like employee dishonesty coverage and theft insurance are among the most common.

What is Commercial Crime Insurance?

Commercial Crime Insurance provides protection from financial losses related to crimes such as theft (digital theft, theft of property, or third-party theft), burglary, robbery, forgery, and fraud. While most commercial property insurance policies do not cover losses from crimes committed by employees and offer limited coverage for losses from crimes committed by other third parties, Commercial Crime Insurance can provide the protection your business needs from crime-related losses.

Example:

Commercial Crime Insurance can cover your property, merchandise, cash, and securities against theft, embezzlement, or forgery by employees. It can also protect you from non-employee third parties who commit forgery, theft, robbery, burglary, or fraud. This type of insurance can be purchased on a standalone basis or as a part of a commercial package policy.

Do I need a Commercial Crime Insurance Policy?

While no business wants to believe that they’ll be the victim of theft or fraud, the reality is that no business is truly safe from this risk. While some commercial insurance policies may provide minimal coverage for certain criminal acts, Commercial Crime Insurance provides comprehensive protection against a wide variety of crimes. Consider a Commercial Crime policy if any of the following apply to your business:

What does Commercial Crime Insurance cover?

Commercial Crime Insurance generally includes coverage for the following items:

Additional coverages are also available for an extra premium, such as:

What are the key exclusions to Commercial Crime Insurance?

Commercial Crime Insurance does not cover the following:

How much does Commercial Crime Insurance cost?

AdvisorSmith found that the average cost of Commercial Crime Insurance for small businesses was $650 to $2500 per year. This cost survey included small businesses in the retail, service providers, manufacturing, and wholesale industries with revenue under $500k, for commercial crime coverage of $500k per year.

Pricing does, however, vary depending on a several factors, including:

In order to get an accurate estimate on pricing, it’s best to get a quote from a reputable insurance company. Below we’ve highlighted a few of our trusted partners who offer Commercial Crime Insurance:

ProviderCommercial CrimeEmployee TheftCommercial Property
CoverageSmith✔️✔️✔️
CoverWallet✔️✔️✔️
Embroker✔️✔️✔️
Hiscox✔️✔️✔️

Examples of Commercial Crime Insurance Claims

Employee Theft

Your retail business has a cash register for making cash transactions with customers. One night, the employee who is closing for the night steals $1,000 from the cash drawer. A Commercial Crime policy would cover your business for the lost cash.

Employee Forgery

Your business accepts check payments from customers. An employee in your accounts receivable department alters some checks you receive from customers and makes them payable to himself. The employee deposits the check in his own account. Your Commercial Crime policy would cover your losses from this theft.

Employee Theft from a Client (Optional Coverage)

Your business provides painting services to clients at their business premises. One of your customers has a laptop stolen from their office the day your employees were painting. Due to the painting, no other people were in the office that day. If you elect to cover employee theft from a client, this loss will be covered by your insurance policy.

Discovery vs. Loss Sustained Basis

Commercial Crime Insurance is written on either a loss sustained basis or a discovery basis. A loss sustained policy is similar to an occurrence policy in liability policies. This kind of policy will cover any loss that occurs while the policy is in effect, even if the loss is not discovered and claimed until after the policy period has ended. Most policies allow for a discovery period of up to one year after the policy period has ended.

A discovery basis policy is similar to a claims-made liability policy. In this type of policy, the policy must be active at the time a loss is discovered. After a policy expires or ends, there is no longer coverage for losses that occurred while the policy was active. Many discovery policies include a 60-day period to discover loss. This discovery period allows you to report claims for up to 60 days after a policy ends for losses that occurred during the active policy period.

Final Word

No matter how many precautions you take, no business is immune to crime. If your business has employees, deals in cash or credit transactions, or stores product inventory, a Commercial Crime policy may be a wise coverage to purchase. When it comes to protecting your business against financial losses due to crimes such as theft, burglary, employee dishonesty, forgery, and fraud, Commercial Crime Insurance can provide the financial backing you need to be able to recover from any unexpected crime. For many smaller businesses, a serious theft or robbery could be a substantial setback and threaten the viability of the business. All business owners should make sure to invest the right resources in protecting against crime, from safety protocols to security systems to the right insurance coverage.

This article may feature links to partners who compensate our business, but these partnerships in no way impact our research, recommendations, or advice.

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