Frequently Asked Questions

What is PolicyBenchmark?

PolicyBenchmark is an independent educational resource that helps small business owners understand commercial insurance. We publish coverage guides, provider profiles, state guides and free preparation tools. We are not a licensed insurance agent or broker — we are a content publisher providing educational information.

Does PolicyBenchmark sell insurance?

No. PolicyBenchmark does not sell, quote, bind or underwrite insurance. You can send an optional insurance request to PolicyBenchmark. With your permission, we may share that request with insurance companies, licensed agents or brokers to help you find coverage. Sending a request is free. It does not produce a quote, place coverage, or guarantee that a provider can insure your business. Any policy you buy is an agreement between you and the insurer.

How does PolicyBenchmark make money?

PolicyBenchmark is designed to earn revenue through approved affiliate or referral partnerships with insurance providers. We may receive compensation from a provider for a referral made with your permission, or when a reader follows a provider link and takes an action. The provider pays any fee, not you. A provider profile or link on this site does not mean that provider is a paying partner. Our How We Make Money page explains the model in full.

Do commercial relationships influence your provider profiles?

A commercial relationship is not evidence that a provider is the right fit for a business, and we do not present it as one. Provider profiles are educational starting points. We do not publish numerical score cards or rankings while a documented evaluation method is being established, and we may cover providers from which we receive no compensation. See our Editorial Standards for details.

What types of business insurance do you cover?

We cover the major commercial insurance lines that small and mid-sized businesses commonly ask about:

Do your tools estimate what my insurance will cost?

No. Our free tools help you prepare for a conversation with an insurer or licensed professional; they do not produce a premium estimate or a quote. The workers' compensation calculator shows arithmetic using a rate you supply from your own proposal or policy. The general liability planner and the cyber checklist organize the questions and records an insurer is likely to ask about. Only an insurer or a licensed professional can price coverage for your business.

How often do you update your content?

Each article shows its original publication date, and an updated date when it has been substantively revised. New and refreshed articles link to the sources for their claims. Older articles in the archive are being reviewed against current official sources, and that work is not finished, so a published page is not a guarantee that every figure in it is current. Check the linked source or the relevant state agency before relying on a rule, deadline or dollar amount.

How do I know which insurance my business needs?

Start with our Business Insurance Assessment. It uses what you tell it about your work to organize the coverage topics worth discussing. It does not determine which coverage the law requires or whether you are eligible for a policy. Then read the coverage guide for each topic, and confirm legal requirements with your state agency or a licensed professional.

Can I trust the provider information on your site?

Treat it as a starting point. Provider profiles are compiled from public information. A profile does not establish that we purchased a policy, obtained comparable live quotes or tested claims service. Availability, features and financial-strength ratings change, and they belong to a specific underwriting company and state, so confirm them with the provider before you decide. If you find an error, tell us using the contact address at the bottom of this page so we can correct it.

Is my state covered?

We publish a state guide for all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Each guide covers workers' compensation, auto liability requirements and state paid leave or disability insurance programs, links a source for each fact and states the date we checked them. Where we could not confirm a fact, the guide says so and names the agency to ask. State rules change, so confirm how a requirement applies to your business with that state's agency before acting on it. The state requirements checker shows a fact only when all its sources are official agency or legislature pages and its review date has not passed. It holds back any other fact and leaves that requirement as a question for the relevant authority.