Best Candle Business Insurance

NEXT earned the top spot in our best business insurance study for candle companies and candlemakers with a MoneyGeek score of 4.82. It leads in affordability, customer service and coverage options. We recommend comparing quotes from The Hartford, biBERK and Coverdash to find the right fit for your business.

Note: We based all scores on a candle business with two employees across professional liability, general liability, workers' comp and BOP policies.

NEXT offers the cheapest candle business insurance overall with a monthly rate of $41. It offers the lowest rates for general liability coverage, workers' compensation insurance and business owner's policies (BOP). Candlemakers get more affordable rates from The Hartford for professional liability insurance.

Candle business insurance costs are the following for the four most popular coverage types:

• General Liability: $55 on average per month, ranging from $48 to $64, depending on the state
• Workers' Comp: $40 on average per month, ranging from $35 to $47, depending on the state
• Professional Liability (E&O): $42 on average per month, ranging from $36 to $50, depending on the state
• BOP Insurance: $81 on average per month, ranging from $69 to $95, depending on the state

Different coverage types serve different purposes for your business. Most states require workers' compensation once you hire employees, and you need commercial auto insurance if you drive to craft fairs or make deliveries. 

Beyond these, you also need general liability and product liability coverage to protect against fire damage claims and customer injury lawsuits.

• Workers' Compensation Insurance: It covers medical bills and lost wages when employees get burned by melted wax or hot wax pots, are injured while pouring candles or lifting boxes of glass jars or develop respiratory issues from fragrance oil exposure. Most candlemakers need coverage limits of $100,000 per accident and $500,000 policy aggregate.

• General Liability Insurance: It covers customers getting burned while sampling candles at craft fairs, slipping on spilled wax in your shop or experiencing house fires from defective wicks. Candlemakers carry $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate limits for solid protection.

• Product Liability Insurance: Product liability handles legal defense costs when someone sues over burns from improperly sized wicks, fires from container cracks or allergic reactions to fragrance oils or essential oils. Most candlemakers bundle product liability within their general liability policy at $1 million per occurrence limits.

• Commercial Property Insurance: If a fire destroys your soy wax supplies, fragrance and essential oils, or wax melters or thieves steal your finished candles, glass containers and labeling equipment, commercial property insurance pays replacement costs. Candlemakers with retail locations or home-based operations should carry coverage equal to their total inventory and equipment value.

• Business Owner's Policy (BOP): Your candle-making business gets protection for customer burns at vendor booths, stolen wax melters and pouring equipment, smoke damage to finished inventory and lost income when you can't fill orders during repairs. Candlemakers choose a BOP with $1 million liability limits and property coverage matching their asset values, saving 15% to 25% compared to separate policies.

• Professional Liability Insurance (E&O): Professional liability covers claims arising from business mistakes, such as sending lavender candles instead of vanilla for a wedding order, missing deadlines for holiday custom candle deliveries or providing bad advice to other candlemakers about fragrance load percentages. Candle businesses offering custom services should carry $500,000 to $1 million limits.

• Commercial Auto Insurance: Commercial auto insurance is legally required when you own vehicles for your business deliveries or vendor events. It covers accidents while transporting candles and supplies to farmers' markets and craft fairs, picking up wholesale wax and fragrance oil orders or delivering custom candle orders to event venues. 

  Candlemakers should carry at least $500,000 in liability coverage, plus comprehensive and collision coverage to protect their vehicles and inventory during transport.

Getting business insurance for your company costs less when you know where to look. Use these steps to find coverage that protects your business at rates you can afford.

Protecting your candle-making business starts with understanding which coverage types you need. Workers' compensation, general liability and product liability cover the unique risks candlemakers face, from employee burns to customer injury claims. 

NEXT offers the best combination of affordability and service at $41 monthly, making comprehensive financial protection accessible for candle businesses of all sizes.

We answer frequently asked questions about Candle business insurance:

We selected the best business insurer for candle companies based on the following criteria:

• Affordability (50% of score): The lower a company's costs compared to the competition based on our base profile for four core coverage types, the better the company performs.
• Customer service (30% of score): We scored providers on overall customer satisfaction using industry studies, customer review forum ratings and public forum sentiment analysis from sites like Reddit.
• Coverage (15% of score): We scored business insurance providers for this category based on the flexibility, payment and actual coverage options.
• Financial stability (5% of score): Using financial stability industry ratings from companies like AM Best and Moody's, we created an overall rating to judge how likely companies are to pay out claims compared to the competition.

All pricing in this article is based on the following base profile to represent the vast majority of small businesses in all states:

• Three-person business with two employees
• Coverage: $1 million per occurrence and $2 million total per year for all but BOP, which includes the same coverage plus $5,000 of business property coverage
• $150,000 in payroll
• $300,000 annual revenue