Best Courier Business Insurance

The Hartford ranks as the best business insurance for courier companies, providing quality service and affordable coverage at $177 monthly. In our analysis of 10 insurers serving courier businesses and delivery services and found NEXT and Simply Business tied for second, followed by biBERK and Coverdash. Compare quotes from these providers to find the right protection for your courier operation.

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

NEXT offers the cheapest courier business insurance at $174 monthly, with competitive rates for general liability, workers' comp insurance and BOP coverage. Delivery services save the most with NEXT across three out of four policy types we studied. For professional liability insurance, courier companies pay less with Chubb.

The Hartford offers the cheapest general liability insurance for courier businesses at $170 monthly or $2,037 annually. Courier companies save $26 monthly compared to the $196 industry average, reducing general liability costs by 13%. Delivery services pay nearly $312 less per year with The Hartford than typical courier business insurance rates.

Courier companies pay $213 monthly with NEXT, the cheapest workers' comp insurance in our study. Its rate is $13 below the $226 industry average, resulting in a 6% reduction in workers' compensation costs. Delivery services can also compare rates from The Hartford and Thimble for competitive workers' comp coverage.

Delivery companies cut professional liability costs by 32% with Chubb, as it offers the cheapest professional liability insurance at $34 monthly or $404 annually. That's $16 less than the $50 industry average for courier services, saving $194 annually on errors and omissions coverage. Simply Business matches Chubb's rates for courier businesses needing affordable professional liability protection.

Courier businesses get combined general liability and property protection through The Hartford and its cheapest Business Owners' Policy at $233 monthly or $2,791 annually. That's $56 less monthly than the $289 industry average, saving delivery services $673 annually or 19% on BOP coverage. One policy covers your dispatch office, warehouse equipment and business property instead of buying separate coverages.

In general, courier business insurance costs are the following for the four most popular coverage types:

• General Liability: $196 on average per month ranging from $170 to $228 depending on state
• Workers Comp: $226 on average per month ranging from $193 to $261 depending on state
• Professional Liability (E&O): $50 on average per month ranging from $43 to $60 depending on state
• BOP Insurance: $289 on average per month ranging from $247 to $341 depending on state

Your courier service faces risks every day, from drivers getting injured during deliveries to vehicles crashing between stops and packages getting stolen or damaged. The required coverages for couriers protect you legally and financially, while recommended policies address specific situations like contractor drivers, high-value shipments or medical deliveries.

• Workers' Compensation Insurance: Required in most states when you hire drivers. Covers medical bills and lost wages when your team gets hurt lifting heavy packages, dealing with loading dock accidents or suffering back injuries from repetitive deliveries. Match coverage to your actual payroll since courier work involves higher injury rates than office jobs.
• Commercial Auto Insurance: Your state requires this for any vehicle titled to your delivery business. Pays for damage when your driver rear-ends someone at a red light between stops or causes an accident rushing to meet delivery windows. Get $1 million minimum since one serious accident can destroy your business without adequate protection.
• General Liability Insurance: Covers you when your driver drops a package on a customer's foot, their dolly scratches a lobby floor or someone trips over boxes at your warehouse. Clients like Amazon, FedEx contractors and corporate accounts won't let you deliver without proof of $1 million per occurrence coverage. No certificate of insurance means no contract.
• Cargo Insurance: Protects the actual packages you're hauling since your commercial auto policy only covers the vehicle itself. If your van gets stolen with 50 packages inside or a box of electronics falls off during transport, cargo insurance pays to replace what you lost. Match limits to your most valuable typical load.
• Business Owner's Policy (BOP): Bundles property and liability coverage for your dispatch office, warehouse space or sorting facility. Covers your routing computers if the building floods, reimburses lost income when fire damage shuts you down for a week and protects your package scanners and hand trucks from theft. Cheaper than buying policies separately.
• Hired and Non-Owned Auto Insurance (HNOA): Critical when you use independent contractor drivers who use their own vehicles for your deliveries. Their personal auto insurance won't cover them while working, and you're liable if they cause accidents on your routes. HNOA protects your business when contractors crash while carrying your packages or clients.
• Professional Liability Insurance (E&O): Protects you when deliveries go wrong through no physical damage. Covers claims when you deliver critical medical supplies to the wrong hospital, legal documents arrive late and miss court deadlines or a delayed parts delivery shuts down a manufacturing line. Medical and legal couriers especially need this coverage.
• Umbrella Insurance: Kicks in when a catastrophic accident exceeds your primary policy limits. If your driver causes a multi-vehicle pileup or seriously injures a pedestrian, legal settlements can easily hit $2 million or more. Umbrella coverage prevents a single bad accident from bankrupting your courier business and taking your personal assets.

Follow our step-by-step method for getting business insurance that protects your courier business without overpaying.

The Hartford delivers the best overall courier business insurance with affordable rates for general liability, workers' comp and BOP coverage plus fast claims processing when delivery accidents happen. NEXT offers the cheapest coverage overall at $174 monthly with instant online quotes and 24/7 certificate of insurance downloads. Compare rates from both insurers to protect your delivery operation without overpaying.

We answer frequently asked questions about Courier business insurance:

We selected the best business insurer for courier 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