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Maybe your lender or landlord is requiring you to get flood insurance. Maybe you have flooding concerns of your own and want to make sure your business belongings are reinforced against flood waters.
Regardless of your reasoning, if you need flood insurance, you are probably wondering exactly how much you can expect to pay for the insurance. We get it! Running a business is expensive and you’re already paying for several other types of insurance, so when it comes to adding flood insurance, cost can be a concern.
Well, at Berry Insurance, we’ve issued many flood policies for businesses of all types in Massachusetts and beyond. So we’re pretty familiar with what goes into determining the cost of a policy in general.
In this article, we’ll give you an estimate on what commercial flood insurance can cost, get into the factors that influence it, and give some real examples of insurance premiums for Massachusetts flood insurance.
What a MA flood insurance policy costs:
A lot goes into the cost of commercial flood insurance, so it can really vary quite a bit. So without any context, giving you an estimate on what flood insurance will cost you is difficult to do.
But we can give you a rough estimate based on what we usually see for premium prices.
If you own your office building:
Depending on several factors, you can generally expect a flood insurance policy on a business whose building you own to fall somewhere between $500 to $8,000 annually.
We know: this is a huge range. But as we mentioned, the cost is dependent on several factors (which we will get into more below).
If you lease your office building:
If you’re renting your business location, flood insurance is much cheaper.
Since the flood insurance would only cover your business belongings (not the actual building which would be your landlord’s responsibility) that type of policy would generally cost a few hundred dollars.
For a more accurate estimate of what your commercial flood insurance would cost, you would need to factor in several other pieces of information.
Factors that influence the cost of MA commercial flood insurance:
We know the range we provided above is a little vague. But that’s because each flood policy varies significantly from property to property, based on many factors. Here’s what you can expect to play a role.
Flood insurance limits:
Each type of insurance has limits. These amounts are the total amount the insurance carrier would pay out if you were to have a claim.
When purchasing flood insurance, you can buy up to $500,000 in dwelling coverage and $100,000 in personal property coverage for a total of $600,000. Higher limits are sometimes available with excess flood coverage.
How much you choose to buy will depend on how high you perceive your risk, your budget, and any requirements from your mortgage lender.
The higher the limits you choose, the higher your premium will be.
Deductible:
Another factor that influences the price of personal insurance is your deductible. A deductible is the amount you would have to pay out before an insurance carrier paid you any claim money. And usually you have a few deductible options for you to choose from.
With flood insurance, you can generally choose between deductibles ranging from $1,000 to $50,000.
The higher your deductible, the lower your premium will be.
Your flood zone:
The flood zone your property is located in is generally the factor that will impact your flood insurance cost the most.
When calculating a quote, insurance companies will evaluate how likely they think you are to have a claim based on your risks.
That means if you are in a high risk flood zone, your flood insurance will be more expensive.
Flood zones are divided into six different categories, labeled with the following letters:
High risk areas: A, V
Moderate to low risk areas: B,C,X
Not yet mapped (unknown): D
To view flood maps of your area, you can visit the FEMA Flood Map Service Center.
And for more information on this topic, check out this article: Do I Need Flood Insurance Even if I’m Not in a Flood Zone?
Prior claims:
If you’ve ever had a flood insurance claim, your carrier will consider you more of a risk to have another and will charge you more because of it.
Other factors that may influence cost:
To determine the cost of your flood insurance, the insurance carrier will also consider other factors that influence flood risk. Some of these include:
- Building structure
- Foundation type
- Where belongings are located
MA commercial flood insurance premium examples:
You know the factors that influence price, but you probably still don’t have a clear idea of how exactly they will impact your Massachusetts business’ flood insurance.
So to help give you some more insight, we’ll give you some specific examples of some of the flood insurance policies we’ve issued.
- An insurance agency in Franklin, MA in flood zone X with $100,000 in coverage and a $1,000 deductible: $1,047
- A water company in Whitinsville, MA in flood zone AE with $600,000 in coverage and a $2,000 deductible: $1,476
- A fish processing company in Boston, MA in flood zone X with $1M in coverage and a $1,250 deductible: $3,806
- A 6-family apartment building in North Attleboro, MA, in flood zone AE with $500,000 in coverage and a $25,000 deductible: $4,998
For the best price, insure your business through a reputable agent
Flood insurance can be expensive, but there is one way to make it more affordable: working with a reputable insurance agent.
An independent insurance agency (like us at Berry Insurance) can shop your flood insurance among the several carriers they represent to make sure you are getting the right insurance at the right price. They will also pay close attention to your needs to make sure you have the right coverages and coverage limits, so you don’t have any gaps in your coverage, and aren’t paying for more than you need.
So as you begin your search for your insurance agency, check out this article: What to Look For when Selecting an Insurance Agency or Company.
