Free quotes, great service, solid claims processes, & an easy-to-use online system makes Nationwide a solid option for small businesses.
WRITTEN & RESEARCHED BY
Expert Contributor
Last updated onUpdated
REVIEWED BY
Expert Contributor
| Total Rating | 4.4 |
|---|---|
| Pricing4.1 | |
| Features5.0 | |
| Customer Service4.1 | |
| User Reviews4.4 | |
Pricing
By personalized quote onlyTypes Of Insurance Offered
BOP + specialized coverageTime To Receive A Quote
Approximately 30 minutesNationwide small business insurance is a collection of commercial insurance policies available in 40+ states plus Washington, D.C. Noted for its top-rated customer service, Nationwide also earns a high A+ Superior rating for its financial stability.
Unlike some of its competitors, Nationwide is a mutual insurance company. What does that mean? Mutual insurance companies are owned by their policyholders, and profits are returned to customers as dividends or by reducing premiums. Mutual insurance companies like Nationwide provide insurance at or near cost rather than focusing on profit.
Nationwide commercial insurance includes the most common types of insurance policies small business owners need, commonly grouped under one policy known as a business owner’s policy or BOP.
Nationwide also offers specialized small business coverage such as crime insurance and cyber liability, as well as small business staples such as errors and omissions (E&O) and umbrella policies.
Safe to say, no matter what type of commercial insurance your small business needs, you’ll find it with Nationwide. That’s just one of the reasons why we count Nationwide as one of the best business insurance providers out there.
Keep reading to learn more about Nationwide commercial insurance, including the cost, features, customer service, claims, and more.
Table of Contents
| Pricing4.1 |
|---|
| Affordability 4.3 |
| Transparency 3.7 |
Like many companies offering small business insurance policies, Nationwide relies on personalized quotes and does not publicize pricing information, which is reflected in our ratings.
Your personalized price quote will depend on details about your business, including your industry and where you’re located.
One thing we can tell is that while Nationwide pricing is fairly competitive, its target customers are mid-sized to large businesses. Yes, you can get a quote for a much smaller business, and you may be very satisfied with Nationwide as your insurer. Still, you may find that the price you’re quoted is beyond your budget.
To give you an idea of what to expect, consider that the business insurance company Embroker says the average business will pay between $500-$2,000 a year for a business owner’s policy that combines general liability and commercial property insurance. Comparatively, we found the quotes we received to be competitive and Nationwide received good marks in our scoring rubric.
If you request a quote from Nationwide, that national average may help you understand your business insurance quote and make a fair comparison.
You can request a custom quote for business insurance online or by phone. If you start a quote online, you’ll probably have to schedule a phone call to complete the process. If you phone in for a quote, you’re likely to receive it within 30 minutes, according to the agent I spoke with over the phone.
Note that you may be subject to a credit check using a third party during the quotation process. Other information that may be gathered and evaluated can include driving records, insurance claim histories, publicly available property or geographic data, and other credit-based insurance scores.
When I requested a quote for insurance coverage for a small bakery, I was asked to provide my business name, address, and contact information. I was also asked to share revenue and salary information and details about my physical location, including how recently the roof and electrical systems had been updated, as well as what types of alarms the building has. In my opinion, you’ll want to set aside a stretch of uninterrupted time to complete the quote request process. You can also start your quote, save it, and come back when you have all the information you need.
| Features5.0 |
|---|
| Types Of Insurance Offered 5.0 |
| Additional Services 5.0 |
Screenshot of Nationwide Insurance webpage, captured 2/1/2023
Nationwide has some features that make it easy to navigate your business insurance needs. Nationwide offers the basic features you would expect and some other benefits that helped the company stand out in our ratings. Here’s an overview:
Nationwide offers the full range of small business insurance basics, plus specialized packages aimed at different industries and types of businesses. In all, the company earned strong scores in this category.
Let’s start with the basics:
Nationwide’s business owner’s policy (BOP) offering combines business liability, commercial property, business income, and equipment breakdown coverage. If you’d like, you can customize your Nationwide BOP to meet your particular needs more closely.
Nationwide’s inclusion of business income and equipment breakdown coverage in the BOP is unusual and notable. A typical BOP combines just two policies, typically general liability and commercial property. If you’re not interested in business income and equipment breakdown protection, you probably should steer clear of Nationwide’s BOP.
Of course, BOP coverage usually comes at a discount vs. purchasing the included policies separately. The discount is around 10% industrywide, so check with a Nationwide agent to make sure its BOP pricing delivers a similar discount for you.
You can purchase a wide variety of additional commercial coverage from Nationwide. For starters, here are four types of coverage where our Merchant Maverick experts have found that Nationwide excels:
You’ll also be able to buy these types of commercial coverage from Nationwide:
Nationwide offers specialized products for larger organizations, including but not limited to those in the following business categories:
You can also request information from Nationwide regarding its offerings in the following categories:
Nationwide is probably best suited for mid-sized or larger businesses, although it claims to be able to suit the insurance needs of anyone. For very small businesses, you may not find Nationwide to be cost-effective, but Nationwide has a full range of services to cover anyone.
When it comes to insurance, most of the time, payments flow only in one direction.
However, when something goes wrong for your small business, and you need to file a claim, you’ll appreciate an insurance company that makes it easy to do so and one that pays claims swiftly and fairly.
Many insurance companies have opaque claims processes, and you can’t find out everything you need to know until you need to file a claim yourself. However, we can glean some clues about a company’s claims process. And the first comes from how easy the company makes filing a claim.
Nationwide customers can start their insurance claim online. If you haven’t already set up online access for your Nationwide account, you can contact your agent directly or call a general 800 number for assistance.
Nationwide asks for the following information when you file a claim:
Customers are encouraged to file their claims immediately, even if they don’t yet have all the necessary information. If you have general questions about claims, check out the extensive and informative Nationwide Claims FAQ section.
It’s noteworthy that Nationwide employs 5,000+ workers in claims services, with support centers open 24/7 to help you with claims. Claims workers specialize in different types of coverage, such as general liability, material damage, commercial auto, and so on. Nationwide also offers claims specialists in specific industries, such as construction.
Should you file a claim, you’ll be assigned to a commercial Claims Business Consultant or CBC. This CBC will serve as a single point of contact and liaison as you manage your claim. Your CBC will also coordinate with Nationwide’s Loss Control Services to help you manage future risk.
| Customer Service4.1 |
|---|
| Ease Of Claim Filing 4.5 |
| Customer Support 3.8 |
You’ll have numerous support options when you need them, including customer service by phone. Nationwide customers work directly with an agent, and you will be given options for contacting that person directly. Self-service options are available for managing your account or filing and checking claims online.
| Nationwide Commercial Insurance Customer Service | Availability |
|---|---|
| Phone Support | |
| Email Support | |
| Support Tickets | |
| Live Chat | Chatbot |
| Dedicated Support Representative | |
| Knowledge Base or Help Center | |
| Videos & Tutorials | |
| Company Blog | |
| Social Media |
The general contact options are adequate. I called the general number listed online, made my way carefully through the phone tree prompts, and when I found my way to a live agent, she was friendly but told me I was in the wrong place for answers regarding business insurance.
She helpfully transferred me to what she said was the correct number, and I waited through announcements about “heavy call volume” only to have the agent who picked up tell me I was again in the wrong place. After one more transfer, I received the answers I was seeking.
Nationwide also has a mobile app.
Nationwide has been accredited with the Better Business Bureau since 1955 and maintains an A+ rating there. The company has had around 200 BBB complaints filed in the past three years and has a 100% response rate. That’s important, as the BBB considers how frequently and effectively complaints are resolved, and the way a business responds to complaints is an integral part of BBB Business Ratings.
Keep in mind that Nationwide offers personal insurance for home and auto in addition to its business policies. That makes it hard to single out specific reviews only of Nationwide’s business insurance policies.
Furthermore, complaints found online often come from people who were involved in an accident with a Nationwide policyholder but are not themselves Nationwide customers.
For these reasons, we at Merchant Maverick make an effort to not only sift through online complaints in search of our target audience but also look at Nationwide’s response to complaints. Given those parameters, here are a few common rants and raves we found online which we then reflected in our scoring system.
The Better Business Bureau currently shows 300+ customer reviews, with a composite rating of 1.15/5 stars. Nationwide consistently replies to BBB complaints with documentation to support its position. Again, it’s important to note that these reviews are primarily for coverage other than business insurance, such as home, personal auto, and even pet insurance. Nevertheless, we could discern some patterns in the complaints that are worth highlighting:
On the review site WalletHub, Nationwide Insurance has almost 3,000 reviews and a composite rating of 3.2/5 stars. Here are a few things Nationwide customers say they like about their insurance:
Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company is one of the oldest and largest insurance companies in the US. While impressive, this doesn’t necessarily make Nationwide a good choice when it comes to insuring your small business.
Other facts do favor Nationwide, however. For one thing, the company offers a range of commercial policies that cover just about any business insurance need a small or large company could present.
Whether you’re a newer small business looking for basic liability and property insurance, or a large, established organization looking for better coverage at a better price, Nationwide could be able to meet your needs.
The only way to find out is by going online or by calling Nationwide for a personal business insurance quote.
If you’ve already started gathering quotes and you’re suffering from sticker shock, our post on the cost of business insurance not only breaks down the numbers but also helps you see some ways to save.
We spend hours researching and evaluating each business insurance provider we review at Merchant Maverick, placing special emphasis on key characteristics to generate our ratings.
When rating business insurance companies and policies, we use a 26-point rubric that looks at pricing, features, customer service, and user reviews. We weigh each section differently to calculate the total star rating.
Each section is further broken down into granular, weighted subsections, in which we examine specific attributes like the relative cost of policies compared to industry standard, the transparency of pricing, and how many types of business insurance are offered. We also check to see whether the insurance provider offers multiple ways to file claims and how difficult the filing process is, awarding higher rankings to those that provide excellent customer support and an intuitive process.
Read more about how we rate business insurance companies.
Business Insurance Starting at $11 Per Month
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With Next Business Insurance, get instant online quotes and coverage across 8 policy types. Discounts available for multiple policies. Learn More.
Business Insurance Starting at $11 Per Month
Next Business Insurance |
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With Next Business Insurance, get instant online quotes and coverage across 8 policy types. Discounts available for multiple policies. Learn More.
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The vendors that appear on this list were chosen by subject matter experts on the basis of product quality, wide usage and availability, and positive reputation.
Merchant Maverick’s ratings are editorial in nature, and are not aggregated from user reviews. Each staff reviewer at Merchant Maverick is a subject matter expert with experience researching, testing, and evaluating small business software and services. The rating of this company or service is based on the author’s expert opinion and analysis of the product, and assessed and seconded by another subject matter expert on staff before publication. Merchant Maverick’s ratings are not influenced by affiliate partnerships.
Our unbiased reviews and content are supported in part by affiliate partnerships, and we adhere to strict guidelines to preserve editorial integrity. The editorial content on this page is not provided by any of the companies mentioned and has not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone.
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