Starting in 1926, Nationwide has become one of the largest insurance carriers in the country, offering a broad range of insurance products such as asset management services, banking, savings plans, and retirement solutions. It has over 500,000 small business customers and places #69 on the Fortune 100 list, which comprises of the top 100 companies in the country by overall revenue.
- Pros and Cons
- Small Business Insurance Products Offered: 80/100
- Financial Strength Rating: 90/100
- Customer Satisfaction Rating: 70/100
- Consumer Complaints Rating: 90/100
- Digital Experience Rating: 90/100
Pros
- Nationwide is one of the most respected insurers in the country with an extensive suite of insurance products.
- Add-on coverages meet your small business’ specific demands.
- It offers surety bonds, which is a contractual arrangement by a business guaranteeing that a project will be completed. This is very popular with commercial construction projects.
- Its BOP insurance extends to businesses with annual revenue of up to $5 million. Most carriers limit BOP insurance eligibility to businesses with annual revenue of up to $1 million only.
>>MORE: Business Owners Policy (BOP) Insurance: Coverage, Cost, and Best 4 Providers
Cons
- The list of industries covered by Nationwide is a bit light. They only list the top 14 industries. If your business isn’t on this list, you might want to look elsewhere.
If you are looking for the best business insurance for your company, be sure to shop around with a few companies or with a digital broker like CoverWallet, Simply Business, or commercialinsurance.net to compare several quotes to select the best one for you.
Small Business Insurance Products Offered by Nationwide
Score: 80/100
Nationwide offers a business owners policy (BOP) which combines the most popular policies (commercial property, general liability, business income interruption, and equipment breakdown) into a single bundle. It works with all types of businesses, including wholesalers & distributors, food services, contracts, and auto service & repair as long as the business has less than 100 employees and up to $5 million in annual revenue.
It also offers add-on coverages, including workers compensation, crime, cyber liability, inland marine, and umbrella insurance.
Nationwide also offers management liability insurance for private and non-profit companies, which includes directors & officers liability to protect against poor management decisions, employee practices claims, and cyber coverage against data breaches.
Finding a licensed agent is also easy, with a directory broken out by state. A search in Florida revealed 657 agents, with the most agents registered in Orlando, Tampa, and Fort Myers.
>>MORE: How Much does General Liability Insurance Cost?
Financial Strength Rating for Nationwide Small Business Insurance
Score: 90/100
Nationwide enjoys an A1 rating from Moody’s and a Standard & Poor A+ rating.
It also has a Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of A-, which is an excellent score for a company with an “excellent ability to meet their ongoing senior financial obligations”.
Customer Satisfaction Rating for Nationwide Small Business Insurance
Score: 70/100
According to the J.D. Power 2020 U.S. Small Commercial Insurance Study, Nationwide ranked the 9th out of the top 10 companies. This is a significant fall from its 1st rank in 2019 in the same study.
It achieved the highest score in the J.D. Power Small Commercial Insurance Study, both in 2018 and 2019, with the J.D. badge proudly displayed throughout the website. 2020 was a tough year for small businesses across the country and Nationwide did not fare well in the challenging environment.
It still ranks 9th in the top 10 small business insurance companies in the country.
>>MORE: What is Professional Liability Insurance? And Its Cost?
Consumer Complaints Rating for Nationwide Small Business Insurance
Score: 90/100
According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Nationwide Small Business Insurance (company code: 23787) has a complaint index of (0.57), well above the national mark (1.00) in 2018 across all types of policies.
For commercial liability, it achieved a 0.00 complaint index – phenomenal.
Complaint indexes are calculated by dividing Nationwide’s share of U.S. market complaints versus its share of premiums in the market. In total, it generated 46 complaints across all policies and 0 total complaints for commercial liability.
Digital Experience Rating for Nationwide Small Business Insurance
Score: 90/100
Nationwide offers a one-stop online experience to retrieve an online quote, a form process no more than 30 minutes to complete. Users are also redirected to partner carriers who provide options Nationwide cannot.
It also offers a resource, “Small Business Coverage Advisor” which suggests options after completing a short survey to share industry, employee, property, and vehicle information. For an Florida-based gift shop with 2-5 employees, $100K-$200K worth of property, and no vehicles, it returned an average monthly premium of $382, or $4,588 a year, along with a list of what other businesses with similar profiles were buying.
The Nationwide website also has an extensive “Insights & Education” library carrying titles such as “What drivers higher losses in commercial auto?” and “Help prevent weather-related slips and falls.”
The website also does an exceptional job of explaining the items needed to sign up business insurance, starting with a 30-minute online quote to provide basic business information, construction details, employee./vehicle info, and details on any prior claims.
Getting a quote online with Nationwide only takes a few steps. For this exercise, we used a tobacco shop based in Miami, Florida.
- Select Coverage
- Enter Contact Information and Business Details
- Enter General Information
- Depending on the information entered, yoy may be referred to a partner carrier
If you are looking for the best cyber insurance for your company, be sure to shop around with a few companies or with a digital broker like CoverWallet, Simply Business, or commercialinsurance.net to compare several quotes to select the best one for you.
>>MORE: Product Liability Insurance: Coverage, Cost, and Best 5 Providers
Final Thoughts
- Nationwide is one of the oldest and most trusted insurance carriers in the country.
- It offers a business owners policy (BOP), combining the most popular policies of commercial property, general liability, business income, and equipment breakdown into one cost-effective bundle.
- Nationwide has a Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of A- which speaks to its ability to meet financial obligations.
- Online quotes take no more than 30 minutes to complete. An extensive resource library also helps consumers make the right choices when purchasing insurance.
- A helpful resource, “Small Business Coverage Advisor”,helps a business choose the right coverage by answering a series of questions.
