Oklahoma Business Insurance

With a cost of living that is about 40% lower than the national average,¹ entrepreneurs may find that Oklahoma is an ideal place to start and grow a small business.

If you’re among the Sooner State’s 351,000 small business owners or self-employed professionals,² you’ll need to carry the right business insurance in case the unexpected happens.

Small business insurance in Oklahoma helps protect against:

• Accusations of injuring another person or damaging property
• Claims of professional negligence, such as subpar or incomplete work
• Work-related employee injuries
• Accidents in company-owned vehicles

Next Insurance helps more than 1,000 types of small businesses and self-employed workers quickly get the coverage they need online at the best price. We specialize in small business insurance, so we can easily help you find a custom insurance package that is right for you.

Continue reading to find out about the most important types of business insurance in Oklahoma or start a free instant quote to review options for your business.

We offer a quick and simple way for you to get business insurance quotes online, purchase coverage and share your certificate of insurance. The entire process typically takes just a few minutes.

Our team of licensed, U.S.-based advisors can help you if you have any questions.

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A small business insurance package in Oklahoma might consist of some combination of:

• General liability insurance to help pay for claims if someone accuses your business of injury or property damage, including lawsuit costs.
• Professional liability insurance to help pay for damages if you are accused of a work mistake or oversight that causes financial losses.
• Workers’ compensation insurance to assist employees who get hurt at work by paying for medical bills and some lost wages.
• Commercial auto insurance to help pay for injuries and property damages if an employee has an accident in a company-owned vehicle.

General Liability insurance

If someone says that your company caused an injury or damaged property, you could face an expensive bill.

This is why we recommend that most businesses in Oklahoma carry general liability insurance, which helps pay for damages if you are accused of injury or property destruction, including medical expense and repairs. If someone sues your business over these types of claims, general liability coverage helps pay for attorney fees, court costs and any settlements for which you are held responsible

For instance, a pedestrian in a suburban Oklahoma City neighborhood is hurt by a falling tree limb and blames a trimming company for causing the injury. Without general liability insurance, the tree trimming business would have to pay for all damages out of pocket, including the injured person’s medical bills and any lawsuit costs.

It’s worth mentioning that even if you don’t think your company needs general liability insurance in Oklahoma, many commercial landlords may want to see proof of coverage before they will rent you office space.

Cleaning and construction companies may want to add tools and equipment insurance to their general liability coverage. This add-on helps pay to replace or repair business items that are lost, stolen or damaged.

Professional Liability insurance

Even small business owners with excellent reputations can be accused of work negligence, which can lead to damage claims and lawsuits.

In these situations, professional liability insurance, also called errors and omissions (E&O) coverage, helps protect a company’s bottom line. If someone says that your business made a work mistake, missed a deadline or failed to complete a job, professional liability insurance helps pay to settle the claim or pay for lawyer fees, court costs and other damages if you are named in a lawsuit.

E&O insurance would help a small business in the following scenario:

A client accuses a Tulsa-based electrical engineering company of failing to show up for a job on time, which causes a project delay that causes financial losses. E&O insurance helps the company pay for the damages up to the policy’s limits.

Workers’ Compensation insurance

If your business has full-time or part-time employees, state law mandates that business insurance packages in Oklahoma include workers’ compensation coverage.³

Employees who get injured on the job often need medical care and may need time off work to recover. Workers’ comp insurance helps employees who get hurt pay for medical expenses. In Oklahoma, this coverage also allows injured workers to receive 70% of their weekly wages while they are temporarily disabled.⁴

Workers’ comp coverage in Oklahoma would help a small business if something like this happened:

An employee of a carpentry firm in Broken Arrow has a minor fall at a work site and visits an emergency room as a precautionary measure. The carpenter’s workers’ comp coverage would help cover the employee’s medical bills.

Commercial Auto insurance

Oklahoma state law requires that drivers carry a minimum of $50,000 in auto insurance to pay for damages from accidents. But as the state’s Department of Insurance points out, you might pay more out of pocket if you have a serious crash, so you may want to purchase double the state’s minimum.⁵

If your company owns vehicles, commercial auto coverage is an important type of business insurance in Oklahoma. Commercial auto insurance helps pay for injuries and property damage from business-related accidents; personal auto coverage usually won’t provide this kind of protection.

For example, two employees of a Norman-based catering company have an accident in a company van while returning from a job at the University of Oklahoma. The accident destroys part of a homeowner’s fence and causes several thousand dollars worth of damage to the vehicle.

The catering company’s commercial auto insurance coverage helps pay to repair the van and the damaged fence, up to the policy’s limits.

Small businesses might periodically request that employees rent vehicles or drive their own automobiles for work. In such cases, a coverage upgrade called hired and non-owned auto insurance helps pay for accident damages.

Recent Next numbers puts business insurance costs in Oklahoma at about $43 per month across major industries we work with.

How much you’ll pay for business insurance in Oklahoma depends on factors like:

Your company’s day-to-day risks. Business in riskier industries should budget more for insurance. In Oklahoma, construction companies pay a median of $56 each month for coverage due to a higher likelihood of injuring someone or damaging property. Fitness businesses don’t have the same risk profile and pay $15 per month for insurance.

The coverage and policy limits you choose. If you choose the minimum required types of insurance and policy limits, your monthly costs will be lower. But keep in mind that if you need to file a claim, your out-of-pocket costs will be higher, and the difference might cancel out the savings.

How many people you employ or plan to hire. Small businesses with higher employee counts will pay more for workers’ comp insurance, so be sure to count all full-time and part-time staff members when requesting a quote.

Start a quote with Next Insurance today to explore coverage options for your business in just a few minutes.

More resources for Oklahoma small businesses and self-employed workers

Check out these links if you would like to learn more about starting a business in Oklahoma:

• Oklahoma Small Business Development Centers
• Greater Oklahoma City’s official small business webpage
• Oklahoma Insurance Department

Article sources: 

1. Oklahoma Department of Commerce
2. U.S. Small Business Administration
3. Oklahoma Workers’ Compensation Commission
4. Oklahoma Workers’ Compensation Commission
5. Oklahoma Insurance Department