ACORD Forms
ACORD 160: Business Owners Section
The ACORD 160 is the Business Owners Section, the application for a business owners policy (BOP). It attaches to the ACORD 125 and carries the property and liability detail in one form, because a BOP bundles both coverages into one policy. Main-street risks live here: offices, retail stores, service businesses, small restaurants.
What it is
The ACORD 160 is the Business Owners Section, the application for a business owners policy (BOP). It attaches to the ACORD 125 and carries the property and liability detail in one form, because a BOP bundles both coverages into one policy. Main-street risks live here: offices, retail stores, service businesses, small restaurants.
For BOP-eligible accounts, the 160 does the job the ACORD 140 and 126 do on a package submission. One form instead of two, but the same rule applies: the underwriter prices what you give them, and thin answers get thin quotes.
When it's used
- New BOP submissions, attached to a completed ACORD 125.
- Remarketing a BOP account to carriers with a better appetite for the class.
- When a carrier routes a small commercial risk to its BOP program instead of a package policy built from the 140 and 126.
Section-by-section walkthrough
Agency and policy information
Your agency, the target carrier, proposed effective dates, and the applicant name, all matching the attached ACORD 125.
Watch for: An applicant name that drifts from the 125. The 160 never travels alone, and a mismatch between the two forms is the first thing an underwriter notices.
Premises information
Each location with its construction type, year built, square footage, and occupancy, including who else occupies the building.
Watch for: Skipping the other occupants. A quiet office above a restaurant is not a quiet office risk.
Building coverage
The building limit, valuation basis, and deductible for locations the applicant owns.
Watch for: A building limit for a tenant who owns no building. Tenants insure improvements and betterments, not the structure.
Business personal property
Contents limits at each location: furniture, equipment, stock, and a tenant's improvements and betterments.
Watch for: Stock valued at its slowest month for a seasonal business. Note the peak in remarks so the limit makes sense year-round.
Additional coverages
The optional coverages a BOP can carry: accounts receivable, valuable papers, outdoor signs, glass, crime, and boiler and machinery where offered.
Watch for: Leaving the whole block blank. If the client declined them, note it. If nobody asked, that is an E&O gap, not a decision.
Liability coverage
The requested liability and medical expense limits for the BOP's liability side.
Watch for: Requesting limits below what the client's lease or contracts require. Check the lease before quoting, not at binding.
General information questions
The yes/no underwriting questions about the operation and its risk controls. Every yes needs an explanation.
Watch for: Unexplained yes answers. The file comes back, and the submission loses its place in line.
Remarks
Explanations for the yes answers plus anything that helps the underwriter say yes: sprinklers, alarms, roof and wiring updates, management experience.
Signatures
The applicant's signature and the producer's, with dates.
Watch for: Missing signatures. A quote may move without them. Binding will not.
In Relay
ACORD Generation is live in Relay. It drafts the ACORD 160 from the client record and the documents you already have, and a person reviews every field before anything goes out. See how →
Common errors
- Applicant name, locations, or effective dates that do not match the attached ACORD 125.
- Building limits on tenant-occupied risks where the client owns nothing but improvements.
- No valuation basis given for building or contents limits.
- Yes answers on the underwriting questions with no explanation anywhere.
- Occupancy described in one word, so the underwriter cannot tell whether the risk fits the BOP program at all.
Common questions
Do I still need the ACORD 140 and 126 if I use the 160?
Not for a BOP submission. The 160 carries both the property and liability sections for BOP-eligible risks. If the account outgrows the BOP box, the submission becomes a package: the 125 plus the 140 for property and the 126 for general liability.
Does the ACORD 160 work for restaurants?
Many carriers write restaurants on a BOP, and the 160 is the application section either way. Expect to attach the ACORD 185 restaurant supplement, because BOP underwriters want the kitchen and alcohol detail the 160 does not ask for.
Can Relay draft an ACORD 160?
Yes. ACORD Generation is live in Relay. It drafts the form from the client record and the documents you already have, and a person reviews everything before it goes out.
Related forms
Part of the Relay ACORD form library. Updated 2026-07-11. See how we source content.
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