Commercial Liability Insurance for Businesses

What Does Business Liability Insurance Cover?

Business (or commercial) liability insurance can protect a range of exposures depending on the type of coverage you obtain.

Business liability covers your business’ assets and pays for expenses that result from your product, property, employees, operation or even advertising. So what does business general liability insurance cover?

• It protects from costs associated with lawsuits and court-awarded settlements. This includes the insurance company’s investigation and attorney’s fees – costs your business will assume even if you are ultimately not required to pay a settlement.
• It provides for injury or property damage claims that may arise as a result of an accident on your property, from your product or operations.
• It can also include coverage for issues that may arise because of your advertising practices including copyright infringement, libel and slander.

Does Your Business Need Business Liability Insurance?

All businesses need some form of liability protection. Depending on your industry and the location and size of your company, you may also need workers compensation, commercial auto coverage, directors and officers insurance, errors and omissions insurance, product liability insurance or a business umbrella policy.

How Much Commercial General Liability Insurance do you Need?

Like with all forms of insurance, it is important to weigh the potential risks against the cost of the coverage. A lawsuit brought against your company could easily bankrupt the company or set you back hundreds of thousands of dollars or more.

If your risk exposure is great, for example, you run a contract firm doing maintenance on oil rigs in the Gulf, your insurance costs will be greater than a graphic design consultant that works from a home office.

That graphic designer may pay $500 while the maintenance contracting firm pays in the tens or hundreds of thousands annually.

How to Find the Best Commercial Liability Coverage

There is definitely no one-size-fits-all business liability insurance solution.

It’s important to speak with an experienced commercial liability insurance agent with familiarity in your industry, and ideally an independent agent that has the ability to shop from many different companies.

Taking these precautions can help you avoid being stuck with either too much coverage that’s costing you extra money, not having enough or the right kind of coverage for your particular industry and business.

Contact us, to discuss the specifics and determine if you are properly protecting your business.