Business & Self Employment Insurance

What is Business Liability Insurance?

This type of insurance is designed to protect the insured business against losses caused due to liabilities toward a third party. This is similar to when an automobile insurance policy pays a third party for their property damages when the insured is at fault.

You can find quotes for cheap business liability insurance by completing the questionnaire on this site. You will get premium estimates from an agent who specializes in finding providers that offer commercial coverage to small or large businesses.

Although a convenience store or a manufacturing plant isn’t likely to run a red light and cause an accident, the typical business can be liable in other ways. A store owner can fail to clean up after the spill in aisle six before a customer slips and falls. A worker at a toy manufacturer can inadvertently make a doll with a sharp edge that causes a child to be injured.

For insurance to pay damages, the insured cannot have caused the loss intentionally. Negligence is covered, but not acts committed with the intent to do harm. No insurance company has products that are designed to pay claims caused the insured’s criminal or intentional acts.

The rates for liability insurance are affected by many factors. One factor is the type of business another is the location of the business. Both of these affect the cost of the plan.

Business owners often choose to protect themselves by purchasing liability insurance of various types. Two types are general liability insurance and professional liability insurance.

General liability insurance can cover a business for many of the types of risks that are common to businesses regardless of their industry. The victim of a slip and fall accident can be indemnified through this type of policy. These policies will specifically exclude or limit professional liability exposures.

Professional liability is the type of liability that a CPA may have. This can cover her when she miscalculates figures or gives someone incorrect advice regarding their state taxes. This type of liability involves the services rendered by her specific profession. It is not shared by most other types of businesses and therefore has to be insured separately and separate premiums must be paid.

Neither general liability insurance nor professional liability insurance will pay for liability caused by an automobile accident. For this reason a business automobile policy or a personal automobile policy is necessary to cover losses involving motor vehicles.

Businesses need insurance types that the general public does not. One reason is that in today’s legal environment many businesses have become targets. The perception is that a large business (and sometimes even a small one) has substantial assets. Therefore an injury can turn into a legal case and that lawsuit can in time pay a big chunk of money to the plaintiff.

For this reason, a business owner selling goods to customers or professional services to clients should consider liability insurance. Although insurance is not required for many types of businesses, a lawsuit can destroy a business.

How much does small business liability insurance cost? It can cost less than the cost of not having it.