Business liability insurance protects your company in case it is sued for injury or loss caused to others by a mistake of your business. When you request business liability insurance quotes you should take into account the nature of your business, its location, the products manufactured or distributed the impact of your business on the environment etc.
Business liability insurance could be claims type or occurrence type depending upon the time of claim. In the claims type, your insurer who covers your business at the time of claim will have to cover the claims. In the occurrence type, the insurer who insured your business at the time of occurrence of an event will cover the claim. Depending on the type of business, you could opt for any of the two. An occurrence type is best suited if you know of a potential claim immediately. So when you make a business liability insurance quote, you may suggest whichever type you want.
There are two types of limit in a business liability insurance- single occurrence limit and aggregate limit. In you have opted for single occurrence limit, and then for every claim made the limit of settlement would be the limit you chose. In an aggregate limit, the limit you have chosen is used for settlement during the entire policy period. That is, if your limit is $1million and you have opted for single occurrence, then for every claim made, the settlement could be made up to $1 million. In case of aggregate limit, if a claim arises for $750,000 that is settled by the insurance company and if a second claim comes up for $500,000, the insurance company will pay only $250,000 and the rest will have to be paid by the business owner. So when requesting business liability insurance quote, you will have to specify the type of limit you want.
There are certain exclusions made in business liability insurance. The injury caused to an employee at work is not covered by this. A worker’s compensation insurance is required to take care of that. Always remember that liability insurance covers only those claims made by third parties who are outside the business. But the loss or damage caused to or by the vehicles used in the business has to be covered by separate business auto insurance, as this does not come under the liability domain. So these additional covers have to be requested in addition to the business liability insurance quote when you are looking for business insurance.
It is quite common that you leave out certain risks that needed coverage at the time you request business liability insurance quotes. Later when you find that more risks have to be brought under the purview of your insurance, you could add these in your insurance cover by informing the insurance provider about the same. The risks that are added are called endorsements. You could ask for exclusions also. But it is better to avoid exclusions as it will reduce the cover of your insurance.
