General Liability Insurance Coverage
Business-owners need to manage their risks proactively. They may incur the jeopardy of harming a third-party or their property in a business-related accident or mistake. This would end up in legal fees and court settlements for the small-business owner in case they are sued for an accident. This is why every business-owner needs Commercial General Liability Insurance.
What is General Liability Insurance?
General Liability Insurance covers the business and business-owner from a myriad of ‘general’ claims, including bodily injury and property damage. To prevent incurring unnecessary costs, every business needs general liability insurance coverage to seek protection from accidents and where your company may be held liable legally.
What Does General Liability Insurance Cover?
Commercial General Liability Insurance provides comprehensive business insurance, but that does cover every risk a business might face.
Here are the categories that fall under commercial general liability insurance:
- Property damage
- Bodily Injury
- Advertising Injury
- Copyright Infringement
- Defense Costs
Property Damage
If a product or service you provided causes harm to someone else’s property, your business may be sued for charges. If you run an electrical company and one of your employees causes a fire in the customer’s home, you will be held liable for the damage to the third party’s property. General liability insurance will help pay for these costs.
Bodily Injury
If a third person is injured due to your product or service, or gets injured on your premises, you will be held liable. Bodily injury coverage included in commercial general liability insurance will help pay for the injured person’s medical expenses. If a customer slips and breaks a leg due to the wet floor on your business property, you will have to pay for injuries resulting from this physical harm.
Advertising Injury
If your company has put up an ad that comes off as offensive to another person, this would constitute advertising injury. If your business puts up an ad maligning a certain sector or specific business, even in good humor, you could be held liable. A third party can sue your business for libel or slander for which your company will have to pay the resulting charges unless you have commercial general liability coverage.
Copyright Infringement
If your company uses someone else’s material to make an ad, you may be sued for plagiarizing third party material without permission or due credit.
Defense Costs
In case you are sued for any of these claims, the business will have to pay for legal fees, court costs, and settlements for covered claims. This would incur major costs for a company, especially small-scale businesses. Defense costs as part of general liability insurance coverage will cover these costs for your business.
What does General Liability Insurance Not Cover?
General liability insurance coverage does not cover you for all the risks and damages to your business. Here is a list of things that are excluded from general liability insurance:
- Damage to the company’s own property
- Bodily harm and physical injury suffered by the company’s own employees
- Car accidents caused by you or your employees while driving to and from work
- Any events resulting from intentional, illegal, and malicious acts
- Errors in service provided by your business that made another company lose money
Who Needs General Liability Insurance?
You should think of getting in touch with one of the general liability insurance companies if you have:
- Run a business, office, or store that is open to the general public, i.e. customers and vendors
- Provide services that may involve work in a client’s property
- Create advertisements for marketing purposes for your business
How much does General Liability Insurance Cost?
Commercial general liability coverage may vary depending on several factors. The average cost of general liability insurance is $500 per year. However, industry risks greatly affect general liability insurance coverage costs. A high risk industry would naturally incur higher costs than a low risk one.
Does My Business Need General Liability Insurance?
Although a business is not required by law to have general liability insurance coverage, it can greatly benefit from it. Liability claims can amount to a hefty sum without commercial general liability coverage.
There is always a chance that something may go wrong and incur unnecessary costs for your business, and covered claims can be quite expensive that small businesses might not be able to afford. The average cost of a slip and fall is around $20,000. This gives an insight into what your business might be in for without general liability insurance.
Your business is always at risk of getting sued for something or the other. A company can be held accountable for saying something an interview that harmed the reputation of another business. The charges for reputational harm are the costliest, with the average lawsuit amounting to $50,000.
Without commercial liability insurance, the business will have to pay for the cost itself or from personal assets if the company does not have general liability insurance coverage.
Here are a few reasons it is preferable for every business owner to apply for commercial general liability insurance:
- Gives business-owners peace of mind knowing their business funds and personal assets are safe in case of a lawsuit
- It covers a wide array of claims
- General liability claims can be expensive and could easily exceed $75,000 if taken to court
- In case you are sued, you will need to pay for legal counsel, which is around $100 to $200 per hour
- A small business may not be able to survive the high charges and go bankrupt
If you want to apply for General liability Insurance to safeguard your business from various general liability claims, get in touch with Fastline Insurance, one of the leading general liability insurance companies in California.
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