Every business has its own needs, but you still want to make sure you are covered by some insurance, no matter how small your business is. In short, small business general liability insurance tends to cover things like members’ personal liability and consequences associated with third-party claims for property damage or injury. You can add additional items of medical injuries for yourself and damages for your own property.

When you review the CGL policies, you will see terms like “General Aggregate Limit”. This refers to advertising or personal injury, medical payments, and / or fire damage. “Operations coverage” refers to the basic coverage provided for property damage and bodily injury due to your negligence or that of an employee.

You can also see “Limit of products and operations completed” according to your line of work. This coverage includes protection for those who make or sell a particular product, or are contractors who provide services. If damage occurs and your negligent product or service could be held liable, you will obviously face a lawsuit. This is a separate type of aggregate limit and claims of its nature will not lower the overall aggregate limit, although it will still be subject to limits such as the “Per Occurrence Limit” for each claim.

General Liability Insurance for Small Business Claims and Limitations

The “Per Occurrence Limit” refers to the maximum amount the policy will pay for a single claim arising out of your Personal Injury or Advertising / Operations / Products and Completed Operations. Each of these claims WILL DECREASE the separately added limit.

Some other terms you will come across include personal injury and advertising, fire damage, medical payments, bodily injury, and third party property damage, all of which are self explanatory.

Your industry will also play a role in the exact type of coverage you need. When looking for general liability insurance for small businesses, see if there is any custom insurance available. Choose a company that specializes in businesses like yours and has coverage tailored to the risks prevailing in your particular field. Consider the risks you are likely to face that might not be covered in a GCL or Business Owner Policy (BOP) and have those risks included in your coverage.

Another very important aspect to take into account is the ability to respond to claims. Get only small business general liability insurance from a company that has a lot of positive reviews, especially when it comes to response time to claims. Claims should be quick and easy to process. One particular provider to start with is Hiscox Business Insurance. Rates are fees, the claims process is quick, and Hiscox offers free instant quotes on its website.