CGL insurance helps you pay for the harm you might do to others while doing business. The risks of such accidents are your liabilities. They might exist on your property, within your products or around the services you or your employees provide. Liabilities affect all businesses at all times.

If your business is responsible for any accident that harms a third party, then the business might have to repay that person. Such costs, including legal fees and settlements, could significantly impact your finances and long-term outlook. With the assistance of a CGL policy, you can meet these obligations without suffering significant income losses. Therefore, you'll offer yourself better stability.

Most CGL policies contain several types of coverage:

• Bodily Injury Liability Insurance: This coverage pays when someone sustains an injury when visiting your business or when working with you.
• Property Damage Liability Insurance: If you accidentally damage someone else’s property, then this coverage can pay for the repairs or replacement of these items.
• Personal Injury Liability Insurance: Allegations might arise of libel, slander, false arrest or similar actions by the business. Personal injury coverage helps you fight these claims.
• Medical Payments: If a client gets hurt in the business, this coverage allows the business to compensate them without establishing fault. Coverage might help you avoid injury lawsuits.
• Products/Completed Operations Insurance: The items you make could harm someone else, or a project you complete might fail. This coverage can help you pay when such accidents occur, even if the accident occurs long after the work finishes.

You might also be able to expand your liability coverage with protection like cyber liability, employment practices, hired/non-owned auto, advertising injuries or other specialized protection.

In many cases, you can buy your CGL coverage as part of a business owners policy (BOP). It is often cheaper to buy a BOP, which contains several additional types of insurance, as opposed to buying your liability coverage separately.

You don't want your business to fail because you face an insurmountable liability cost. Therefore, the amount of liability coverage you need should accurately reflect the business' value. Some of the factors you can use to determine these limits include your:

• Property values
• Number of employees
• Business income
• Sole-proprietorship status
• Customer base
• Industry risks

Our businesses insurance experts can ably help you consider how each of these factors impact your liability insurance limits.

Contractors must tailor their CGL coverage to specific business risks. Electricians might need different coverage than plumbers or general builders.

Most policies cost less than $1,000 per year for small businesses, and you will often save if you choose to buy coverage through a BOP. All the same, CGL premiums can vary based on multiple factors, such as your:

• Chosen coverage limits
• Industry
• Location
• Size of the business
• Turnover rates
• History of insurance claims

Your Hembree Insurance agent is more than happy to help you research and compare policies to both fit your coverage needs and your budget.