Commercial General Liability

So often we have a client reach out stating they have a new business and are required to carry general liability insurance. There are undoubtedly a lot of confusing steps to the process of starting a new business, but insurance doesn’t need to be one of them. The process is quite easy and a lot of policies can actually be issued online in a matter of minutes on our online “quoter”.  

Your commercial general liability insurance protects your business in the event that you are negligent in your normal day to day business operations resulting in bodily injury or property damage to a third party. In simple terms, this means the failure to do or not to do what a reasonable person would or would not do. This could be something as simple as a customer tripping and falling at your store. Or perhaps the product you manufactured or the food you prepared caused some sort of harm to a customer.  If you are indeed found responsible your liability insurance is there to protect you from costly court and legal fees as well as the settlement. Commercial general liability insurance is so much more than a requirement but a necessity that provides peace of mind to any company. 

In order to obtain the correct coverage for your business, we as brokers need to ensure we understand your operations as a whole. In this part of the process we will begin gathering the standard underwriting information. Basic business information is a great place to start with details such as business name, mailing address, contact information, etc. easy details like this. Then we dive a little deeper into your actual operations. Two of the main rating factors of a general liability policy are your business operations and your gross receipts. What are you doing and how much of it? A detailed description of your day to day gives a good view of the type of business you’re actually conducting. Accurate gross receipts show exactly how much work the business has done or is intending to do. Knowing these details allows the underwriters to provide quotes on the correct coverage and adequate limits. Other details such as years’ experience, certification, claims history, are also taken in to account. Often we have clients reach out advising they would like a policy that matches a colleague. As you can see from the above, each policy is tailored to that specific client based on the information provided. 

$2,000,000 is the office standard for a general liability policy here at Swift. Often we hear, “Is that enough? “. This can be a difficult question to answer… enough coverage really comes down to what you are comfortable with. Your general liability limit can be increased to $3,000,000 – $5,000,000 and even higher. In the event of any liability claim it can be difficult to assess what the damages might be. We as your broker can help you determine a comfortable limit to match your operations. 

Whether it be for the new business you’ve always dreamed of starting or an established company where you are looking to review your policy, visit our online “quoter” here.  You may also reach out to any of our experienced commercial brokers for a discussion on how we can best suit your needs.  Contact us at 1-833-277-9438 or by email at cl@csinsure.ca  We look forward to working with you!