What Does General Liability Cover?

Does your business need general liability insurance? The truth is that if you own a business that sells products or services, you should have business liability insurance. This insurance financially protects you against bodily injury and personal property damage claims.

Why You Should Get General Liability Insurance for Your Florida Business

To understand general liability insurance, just think about all the product recalls where someone was injured or killed while using a company’s product. For example, if you create and design a hand cream or lotion and that product burns someone’s skin or causes a severe rash, you could be held liable. If you design ceiling fans and faulty screws are given with the product that causes a blade to come loose and fly into someone’s six-thousand dollar TV, you could be held liable for the damages. Without general liability insurance, your company could be forced to pay for these incidents out of your operational budget. For small businesses, just one claim of this nature could put them out of business.

What General Liability Insurance Covers

General liability insurance covers bodily injury, property damage, and personal injury.

Bodily Injury

Bodily injuries are considered injuries and illnesses that happen as a direct result of your products or operations. For example, if you operate a physical location and someone trips and falls due to water on the floor or flooring that needs to be replaced, you could be held liable. The good news is that your general liability insurance policy is designed to cover the costs of the customer’s medical expenses related to the injury they received on your property.

Property Damage

Property damage coverage is designed to pay for repairing or replacing a customer’s property if it is damaged by one of your products or your business operations. For example, if you own a cleaning business and one of your employees knocks over an expensive vase and breaks it, your general liability insurance would cover the cost of repairing or replacing the vase.

Personal Injury

If you are accused of libel or slander by a customer, your general liability policy is designed to cover the costs of the lawsuit, including the costs for the lawyers, legal paperwork, and administrative costs as well as judgments and settlements.

What General Liability Insurance Does Not Cover

While general liability covers numerous scenarios, it’s important to note that it does not cover everything. General liability insurance does not cover automobile accidents for your company’s vehicles. It does not cover employee injuries or illnesses that occur as a direct result of the work they perform for you. General liability doesn’t cover you if you make a professional mistake, and it doesn’t cover you if your business’ property or building is damaged.

Other Business Insurances to Consider in Florida

To be fully protected, you may need additional insurance policies. Some other types of business insurance to consider include:

  • Commercial Auto – Commercial car insurance helps financially protect your business if one of your commercial vehicles is in an accident.
  • Professional Liability Insurance – If you make a mistake in the course of providing your professional services and a client sues you, this insurance helps pay for the costs of the lawsuit.
  • Workers Compensation – Workers’ compensation insurance is designed to help pay for illnesses and injuries that your employees receive while performing their jobs.
  • Commercial Property Insurance – Commercial property insurance helps pay for damage to your building. It usually covers things like fire, theft, vandalism, and certain types of storm damage. It’s important to note that commercial property insurance does not cover flooding.
  • Commercial Umbrella Insurance – Commercial umbrella insurance helps pay for claims that exceed your standard coverage limitations.
  • Flood Insurance – Flood insurance helps pay for damage that is a result of flooding from a severe storm.

Getting Commercial Liability Insurance in Florida from Fearnow

If you need commercial liability insurance, our agents at Fearnow can help you find the right policy for your needs. After all, customer medical expenses from slips and falls and injuries they receive from your products or on your property, legal fees from lawsuits, and replacing the expensive personal property of your customers could put a severe dent in your business finances. Thankfully, a commercial liability insurance policy can give you peace of mind when it comes to dealing with those types of incidents. We can also give you quotes for commercial auto insurance, flood insurance, commercial property insurance, and workers’ compensation insurance.

To get a quote for a commercial liability insurance policy or another type of business insurance, give us a call at 813-689-8878.