All businesses need some type of insurance. The last thing that you need as a business owner is to find out that your business is not covered when something goes wrong. However, this means that you have got to be on the ball when it comes to insurance.

One policy that you are going to need is general liability insurance, and in this article, we’re going to be looking at some of the information that you need to know about it. Keep reading if you would like to find out more about general liability insurance, including what it is, who needs it, and why.

What Is General Liability Insurance?

General liability insurance provides businesses owners with the opportunity to protect themselves if someone is trying to sue the company for something. These kinds of claims are extremely common, and this type of insurance helps to protect from claims of copyright infringement, reputational harm, bodily injury, advertising injury, and even property damage.

Your policy should help to protect you against any bodily injuries and property damage that your business may have caused. This could be a fall from a customer or an accident with one of your employees.

Who Needs General Liability Insurance?

Ideally, all businesses need this type of insurance as it is the kind that covers many bases. It’s more common than not that you are going to see this policy attached to small businesses, but larger companies can massively benefit as well. Your business will never be too big to be threatened by someone suing your company. In fact, the bigger your business, the bigger pay day people will imagine when they see you.

The reason that you see more small businesses having this type of protection is because they can’t afford the claims. While the insurance doesn’t mean you get away paying no reparations for what occurs, it means that you get off relatively easily. For example, the average cost of a slip and fall claim is around $20,000 and small businesses simply do not have the funds to cover this.

Why Do People Need General Liability Insurance?

General liability insurance protects businesses, and this is the long and short of it. People need general liability insurance to ensure that if someone brings about a claim against them, fact or fiction, it will not cripple them. Even small claims can cost a business tens of thousands of dollars, and if your business is still new, or not on solid ground with finances, it could be the end of the business.

We’re sure that you have heard the saying “it’s better to be safe than sorry”, and that is exactly what this insurance is for. Keeping your business safe and protecting it from any threats that may emerge are two of the most important things that you can do for your company. Getting a general liability insurance policy is one of the best ways to do this.

What Is Covered Under General Liability Insurance?

There are five kinds of liability claims when it comes to general liability insurance. The first is a bodily injury that your business causes. This is one of the most common claims and comes about if someone claims to be injured in your place of business. Your insurance would cover their medical costs, which is what they would seek if they took action against you.

There is also copyright infringement, which comes about when you are accused of using someone else’s work without their permission. This is usually has to do with your marketing.

Then you have reputational harm, which will occur if you said something about another business in a news interview that has negatively affected their business. This could be related to the business owner, the business in general, or a particular aspect, such as their service, product, or employees.

Property damage is one of the other most common general liability claims, and this is where someone’s property has been damaged while at your business. This also includes things such as if your employee’s break something in a client’s home when visiting on business. It’s common to see these kinds of cases go to court, and this rule now applies to electronic data as well.

The final liability claim is advertising injury. This happens if your business defames another person, business owner, or company. It’s important to understand that paying out even a single general liability claim is going to be expensive, and can take its toll on your business. Instead of allowing this to happen, get general liability insurance and protect yourself.

What Does It Not Cover?

As you can see from above, there are a lot of things that are covered by general liability insurance. But, there are also some things that are not covered. For example, business related auto accidents won’t fall under this category, nor employee injury or illness. Damage to your business property, claims that exceed your policy limit, illegal acts that were completed on purpose, or mistakes in professional services are also not covered under general liability insurance.

You will need different policies if you want to be covered against any of these, which we highly recommend.

Purchasing General Liability Insurance in NJ

We hope you found this article helpful and that you now have a better understanding of general liability insurance. Ideally, businesses need this type of insurance if they want to remain safe in any industry. The amount of claims that this insurance can protect your business from is astronomical, and you’ll be kicking yourself if you don’t invest in it before something unfortunate happens.

If you are interested in purchasing this kind of insurance, get in touch with Harrah & Associates to see what we can do.