What does commercial general liability cover?

Asked by: Jeffrey Runolfsson  |  Last update: July 27, 2023
Score: 4.1/5 (75 votes)

Commercial general liability insurance covers claims arising from injuries or damage that your business caused, such as: Damage to someone's property. Bodily injury. Personal injury, like libel and slander.

What does a commercial general liability policy cover?

A Commercial General Liability (CGL) policy protects your business from financial loss should you be liable for property damage or personal and advertising injury caused by your services, business operations or your employees. It covers non-professional negligent acts.

What is not covered under commercial general liability insurance?

A general liability insurance policy won't help your business with: Commercial auto accidents that you or your employees cause while driving for work. A commercial auto insurance policy can help you cover the cost of damages.

What is the difference between general liability and commercial general liability?

General liability insurance (GLI) can help cover claims that your business caused bodily injury or property damage. This coverage is also known as commercial general liability insurance (CGL). You can get GLI as a standalone policy or bundle it with other key coverages with a Business Owner's Policy (BOP).

What are the three sections of commercial general liability?

In technical terms, there are three primary coverage sections that make up a CGL policy: premises liability, products liability, and completed operations. A CGL policy protects your business from financial loss resulting from claims of injury or damage to others caused by you or your employees.

Commercial General Liability Insurance 101

15 related questions found

Does commercial general liability cover bodily injury?

Commercial general liability (CGL) is a type of insurance policy that provides coverage to a business for bodily injury, personal injury, and property damage caused by the business's operations, products, or injuries that occur on the business's premises.

How many coverage parts are in a commercial general liability policy?

Five sections make up the CGL: coverages, who is an insured, limits of insurance, conditions, and definitions. Coverages are available on either an occurrence or a claims-made basis for bodily injury and property damage, personal and advertising injury, and medical payments, each subject to many exclusions.

Does commercial general liability cover errors and omissions?

General liability lives up to its name – it's generalized liability coverage for lawsuits, property damage, and advertising injuries. E&O only covers lawsuits over the financial losses someone experienced because of your work.

Does commercial general liability cover death?

General Liability insurance will defend your business and indemnify a third party if you are responsible for someone else's injury, disease or sickness, general liability insurance pays expenses such as : Medical care costs, Loss of services and Court-awarded compensation for deaths or injuries that result from an ...

Does a general liability policy cover theft?

General liability insurance won't cover your business equipment or property against theft or damage. You need a commercial property insurance policy to cover these types of problems.

What kinds of business related items does insurance not cover?

What Isn't Covered by Business Insurance? Losses from certain types of natural disasters, floods and other major weather events may not be covered by standard commercial property insurance policies. The same applies for customers' property that is stored at your business.

What is excluded under the CGL policy?

The CGL excludes coverage for property damage to property occupied by the tenant, who is the named insured in this example. Important exceptions to this exclusion should be noted—the exclusion for property damage to premises occupied or rented to the insured does not apply to damage by fire.

What does a liability insurance cover?

Liability insurance provides protection against claims resulting from injuries and damage to people and/or property. Liability insurance covers legal costs and payouts for which the insured party would be found liable.

What does a commercial umbrella policy cover?

A commercial umbrella policy increases your liability coverage to provide extra payouts that help you cover substantial claims. This type of insurance can feasibly protect your company from any liability claim, including libel, reputational damage, vehicular accidents, product liability, or customer injury.

What is covered under errors and omissions?

Errors and omissions insurance, also called E&O insurance, protects businesses against claims of mistakes, negligence, inadequate work, inaccuracies, misrepresentation or similar allegations. Your business should have E&O insurance if it provides services to customers for a fee.

What does errors and omissions coverage cover?

E&O insurance is a kind of specialized liability protection against losses not covered by traditional liability insurance. It protects you and your business from claims if a client sues for negligent acts, errors or omissions committed during business activities that result in a financial loss.

Is E&O covered under umbrella?

Umbrella liability insurance does not cover:

Errors and omissions insurance (E&O) can cover lawsuits over professional mistakes, including undelivered services and missed deadlines. You can buy a policy called excess liability insurance, or excess E&O, to boost your E&O limits.

What are the most common types of commercial insurance?

The most common types of commercial insurance are property, liability and workers' compensation. In general, property insurance covers damages to your business property; liability insurance covers damages to third parties; and workers' compensation insurance covers on-the-job injuries to your employees.

Is general liability the same as bodily injury?

Bodily injury liability usually refers to general liability insurance. This is often the first type of coverage that small business owners buy, as it can pay for expensive lawsuits brought by clients or customers who suffer an injury or property damage at your place of business.

What is the difference between liability and insurance?

Liability coverage protects you from the other driver's expenses should you cause an accident, while a full coverage policy also covers your own vehicle's damages, regardless of whether the damage is from a collision or not.

Does CGL cover warranty?

Under standard CGL analysis, that event qualifies as an occurrence which results in property damage. It does not matter that the cause of action was for contractual breach of warranty rather than negligence.

What are the 3 most common insurance needs that all businesses must have?

It combines:
  • General liability insurance.
  • Commercial property insurance.
  • Business income insurance.

What insurance is most important for a business?

1. General Liability Insurance (GLI) General liability insurance helps protect your business from claims that it caused: Bodily injury to someone else.

What are the 5 kinds of insurance useful to business?

5 Types of Business Insurance
  • General Liability Insurance. General liability protects your business from a variety of unexpected situations. ...
  • Product Liability Insurance. ...
  • Professional Liability Insurance. ...
  • Commercial Property Insurance. ...
  • Home-Based Business Insurance.

What is the difference between general liability and professional liability?

The main difference between general liability and professional liability is in the types of risks they each cover. General liability covers physical risks, such as bodily injuries and property damage. Professional liability covers more abstract risks, such as errors and omissions in the services your business provides.