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Business Liability Insurance – Compare Cheap Quotes

As the name suggests, business liability insurance is a specific type of public liability insurance policy that is designed to insure businesses against the risk of lawsuits or compensation claims if a member of the public is injured and the business is held liable.

It’s not just liability claims for physical injuries that business liability insurance policies can protect the business against, though – if a member of public sues the business because their property or belongings were damaged or destroyed this type of insurance can cover the resulting legal expenses and compensation pay-outs in those cases too.

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Do retail businesses have a legal obligation to take out business liability insurance?

No, as it’s a form of public liability insurance businesses aren’t legally obliged to take out business liability insurance, and that holds true no matter what the business does.

However, retail, catering and hospitality businesses likely have the most to gain from this kind of insurance policy, since the nature of their business means they have a higher risk of a liability claim being brought by a member of the public.

Does business liability insurance cover the business if an employee caused an injury?

Yes, provided the injured person was a member of the public (the business’s own customers fall into this category, as do visitors, delivery people and salespeople from other businesses) rather than one of the business’s own employees, then a liability claim that arises due to the actions of one of that business’s employees should be covered by business liability insurance.

Does the accident have to happen on the business’s own premises in order for it to be covered?

No, not necessarily.

If you’re insuring a retail, catering or hospitality business then any accidents that happen at your shop, restaurant, cafe or hotel should be covered. However, if your business provides a delivery service or runs events at other venues then you could just as easily face a liability claim if something happens at one of those locations, but fortunately your business liability insurance will usually cover you in those cases as well.

How much does business liability insurance cost?

Some types of businesses have a higher risk of public liability claims than others, so the exact nature of your business will have a significant impact on the cost of your business liability insurance.

A range of other variables will also be used to calculate your premium, many of which are specific to you (your location and the crime rate in your area, the amount you’d like to be covered for, whether or not you’ve claimed on a public liability insurance policy in the past) so it’s difficult to provide any sort of meaningful figure without comparing real quotes.

It’s also worth bearing in mind that there are a wide range of add-ons that can be bundled with your business liability insurance, and those can have a significant impact on your insurance premium too.

What other types of add-ons can I bundle with a business liability insurance policy?

There are a number of different add-ons you can bundle with your liability insurance, but some of the most popular ones include:

• Employers’ liability insurance: If your business employs staff you have a legal obligation to take out employers’ liability insurance, even if those employees only work for you on a part time basis.
• Product liability insurance: If your business sells physical products and a fault with one of those products leads to a member of the public being injured in some way this type of insurance could cover the resulting legal fees and compensation claims.
• Directors and officers insurance: This type of add-on is specifically intended to protect the business’s senior management against the risk of liability claims, which could arise if it was argued that the business was mismanaged in some way and that in turn resulted in losses for third parties.