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If you are starting an enterprise, you are almost certainly going to need some form of general liability insurance. Small businesses typically require at least some form of general insurance to protect the business from bodily injury, property damage, false advertising, or other such maladies, often in compliance with state requirements.
General liability insurance comes in a wide variety of forms and due to the wide variety of risk factors that different industries present, they are weighted to be industry-specific. Insurance companies often market these insurance products as “business insurance solutions†or something to that effect; the term “general business insurance†is usually an economic term that is used to identify businesses, even though they typically do not carry the term for identifying their products. In addition to general liability insurance, small businesses may need other forms of insurance such as malpractice and errors & omissions (if the business is a firm for lawyers, real estate agents, engineers, architects or medical practitioners) and product liability insurance (if the business is a manufacturer). It is also very common to purchase some amount of Employment Practices Liability Insurance, which protects against modern maladies such as sexual harassment, discrimination, and wrongful termination.
It is always a good idea to research your insurers before buying general liability insurance; small business insurance is a very important part of the enterprise, and having the wrong insurer could result in a very unfortunate (and expensive) situation for your business. Take a look at Netquote.com to get a good general idea as to how much the insurance package is going to cost you, and compare the best offers on JD Power and Associates. JD Power is a consumer advocate site that conducts surveys of customer satisfaction and logs them into a comprehensive database to aid consumers. Check out JD Power and get some more information about the insurer of your choice.
