
Ask HN: Do you have business insurance? - 1986v
I am sitting on a potential client that requires our company to have insurance.  My group is small and all of my staff is contracted and work remotely.<p>I looked into Hiscox and it sort of seemed straight forward in terms of policies and what we do but, I would rather hear what is used (and the expense) from actual customers vs an insurance salesman.  I was told Professional Liability is what would best fit me since it encompasses data loss, business to business services and software usage.<p>We have been in business for 9 years now and this is the first time this has come up, so whether you are a freelancer or business owner I would like to know:<p>1) Who you use for business insurance
2) What does your policy cover
3) Your expense (not necessary if you are not comfortable sharing)
4) How long have you had insurance<p>I almost feel silly for not having this before but, I have also read elsewhere that it is not something entirely mandatory.
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brudgers
In my vocation, architecture, professional liability insurance is useful
because in most {all?} US jurisdictions a licensed architect is personally
responsible for the work appearing under their seal [Professional Engineers
are similarly liable]. So professional liability insurance covers the gap
between contractual non-performance for which liability can be passed to a
corporate entity such as an LLC or S-corp [in most but not all US
jurisdictions] and liability for errors and omissions in the delivery of
professional design services.

For programming/software development services it is unlikely [in the US] that
there would be any liability which could not be assigned to a corporate entity
because there is no licensed profession with regulations prohibiting such
assignment. That's not to say that errors and omissions insurance isn't
useful, but rather that owing to the lack of an established reasonable
standard of care for the practice of programming and a lack of direct personal
liability, it's less clear cut.

My recommendation would be to talk with an attorney familar with the software
industry regarding your liability.

On the other hand, it is very common for established businesses to require
general liability insurance for anyone with whom they contract and such
policies are essentially commodity priced starting at a few hundred dollars a
year. In many US jurisdictions, established enterprises will also require
proof of Worker's Compensation policies.

The good news is that it is relatively easy to purchase insurance and
insurance agents produce standardized documents (binders) that document
coverage.

Finally, you can roll the cost of insurance into your proposal. It will be
helpful to know exact coverage requirements when speaking to an insurance
agent, but my experience has been that it is usually the minimum requirement
for Worker's Comp and a very basic general liability policy. Anything more
expensive prevents them from hiring ordinary services such as janitorial and
lawn maintenance.

Good luck.

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trcollinson
I currently carry a number of types of insurance for personal and business
liability. I have, as yet in my long years of having the insurance, never had
a claim made against it. I would suggest speaking with your insurance agent
and seeing what is available. I honestly can't remember all of my business
liability insurances but the one most of my clients who care for proof of
insurance ask for is E&O (Errors and Omissions). I pay about $450 a year for
the entire company through Farmers Insurance which covers $5,000,000 in
liability. I also strong suggest to most people an Umbrella Liability policy.
I carry $2,500,000 in personal Umbrella Liability which covers and whole lot
of different circumstances and I pay $72 a year for it.

Again, I have never had anyone make a claim against any of it, and in a lot of
ways it's just for my own peace of mind.

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BorisMelnik
Yes, I am bonded and have professional liability insurance. I have no idea who
I use (my best friend is an insurance broker and manages it) I don't know what
it covers and my expense is about $119 / month.

