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.
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.<p>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.<p>My recommendation would be to talk with an attorney familar with the software industry regarding your liability.<p>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.<p>The good news is that it is relatively easy to purchase insurance and insurance agents produce standardized documents (binders) that document coverage.<p>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.<p>Good luck.
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.<p>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.
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.