Best Professional Liability Insurance Providers
Help protect your Small Business with the best Professional Liability/Errors & Omissions (E&O) Insurance providers in 2024.
What is a Professional Liability Insurance?
Professional Liability Insurance, also known as Errors & Omissions Insurance (E&O) helps protect Small Business Owners against claims made for service or advice provided that didn’t meet the expectations of a customer. The scary thing is – you could be sued even if you didn’t do anything wrong – and with the cost of defending yourself in court at all time highs, it’s usually a smart coverage to have for Small Business Owners that provide a service or advice. Because Professional Liability Insurance is often confused, it’s important to note that unless added as an endorsement to a Business Owners Policy (BOP), these exposures are not covered by a General Liability policy. A General Liability policy will help cover you against injuries or property damage from your operations or products and services.
So what kind of businesses need Professional Liability Insurance?
- Accountants
- Lawyers
- Consultants
- Advertising Agencies
- Real Estate
- Graphic Designers
- IT Consultants
- Lawyers
- Engineers
- Architects
- Photographers/Videographers
- etc
How Much Does Professional Liability Insurance Cost?
The cost for a Professional Policy varies based on a number of factors. Generally these factors include, but are not limited to the industry of the business, the amount and type of employees on staff, and business experience. According to Insureon[1], an online insurance agency that focuses on Small Businesses, the average cost of the Professional Liability Policy is about $97/mo.
Best Overall Professional Liability Insurance: Hiscox
Hiscox makes getting getting Professional Liability easy. Whether it’s directly through them, through an association they are referred by, or interfacing with an agent, Hiscox leads with Professional Liability and because of their stance in the space, gets our nod as the Best Overall Professional Liability Insurance Carrier.
Hiscox delivers their product to a fairly broad set of business types, and their product features are meant for industries providing services or advice for a living. When you get a quote with Hiscox, their process allows for a Small Business Owner to get a quote, a policy, and proof of insurance within a matter of minutes. Their ability do all of those things sets them apart from the pack – and keeps Hiscox as a recognized leader for Small Business Insurance, let alone Professional Liability. One knock on Hiscox is their inability to do much more than print your Certificate of Insurance online. Their service and claims experience is fairly poor, however based on investor call feedback, is a huge priority to digitize around the corner.
Why We Like Them
- Recognized leader in the space with a good Professional Liability product.
- Get a quote, buy a policy and print proof of insurance within minutes of starting – tough to find a company comparable below.
Why We Don’t
- Online service and claims experience (outside certificate of insurance) is not ideal.
2nd Place: The Hartford
Hartford and Hiscox. Hiscox and Hartford. See a trend? In our opinion, these companies are a couple of titans in the Small Business Insurance space, but do differ on approach for this product.
Their strategies vary so much – Hiscox promotes Professional Liability heavily, while Hartford is less inclined – that we have a hard time ranking them so highly. But when you look under the hood, we realized The Hartford’s Professional Liability policy might be one of the best kept secrets in this product category.
While they don’t seem to offer insurance to as many business types, or have the ability to buy online like Hiscox, Hartford does make up for the those deficits with a good product, sound quote experience and an exceptional online service center that allows you to manage your policy online better than most. It’s these features that make The Hartford a great option for Professional Liability Insurance for your Small Business.
Why We Like Them
- Seamless quote experience, exceptional online service account.
- Good, under-the-radar E&O product.
Why We Don’t
- No ability to purchase policy online.
- More limited in types of businesses they write than others on list.
3rd Place: BiBerk
BiBerk’s comes in third place for our Best Professional Liability Insurance review. If you are looking for E&O insurance and don’t mind going directly to a carrier to get buy the insurance, Bi-Berk might be the option for you. Small Business Owners’ that prefer to go to an agent to consult the right coverage and limits for their Small Business might be disappointed when they don’t see Bi-berk as an option. Some of the savings Bi_berk incurs from distributing their product directly is passed back to the Small Business Owner through savings – offering up to 20% off your policy. We found that on paper the BiBerk Professional Liability product was offered through a similar subset of business types as the companies below, but perhaps not much broader beyond that. It’s a good company, backed by a great company that is certainly making its mark on the Small Business Insurance scene. You could do a lot worse by buying this coverage, from this company.
Why We Like Them
- Get your quote and policy online in around 5 minutes
- Great customer experience, as represented in their reviews.
Why We Don’t
- If you prefer an agent advisor, Bi-Berk likely won’t be an option for you
4th Place: CoverWallet
CoverWallet comes in as our fourth ranked Professional Liability Insurance company. CoverWallet is not a Small Business Insurance carrier, but what they do offer is a marketplace that suggests a carrier for each Small Business Owner based on the information they provide during the quote process. Think of it like an online agent – understanding what carrier is right for you based on the information you provide upfront.
CoverWallet has a fairly easy quote application process. Similar to the partners above, to be on this list you have to have an online presence, and they are no exception. Combine this with knowledgeable and helpful staff over the phone -if needed-and you have the makings for a promising outlet for your Professional Liability Insurance needs. Similar to some of the other large marketplaces and online brokers, some of the experiences don’t include some of the top insurers above. If you want The Hartford’s E&O coverage, for example, you won’t find it with CoverWallet, which might pose a problem to certain Small Business Owners.
Why We Like Them
- Aim to find you the right insurer based on the information you provide
- Easy quote and insurer match process
Why We Don’t
- Missing some top insurers as partners
5th Place: Tivly
Tivly comes in as our fifth-place Professional Liability option for Small Business Owners. Like CoverWallet, Tivly makes it easy for the Small Business Owner looking for Professional Liability insurance but unsure where to go for it. You fill out a short lead form, then almost immediately talk to a sales support representative, and based on your inputs help direct you to the right Small Business Insurer capable of providing the Professional Liability coverage needed for your business. The only knock on Tivly is their seemingly lack of online Small Business Insurance quote optionality, which is a stark difference from a company like CoverWallet. What they lack online, they make up for with fast and efficient offline capabilities.
Why We Like Them
- Fast, easy way to find the right insurance, from the right company
- Strong partner options
Why We Don’t
- Limited online quote capabilities
6th Place: Simply Business
Simply Business rounds out our best Professional Liability insurance companies, serving as another formidable marketplace with a solid foundation of carrier partners and the ability to find Small Business Insurance for a variety of business types. Simply Business has a good online application capability with solid offline support if you have questions along the way. We did notice a few obvious omissions from their Insurance carrier partnerships, and if you had to heart set on finding the right Insurance carrier partner amongst a larger list of options, you might be better served elsewhere.
Why We Like Them
- Growing in the US Small Business Insurance space
- Strong online capability and seeming able to find insurance for many business types
Why We Don’t
- A few notable gaps in their Insurance carrier portfolio
How We Ranked Insurance Providers & Marketplaces
We spent hours canvassing the marketplace for the Best Professional Liability Insurance companies, reviewed them based on the coverages they offer, their respective positions in space, ease of doing business and overall customer experience to help best align our Small Business Owner followers with the right insurance solution for their Business.
Disclaimer
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