Commercial General Liability (CGL) and Commercial Umbrella Insurance
As a business owner, it can be an overwhelming process to find the commercial insurance policy that best fits your business’ needs. Fortunately, our expert agents at Insurance Town & Country are outlining two of the more familiar commercial policy terms; Commercial General Liability (CGL) and Commercial Umbrella Insurance.
As an Independent Insurance Agency in business for more than 30 years, our agents at Insurance Town & Country know the importance of having a commercial policy that best represents your business. Having the proper insurance for your business can grant you peace of mind and allow you to focus on the day-to-day operations with the knowledge that your business, employees, and assets, are protected.
Commercial General Liability (CGL) and Commercial Umbrella Insurance are two of the more popular commercial insurance policies. In order to best serve you, we have outlined the CGL and Umbrella policies to allow you to make the most informed decision and better evaluate which policy(s) you need for your business, just a CGL or both.
When looking at the two coverage plans, it is important to know that Umbrella Liability is not simply separate from, but rather it is in addition to Commercial General Liability. That is, Commercial General Liability provides basic business coverage, as a coat would in cold weather. Yet Commercial Umbrella Insurance will provide excess liability coverage, for covered perils that exceed the coat’s ability to protect your business from; Commercial Umbrella Liability Insurance provides an additional layer of coverage to further protect your business.
- Commercial General Liability (CGL) provides coverage for doing business. CGL insurance protects business owners against claims of liability for bodily injury, property damage, and any slander or false advertising.
- Commercial Umbrella Insurance is excess liability coverage that goes beyond the underlying CGL. You must have a CGL policy in order to have Umbrella coverage.
To further illustrate the difference let’s take a look at a real life situation. A small business has a Commercial General Liability policy. That policy has a stated maximum that the insurer is responsible for paying while the policy is active, and more specifically, a stated maximum per occurrence.
This small business’ CGL covers a stated maximum of $1,000,000 per occurrence and a maximum aggregate coverage amount of $2,000,000. In the event that they are sued for $1,300,000, the insurer will pay $1,000,000 for that occurrence and the business will be responsible to pay $300,000.
This is why many businesses choose to add Commercial Umbrella Insurance; since it will begin to cover where general liability coverage ends and can cover payments that exceed the limits of your CGL. If this small business had CGL and Umbrella, they may not be responsible for any of the $300,000.
All in all, Commercial General Liability is imperative for any business owner, but Commercial Umbrella Insurance can drastically help in covering any excess damages or potential liability.
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