Commercial Insurance Business Owners Policy (BOP) Commercial Auto Commercial Flood Commercial Property Commercial Umbrella Data Breach Directors & Officers (D&O) Employment Practices Liability Environmental - Pollution Liability General Liability Product Liability Professional Liability (E&O) Workers Comp Personal Insurance

Illinois General Liability Insurance (QUOTES, COST & COVERAGE)

Get Illinois general liability insurance quotes, cost & coverage fast. Commercial general liability protects your IL business from another person’s or entity’s claims involving bodily injury or property damage.

Illinois General Liability Insurance

It may be hard for you to imagine how your business could cause another person serious harm or even death. But if you are ever found liable for someone harm or injury, general liability insurance can provide financial protection.

A business that purchases commercial Illinois general liability insurance, is covered for the cost of defending and settling real or fraudulent claims pertaining to bodily injury, that may be faced by a customer at the place of business or injuries sustained by employees at the client’s workplace; property damages; personal injury as a result of defamation; operations liability and advertising injury up to a maximum amount as stated in the contract.

Illinois general liability insurance is the most foundational business insurance. It covers non-professional negligent acts.

Does My Business Need IL General Liability Insurance?

One of the most trying situations a business owner can face is liability claims for injury or damages to third party. Any business is exposed to bodily injury and property damage claims and the resulting litigation from the your business operations.

Legal fees and judgements can put small companies out of business. A Illinois general liability insurance policy would provide defense costs for a covered claim and pay damages if the business is found legally liable.

What Does Illinois General Liability Insurance Cover?

General liability is commercial coverage that is designed to provide financial protection for businesses from many types of risk exposures. A General liability insurance policy has 3 main parts of coverage; Bodily Injury and Property Damage Liability (Coverage A), Personal and Advertising Injury (Coverage B) and Medical Payments (Coverage C). Following are some of the most important coverages:

  • The cost of medical care claimed by the injured party. For example, if a customer slips and falls on your premises and requires medical treatment, your policy would cover the costs.
  • Restitution for death and loss of services.
  • Compensation for physical damage to other people’s property and loss of use of the same. Even if you’re careful it’s still a possibility that something your business does, or doesn’t do, could cause damage another person’s or businesses property.
  • Compensation to consumers for loss on account of using company manufactured products and retribution for loss due to services rendered by the company. So if something your business manufactures or a service your company provides causes an injury, your policy can pay for any resulting damages including legal expenses.
  • Contractual liability coverage for any liability is assumed by entering into contracts like lease agreements for the building, elevator maintenance agreements or indemnity agreements.
  • Coverage for hired and non-owned autos. Hired would be liability coverage for rented vehicles and non-owned is if employees use their personal auto on company business – like running to the bank or office store for supplies.
  • Liquor liability if you do not sell, serve, furnish, manufacture or distribute, alcoholic beverages , your general liability insurance policy will cover you if are held liable for a liquor-related incident.
  • The costs of legal defense. These costs commonly include compensatory damages, nonmonetary losses suffered by the injured party, and punitive damages.
  • Coverage for advertising injuries as a result of publishing inaccurate information.
  • Protection for violation of someone’s right to privacy and infringing on another company’s copyright, title or slogan.

What Illinois General Liability Insurance Doesn’t Cover

General liability typically does not cover:

  • Professional mistakes – Only professional liability insurance (E&O) can cover lawsuits due to negligence and professional mistakes.
  • Damage to your property – General liability only covers third-party property damage. You need business property cover yours.
  • Employee injuries – CGL only covers non-employee bodily injuries. You will need workers compensation to cover employee injuries
  • Employment disputes – Employment Practices Liability Insurance (EPLI), not general liability, covers lawsuits if an employee sues over harassment, wrongful termination, discrimination, and similar issues.
  • Damage to your vehicles – Commercial auto will cover damages to your vehicles.

Claims-Made vs Occurrence

When buying commercial general liability it’s important know the difference between a claims-made or occurrence policy:

Claims-Made – Provides coverage over a specific time period, and only covers claims that are made during that time period – even if the claim happened at a different time. So if you had a policy that cancelled on January 1, 2020 – then a claim was filed on February 1, 2020 for an injury that happened on December 1st 2019 – you WOULD NOT have coverage.

Occurrence – This policy is different because it covers claims that occurred during a specified time period, and will not cover claims that occurred before the policy was effective. So if you had a policy that cancelled on January 1, 2020 – then a claim was filed on February 1, 2020 for an injury that happened on December 1st 2019 – you WOULD have coverage (if it wasn’t exlcuded from the policy).

How Much Does Illinois General Liability Insurance Cost?

How much does Illinois general liability insurance cost? The premiums vary depending on the amount of risk exposure, and it depends on the endorsements and deductible selected. Following are some of the main factors that go into the price of a policy:

  • Type of business (contracting, service, retail etc.)
  • General liability classification code
  • IL business location
  • Years in business
  • Business experience
  • Annual payroll
  • Annual revenue
  • History of claims

Further Reading On Commercial General Liability Insurance

IL General Liability Insurance Quotes

Illinois Insurance

Request a Illinois General Liability Insurance quote in Arlington Heights, Aurora, Bartlett, Belleville, Berwyn, Bloomington, Bolingbrook, Buffalo Grove, Carol Stream, Carpentersville, Champaign, Chicago, Cicero, Crystal Lake, DeKalb, Decatur, Des Plaines, Downers Grove, Elgin, Elmhurst, Evanston, Glenview, Hanover Park, Hoffman Estates, Joliet, Lombard, Moline, Mount Prospect, Naperville, Normal, Oak Lawn, Oak Park, Orland Park, Palatine, Park Ridge, Peoria, Plainfield, Quincy, Rock Island, Rockford, Romeoville, Schaumburg, Skokie, Springfield, Streamwood, Tinley Park, Urbana, Waukegan, Wheaton, Wheeling and all other cities in IL.

Illinois Insurance Rules And Regulations

There are regulations governing insurance in IL that you should be aware of that cover both business and personal insurance. These include the limits associated with certain types of insurance as well as the actual regulations that govern these insurance categories - as well as regulatory agencies. Let's take a close look at the regulations for insurance in Illinois.

Illinois Business Insurance

The first type of insurance that we will discuss is Illinois business insurance. The most common type of business insurance is called General Liability. Liability insurance protects businesses in a number of ways, but the main way that you can think of this type of insurance is as coverage for when someone brings a lawsuit against you for something that happens on your premises. So, for example, if someone were to slip and fall on a freshly-mopped floor within your store, then you might be responsible for their injuries. Liability insurance protects you in instances like these.

However, there are some types of business insurance that are required by law. The first is standard in almost every state, and it is known as Worker's Compensation insurance. In some states, you have to have a certain number of employees before you are required to carry this type of insurance, but in Illinois, if you employ at least one person either full-time or part-time, you have to have Workees comp.

IL Personal Insurance

There are a couple of different types of personal insurance that are regulated by law in Illinois that you need to be concerned with. The first is auto insurance. Any private individual that operates a motor vehicle must carry liability insurance on that vehicle with certain limits reached. The insurance companies are already aware of these limits and the insurance that they offer provides them. The limits are 25 000 USD per person with a total maximum payout of 50 000 USD per accident. In addition, there must be another additional 25 000 USD provided for property damage.

There are also some regulations governing life insurance in Illinois that you should be concerned with. Life insurance is regulated under Title 215 in the State of Illinois Statutes. One regulation is that Illinois residents are given a minimum period of 10 days to evaluate the life insurance. You can cancel at any time during these 10 days and receive a full refund. In addition, insurance companies must provide a guarantee of death and claim payment as well as cash value. Finally, insurance companies must provide a timely payment of claims and keep your medical information private.

Scroll to Top