As a consultant, you do important work by providing expert advice and counsel to people and organizations that need it. In doing so, you expose yourself to risks every single day you’re on the job. It’s important that you have business consultant insurance to protect yourself from the risks you face so you can keep providing support to your clients for years to come.
Consultants typically purchase a number of different types of insurance to protect all aspects of their businesses, but the most important is professional liability insurance. It will cover you if you ever make an error in the consulting services you provide and are sued by a client.
In this article, we’ll reveal the top five insurers for consultants and explain professional liability insurance along with other coverages consultants typically purchase. It will help you get the insurance you need to protect your consulting business.
- 5 best business consultant companies
- What is professional liability insurance for consultants?
- Do consultants really need business liability coverage?
- What types of consultants should get liability coverage?
- What could happen if I don’t get consultant liability insurance?
- What other business insurance coverages do consultants typically get?
- How much does business consultant insurance cost?
- How to find cheap business consultant insurance
5 best business consultant companies
Thinking about getting insurance for your consulting business? Here are our top 5 providers for different reasons.
- CoverWallet: Best for business consultants who want to compare quotes quickly
- biBerk: Best for low-cost coverage for business consultants
- Hiscox: Best for consultants with unique insurance needs
- The Hartford: Best for consultants looking for a sound and ethical insurer
- Insureon: Best online business insurance buying experience
CoverWallet: Best for business consultants who want to compare quotes quickly
CoverWallet is a cutting-edge insurance provider. The firm has developed its own state-of-the-art platform, based on its own algorithms, to ensure it is able to connect consultants with all the business insurance they need, at the most reasonable price. The platform makes it quick and easy to get quotes from several providers at once, allowing you to compare quotes from highly reputable insurers all on a single screen.
The firm’s experts have used their extensive experience to make sure you only have to input the information needed to generate quick and accurate quotes. The entire process should take you ten minutes or less.
You can feel confident knowing that CoverWallet is a part of Aon, an established company that provides advice to businesses on things like risk, health, and retirement.
Once you get your quote, CoverWallet makes it easy to purchase business insurance online or through an agent. When you get your policy through CoverWallet, it’s simple to manage your coverage online, including downloading a certificate of insurance, filing a claim, renewing your insurance, and more.
Here is a sample consultant business liability insurance quote from CoverWallet.
biBerk: Best for low-cost coverage for consultants
After the last two years, few consultants are sitting on extra cash to spend on insurance. If that’s the case with your consulting business, biBerk could be the ideal insurer for you.
biBerk is a low-cost business insurance provider. Despite saving money on your consulting business coverage, you can rest assured knowing you’re still getting quality protection for the business you’ve worked so hard to build. biBERK is able to lower insurance costs by almost 20 percent because it insures small businesses directly, without the added expense of having to work through a middleman or insurance broker.
You can feel confident knowing biBerk is a part of Berkshire Hathaway, a company headed by well-known investor Warren Buffett. It’s a firm that has millions of satisfied customers that’s been insuring businesses for more than 75 years.
Here is a sample quote from biBerk.
Hiscox: Best for consultants with unique insurance needs
Hiscox offers a complete array of business coverages and is a leading insurer that specializes in small business insurance.
Hiscox makes it easy for consultants to purchase all types of business insurance online. You can also speak with experienced business insurance experts who can help you customize your coverage to meet your unique consulting business needs. Hiscox also offers top tier service, provides fast quotes, instant coverage, and quick claims processing.
If you choose Hiscox for your business coverage, you can rest assured knowing you’re entrusting your consultancy to a firm that’s been in operation since 1901. More than 400,000 businesses choose Hiscox for their coverage.
The Hartford: Best for consultants looking for a sound and ethical insurer
The Hartford is one of the oldest companies of any kind in the United States. It’s been offering insurance solutions for 200 plus years and has helped one million plus businesses with their insurance needs. The company takes pride in the fact that the Ethisphere Institute named The Hartford a World’s Most Ethical Company twelve times. The Hartford’s longevity and focus on ethical business practices makes it a company that consultants can feel good about doing business with.
The Hartford’s dedicated and highly experienced small business team is available to help consultants explore their business liability and other commercial insurance options. If you decide to purchase insurance from The Hartford for your consulting practice, you can rest assured knowing you’re entrusting your business to a strong, stable, knowledgeable, and ethical provider.
Insureon: Best online business insurance buying experience
Insureon is the top independent online small business insurance marketplace in the United States. The company makes it simple for consultants to get and compare quotes from top insurance providers. You can also buy coverage, manage your insurance and make claims online. If you prefer, you can always work with a trained and licensed agent.
Insureon has been in business for more than a decade. It’s provided insurance to more than 350,000 small businesses, including many consultancies. It has written more than one million policies.
Here is a sample quote from Insureon.
What is professional liability insurance for consultants?
In order to achieve success, consultants have to work diligently and hard for clients to help them achieve their business goals. However, despite doing their best, clients may become dissatisfied with a consultant’s work, which could result in a lawsuit. That’s why having business insurance is so important. Professional liability insurance, which is often referred to as errors and omissions insurance (E&O), can help cover claims related to:
- Errors
- Omissions
- Negligence
- Misrepresentation
- Inaccurate advice.
If you don’t have professional liability insurance for consultants, you and your business’ assets could be at risk. A small investment in consultant business insurance can go a long way in helping protect you as you provide services to your clients.
Learn more at the best professional liability insurance for consultants
Do consultants really need business liability coverage?
If you provide advice or services directly to customers, you should add professional liability insurance coverage to your overall consultant business insurance plan. If someone sues your business because they believe you made a mistake (whether you did or not) in the services or advice provided, the insurance would cover legal and settlement costs. If you don’t have coverage, you’d have to pay these expenses, which are typically many thousands of dollars, out of pocket.
Example: You’re consulting with the president of a company that wants to grow its operations. You work hard and do your due diligence, but the strategies you recommend backfire because of an unexpected change in the economy and the company takes a big loss. As a result, they sue your consulting business. Professional liability insurance can help cover your legal fees and costs to defend yourself and your business. It can also help pay for settlements and judgments awarded to the company that sued you.
What types of consultants should get liability coverage?
Different types of consultants can benefit from having this type of insurance. Some examples include:
- Business management consultants
- Career coaches
- Communication consultants
- Computer consultants
- Tax preparers – Learn more at the best tax preparer insurance companies
- Accountants – Learn more at the best professional liability insurance for accountants and CPAs
- Corporate trainers
- Economic research experts
- Financial advisors – Learn more at the best business insurance for financial advisors
- Human resource advisors
- Insurance agents – Learn more at the best E&O insurance for insurance agents
- Leadership coaches
- Market research consultants
- Marketing advisors
- Media advisors
- Public relations and crisis management consultants
- Organizational structure consultants
- Wedding planners – Learn more at the best business insurance for wedding planners
No matter how much experience you may have as a consultant, you can still make mistakes. Senior consultants often take on more complex projects that expose them to a greater risk of errors. Giving wrong or incomplete advice can cost clients a lot of money and they can sue you to recover it. That’s why it’s critical to have professional liability insurance to protect your livelihood.
What could happen if I don’t get consultant liability insurance?
Because of the nature of the work they do, consultants could make an error at any time that negatively impacts a client financially. If this happens and you don’t have insurance, you could face costly:
- Attorney fees
- Court costs
- Defense expenses
- Settlements.
Here are some examples of incidents covered by consultant liability coverage:
- Providing advice to a client that causes them to lose money. For example, if you advise a client on how to increase their sales but your plan causes them to drop, they will likely sue you for the expense of working with you, lost sales, and damages.
- Not completing a job according to the agreed upon terms. Let’s say you own a market research firm. You promise to deliver the research on an agreed upon date. You deliver it late, they are not able to act on your advice on time, and it causes them to lose money. Your client sues over the loss because of your late deliverable.
- Forgetting something in the services you provide. Imagine you’re a wedding planner. You agree to hire a photographer and you forget to do it. The bride can sue you over the misstep.
In all these cases, consultant liability insurance would help cover legal and settlement costs. Ask yourself: Could you afford to pay them if you’re ever sued, as the consultants in the examples were?
What other business insurance coverages do consultants typically get?
Here are some other common coverages purchased by consultants:
- Commercial auto. Most consultants drive a lot. If you have an accident while driving for work reasons, for instance, visiting a client’s office, your personal auto insurance won’t cover it. You need to have commercial auto insurance. Learn more at the best commercial auto insurance companies and the cheapest commercial auto insurance companies.
- Commercial property insurance. If you have a business location or work out of your home, you need commercial property insurance to protect the physical space and it’s contents. Learn more at the best commercial property insurance companies.
- Cyber insurance. Consultants depend on their computers. Cyber insurance covers you if you’re ever the victim of a data breach or other type of cyber crime. Learn more at the best cyber insurance companies and the best data breach insurance companies.
- Workers’ compensation. If you’re a solo consultant, it’s likely your state doesn’t require you to carry this coverage, but it’s a smart idea to have it. Learn more at the best workers comp insurance for sole proprietors. If you have employees, you probably have to get it by law. It covers you and the people who work for you are injured or become ill for work related reasons. Learn more at the best workers comp insurance companies and the cheapest workers comp insurance companies.
How much does business consultant insurance cost?
Every consulting firm is unique, so the cost of coverage varies. Insurers consider many factors to determine premium costs including:
- Claims history. If you haven’t made a claim on your policy, it will result in a lower insurance rate.
- Type of consulting work. Consulting in certain industries is riskier than others.
- Coverage limits. A higher limit can increase your policy cost.
- Experience. You’re less likely to make a mistake if you’ve been in business for a long time. Experience pays off with lower insurance costs.
- Location. Consultants in some locations are more likely to be sued. Insurance in these areas costs more.
- Number of employees. Single person consultancies will pay less for insurance than consulting companies.
Each of these factors affects business insurance costs differently. The best way to find out your professional liability and overall business insurance cost is to get quotes from multiple providers and compare coverages and costs to find the best deal for you.
Here is the cost summary from the 5 top providers above:
| Carrier – coverage | Monthly cost |
| Hiscox | $102 |
| Chubb | $130 |
| biBERK | $101 |
| Philadelphia Insurance company | $87.25 |
How to find cheap business consultant insurance?
If you are a consultant, getting business insurance is necessary to protect your valuable consulting business. The good news is that business consultant insurance doesn’t need to break your bank. Below are a few tips to find cheap business consultant insurance.
- Compare different quotes: Check out different insurers online or offline or a digital broker to get quotes. Be sure to always compare several quotes and choose the cheapest that works for you.
- Maintaining your business consultant insurance coverage steadily. If you have gaps in your business liability insurance coverage as a consultant, your premiums might increase as a result
- Always ask for discounts: If you also need other business insurance policies, you can have access to discounts. Most insurance companies offer bundles with at least a 4% discount.
- Choose the right coverage limits and deductibles: Business consultant insurance may come with different coverage limits and deductibles. Lower coverage limits and higher deductibles will result in lower premiums.
