Consultants put themselves out there every day, providing advice and services to people and businesses. By doing so, they expose themselves to very significant risks.
The best way for consultants to manage these risks is to purchase insurance to protect themselves and their livelihoods.
This article will reveal the top 6 insurers for consultants and explain what consultants need to know to get the right coverage for them.
- The 6 best business insurance companies for consultants and consulting businesses
- What types of consultants should get insurance?
- Professional liability insurance for consultants and consulting businesses
- Why do consultants need professional liability coverage?
- What other types of insurance do consultants get?
- How much does business insurance for consultants and consulting businesses cost?
- How to get cheap business insurance for consultants?
The 6 best business insurance companies for consultants and consulting businesses
Thinking about getting insurance for your consulting business? Here are my top 6 providers for different reasons.
- CoverWallet: Best for consultants who want to compare coverages and policy prices FAST
- Simply Business: Best for a simple consulting business insurance buying process
- Hiscox: Best for consultants with unusual insurance needs
- biBerk: Best for low-cost consulting coverage
- The Hartford: Best for consultants who value ethical business practices
- Thimble: Best for new consulting businesses
CoverWallet: Best for consultants who want to compare coverages and prices FAST
CoverWallet is a cutting-edge Insurer. It developed its state-of-the-art platform from the ground up, based on its own data and information, to ensure it can connect consultants with all the business insurance they need at a fair price.
CoverWallet makes it quick and easy to get quotes from several providers simultaneously. This makes it easy to compare coverage and premium prices from several highly reputable insurance companies, all on a single screen.
The team at CoverWallet has used their knowledge and experience to make sure you only have to input the information needed to generate quick and accurate quotes. The entire process should take you less than ten minutes.
You can feel confident knowing that CoverWallet is a part of Aon, an established company with an excellent track record.
Once you get your quote, CoverWallet makes it easy to purchase business insurance online or through an agent. When you get your coverage from CoverWallet, it’s easy to manage your insurance online, including:
- Downloading certificates of insurance,
- Filing claims
- Renewing your insurance
- And more.
Here is a sample consultant insurance quote from CoverWallet.
Simply Business: Best for a simple consulting business insurance buying process
Simply Business isn’t just a company name: it’s how the firm approaches small business insurance for consultants. It promises to make it the buying process clear, simple, and affordable.
The company was founded in 2005 as an online business insurance brokerage. It has always specialized in protecting consultants and other small businesses.
The insurer will help you find the right consulting business insurance at the right price.
Simply Business is known for being:
- Fast and affordable
- Able to provide solutions tailored to the needs of different types of consultants
- Flexible when it comes to coverages and limits.
You owe it to yourself to get a quote from Simply Business for your consulting business insurance. Here is a sample one.
Hiscox: Best for consultants with unusual insurance needs
Hiscox offers a complete array of business coverages for consultants and other types of small businesses.
Hiscox makes it easy for consultants to purchase all the types of business insurance they need online. You can also speak with experienced consultant business insurance experts who can help you select coverage to meet your unique needs.
Hiscox also offers:
- Great service
- Fast quotes
- Instant coverage
- Quick claims processing
- And more.
If you choose Hiscox for your consulting business insurance, you can rest assured knowing you’re entrusting your livelihood to a firm in business since 1901. More than 400,000 businesses, including consultants, choose Hiscox for their coverage.
biBerk: Best for low-cost consulting coverage
Most consultants don’t have spare cash to spend on insurance. If that’s the case with you, biBerk could be your ideal insurer.
biBerk is a low-cost consulting business insurer. Despite saving money on your coverage, you can rest assured knowing you are getting quality protection for your business. biBERK offers lower insurance costs (by almost 20 percent) because it insures small businesses directly. You won’t have to pay the added expense of securing coverage through a go-between or insurance broker.
You can feel confident knowing biBerk is a part of Berkshire Hathaway, headed by well-known business man Warren Buffett. Berkshire Hathaway has millions of satisfied customers. It’s been insuring businesses for more than 75 years.
The Hartford: Best for consultants who value ethical business practices
The Hartford is one of the oldest companies in the United States. It’s provided insurance solutions to individuals and businesses for 200 plus years. It has helped one million-plus companies with their insurance needs.
The Hartford has been named a World’s Most Ethical Company by the esteemed Ethisphere Institute twelve times. The Hartford’s longevity and focus on ethical business practices make it a company that consultants can feel confident about getting their insurance from.
The Hartford’s dedicated and highly experienced team is available to help consultants explore their commercial insurance options. If you decide to purchase insurance from The Hartford, you can rest assured knowing you’re entrusting your consulting business to a strong, stable, knowledgeable, and ethical provider.
Thimble: Best for part-time consultants and new consulting businesses
Thimble is known for its flexible coverage. You can buy an insurance policy covering just a few days or a particular engagement. That is a perfect option for part-time consultants or new consulting businesses. For part-time consultants and new consulting businesses, you can just buy a policy covering a particular engagement for the period that you are engaged with the client. This will save you a lot of money, compared with a traditional full-year policy.
Thimble prides itself on providing consultants and other businesses with coverage fast. Their digital experience is the best in its class. You can get quotes, buy the policy, and download the certificate of insurance within less than 5 minutes. On top of that, it’s an A-rated insurer that’s earned a 4.7 out of 5 rating on Trustpilot.
Thimble can provide insurance per project for startup consultants and scale coverage as your business grows. You can modify, pause or cancel your protection anytime with no fees. This could be a good thing for consultants that are just getting their businesses off the ground.
Here is a sample quote from Thimble. The policy includes both general and professional liability coverage for a consultant.
Although this quote is cheaper than the quotes from CoverWallet and Simply Business above, it doesn’t mean that Thimble’s quotes for you is also cheaper. It is possible that for your particular consulting business, Thimble’s quote might be a lot more expensive than the ones you would get from CoverWallet and Simply Business. You can only know for sure after getting and comparing quotes from all of them. So make sure to get quotes and compare them all. It shouldn’t take you more than 7 minutes to get quote from each company. It’ll be worth your time.
What types of consultants should get insurance?
Different types of consultants can benefit from insurance, including:
- Business consultants
- Career coaches
- Communication consultants
- Computer and tech consultants
- Corporate trainers
- Crisis management consultants
- Economic experts
- Financial professionals – Learn more at the best E&O for investment advisors, financial advisors
- Tax consultants – Learn more at Tax preparer insurance: E&O, Other Coverages, & Costs
- Human resource consultants
- Insurance agents – Learn more at the best E&O insurance for insurance agents
- Leadership coaches
- Market research consultants
- Marketing professionals
- Media advisors
- Organizational structure consultants
- Public relations consultants
- Party planners – Learn more at the best event planner insurance companies
No matter how much experience you 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 the right insurance to protect your business.
Professional liability insurance for consultants and consulting businesses
Clients sometimes become dissatisfied with the advice offered by — or services provided by — even the most diligent and above-board consultant. Clients often sue consultants they’re unhappy with. Costs related to lawsuits and settlements can reach a million dollars plus, which is more than the typical consultant can afford. That’s why having business, especially professional liability, insurance is so important.
Professional liability insurance, which is often referred to as errors and omissions insurance (E&O), helps cover claims related to:
- Inaccurate or incomplete advice.
- Mistakes
- Negligence
- Omissions
- Misrepresentation
- And more.
If you don’t have consultant professional liability insurance, your business and personal assets could be at risk. A small investment in consultant business insurance will provide you with significant protection as you provide advice and services to clients.
Learn more at the best professional liability insurance for consultants
Why do consultants need professional liability coverage?
If you provide any type of advice or services to clients, it’s probably wise to get professional liability insurance. If someone sues you because they think you made a mistake (whether you did or not) in the service you provide or advice shared, the coverage will pay legal and settlement costs. If you don’t have insurance protection, you will have to pay these expenses, typically thousands of dollars, or more, out of your pocket.
Example: You’re consulting with the company president who wants to merge with another company. You conduct thorough research and conclude that the merger would be a smart move and recommend going through with it. The combined company underperforms your expectations and almost goes out of business. As a result, you get sued. Professional liability insurance can help cover your legal fees and costs to defend yourself and your consulting practice. It can also help pay for settlements and judgments awarded to the company that sued you.
What could happen if consultants don’t get liability insurance?
It’s easy for consultants to make mistakes that harm clients. If this happens and you don’t have professional liability protection, you could face costly:
- Attorney fees
- Court costs
- Defense expenses
- Settlements.
Learn more at Why Do Consultants Need Professional Liability Insurance?
What other types of insurance do consultants and consulting businesses get?
Consultants and consulting businesses often purchase the following coverages:
General liability insurance
General liability insurance covers claims against your consulting practice if someone (non-employee) is injured on your business property, or their property is damaged, and it’s your fault or the fault of someone working for you. General liability insurance also covers advertising injuries.
In short, you need this coverage if you visit clients or they visit you.
General liability insurance covers:
- Repairs to or replacements of someone else’s property if you or someone who works for you damages it.
- Medical bills if someone gets injured in your office or other business location.
- Costs associated with libel and slander or certain types of advertising mistakes.
Learn more at general liability insurance cost and the best general liability insurance companies
Business property insurance
If you work from home or have a professional office, you likely need business property coverage. It protects your business property and everything inside it against things like fire, weather damage, theft, and vandalism.
Workers’ compensation insurance
If you have people working for you, your state will likely require you to have workers’ comp insurance. It’s the law in most states. If you don’t have it, you’ll be fined, and the penalties can be severe.
Workers’ comp insurance covers medical bills, lost wages, disability, job retraining expenses, and more if an employee becomes injured or ill for work-related reasons. If you have workers’ comp, it’s almost impossible for an employee to sue you over a workplace incident.
Learn more at workers comp insurance cost and the best workers comp insurance companies
Cyber liability insurance
Cyber risk insurance, data breach insurance, and cyber liability insurance are all names for essentially the same coverage. If you electronically store confidential, personal data about your clients or others, you should consider this coverage because all that stored data makes you a target for cybercriminals.
Cyber liability insurance can’t prevent an attack (only a cyber security expert can do that). But it can help you recover from one. Here are just some of the costs cyber insurance can cover:
- Investigating a cyber attack.
- Communicating to customers about an incident.
- Repairing and restoring your website, systems, software, and data.
- Lost income resulting from an attack that prevents you from doing business.
- Legal fees and damages if you’re sued for losing or exposing private data.
Be aware that some insurers will give you technical support 24/7 when you report a hack or attack. You may also get training to help prevent cyber issues, as well.
Learn more at cyber liability insurance cost and the best cyber insurance companies
How much does business insurance for consultants and consulting businesses cost?
The average cost of business insurance for consultants is $60 per month or $720 per year. This is for a professional liability insurance policy only, which is the most important business insurance policy for consultants and consulting businesses.
If you add more coverages, the premiums will increase. Below are the average cost breakdown for different coverages:
| Business insurance coverages for consultants | Average costs |
| Professional liability insurance | $60 per month |
| General liability insurance | $35 per month |
| Business Owners Policy | $50 per month |
| Cyber liability insurance | $70 per month |
These are just the averages. Your rates will be different. Be sure to shop around with a few companies. Work with a broker like Simply Business, InsurePro, or CoverWallet is a good way to compare several quotes fast and easily.
What factors affect business insurance cost for consultants?
Every consulting organization 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, such as healthcare, is riskier than in others.
- Coverage types. The number and types of coverage significantly impact premium prices.
- Coverage limits. A higher limit will 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 rates.
- Location. Consultants in some places, especially big cities, are more likely to be sued. Coverage in these areas costs more.
- Number of employees. Single-person businesses pay less for insurance than consulting companies.
Each of these factors affects business insurance prices differently. The best way to determine your consulting business insurance cost is to get quotes from several insurers and compare coverages and premium prices to find the best deal.
How to get cheap consultants business insurance?
Given the risks consultants are exposed to in their everyday’s work, business insurance isn’t too expensive and definitely not worth skipping. Even if you consider it expensive, there are still ways to reduce the cost. Below are a few tips:
- Only get the coverages that you need. You definitely need to get professional liability coverage. But you may not need general liability or commercial property coverage. If you are a financial consultant or you have access to your client’s sensitive information in your consulting work, you may need a cyber insurance policy as well.
- Manage your policy’s coverage limits and deductibles. Decrease the policy’s coverage limits and increase deductibles will reduce your premiums
- Follow your industry’s safety standards and practices. This will help earn your insurance discounts.
- Shop around to compare quotes: Lastly, never settle on the first quote. Shop around to compare several quotes before making your financial decision. Shop with top brokers like CoverWallet and Simply Business is a good way to compare several quotes fast and easily.
