Nearly every business needs some form of liability protection, but not every business needs ongoing coverage. Short-term liability insurance may be the best solution for companies that don’t need annual coverage. As the name suggests, short-term liability insurance provides coverage only when your business needs it.

Short-term liability coverage can be purchased for a specific time frame, as opposed to an annual insurance policy that’s “always on.” With Thimble, you can buy short-term policies by the job, month, or year.

The benefit of short-term business insurance is quite simple: don’t pay when you’re not working and keep more money in your pocket. Short-term liability insurance gives small business owners and independent contractors flexibility and affordability.

Do you need short-term liability insurance?

Short-term liability insurance is most appropriate for business owners whose work is episodic. Following are a few scenarios where short-term liability insurance may be appropriate.

You work in a seasonal industry— For instance, if you moonlight as a hiking guide in the summer, you certainly want to ensure that you’re not exposed to third-party bodily injury liability every time you take a group out. Short-term liability insurance can cover you just for the season, rather than you having to pay for an entire year.

You work on projects that have a limited duration – For example, if you have a part-time handyman business, you might work on a project-to-project basis, meaning it’s best for you if you only have to pay for insurance while you have a project.

You’re bidding on a project that requires proof of insurance – If you’re a general contractor bidding on a project, you may need to show a Certificate of Insurance (COI) to prove that you’re covered and for how long. A COI for short-term liability insurance shows that you have coverage, and you can maintain it just for the duration of the project.

You provide professional advice to clients – Say you’re starting your own career coaching business. Your job involves advising your clients, guiding them towards professional growth. You can purchase short-term liability insurance just for your coaching sessions until you build your business into a full-time gig.

Types of short-term liability insurance

There are two main types of business liability insurance, general liability insurance and professional liability insurance. Almost every business needs one or both types of coverage. Fortunately, both are available as short-term liability insurance policies.

Here’s what each type of insurance covers:

  • General liability coverage: Provides coverage for claims of non-employee, third-party property damage, or bodily injury. If you run a cleaning business and someone slips on a wet floor and sues you to cover the cost of their medical expenses, general liability insurance may cover the costs.
  • Professional liability insurance: Also known as errors and omissions (E&O) insurance, professional liability insurance protects against claims of negligence or inadequate work resulting in a client’s financial loss. Say you’re a computer programmer. Your client’s network crashes, leading the client to blame your software for the lost business. Professional liability insurance will investigate the claim, defend you in court, and pay the settlement if you’re held liable.

Both general liability insurance and professional liability insurance will provide for your legal defense and the settlement of claims if your business gets sued.

Pro tip: Liability insurance does not cover your employees or contractors who work with you. Instead, you must add subcontractors as Additional Insureds to your policy, and you’ll need workers’ compensation to cover your staff.

Coverage when you need it, and not a minute more

Short-term liability insurance may be the most affordable way for many businesses to make sure they have coverage only when it’s needed and not a minute more. And where can you get short-term liability insurance? At Thimble, of course.

Thimble specializes in making insurance simple, scalable, and flexible. You might call it our mission. We know that you need to move fast to get ahead in business. So we offer quick-thinking insurance that puts you in control as you grow.

Click “Get a Quote” or download our app to get short-term liability insurance in 60 seconds. Purchase, modify or pause coverage when you need to. Thimble puts you in the driver’s seat.

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