Having Ontario Professional Liability Insurance can protect you and your business in the event you are served a lawsuit.
We provide professional liability insurance services across Ontario, Canada.
Our goal is to focus on the need of professionals. Getting the right insurance policy that adequately protects the business is a must today. We provide liability insurance for over 100 professions Ontario wide!
Below you will learn all about what this coverage is, why you need it as a professional, why more and more companies today are asking for this coverage, and why having a policy for your business is totally worth it!
What is Professional Liability Insurance Coverage?
Professional Liability Insurance also known as Errors and Omissions Insurance (E&O) and Professional Indemnity Insurance financially protects professionals when they get sued by clients or third parties that incur financial damages or losses as a result of negligence, errors, and or mistakes.
Why do I need to have insurance? & What is the Cost of Professional Liability Insurance?
The purpose behind purchasing a professional liability insurance policy is to protect yourself from future liability that may occur as a direct or indirect result of your services provided to clients or third parties. In the case of a lawsuit, clients that incur a loss come directly after the professionals responsible. A liability insurance policy protects you the professional in this case by providing financial protection. As a professional, losses may be caused due to negligence, mistakes, failure to deliver, or other unexpected events. As a result, you may find yourself being involved in a lawsuit.
Your defense costs (court costs) can be covered by your insurance policy. Law suits today can be extremely costly and can accumulate expenses that range in the $100,000’s, it is best to secure yourself today rather than suffer tomorrow. If you want to learn more about the type of coverages offered under a PLI policy, please go to this page.
The cost of a professional liability policy varies from profession to profession. As an example, a yoga instructor pays $190 for the whole year for million dollars coverage and an IT consultant pays anywhere from $600-$2,000. We quote you on an individual basis considering your exposures. This is what makes our brokers competitive in the market.
At this point, you may have more questions such as:
- Do I need to have general liability insurance and professional liability insurance?
- What type of professionals require professional liability insurance?
- How do I apply?
We at ProfessionalsCoverage strive to provide our customers and clients answers that are important and applicable to them. Below you will find answers to more questions that can help you decide if you should have insurance or not.
Please find the list of professions we commonly insure below:
Many professions in Ontario require liability insurance to be present prior to providing any professional services to the public.
If your profession is not listed below, please contact us. We can do our research and find you a market that has good coverages and fair rates!
Do I need both General Liability insurance and Professional Liability Insurance?
Do not mistake a General Liability Insurance (CGL) policy for a professional liability insurance policy. They are DIFFERENT. CGL covers physical damages on your property and more. Professional liability covers you for liabilities, claims, and lawsuits that arise as a result of your profession. There is fine line that separates these two coverages. They are often bought by business owners who provide professional services and also have an office where clients visit.
An example would be an accountant that provides tax consulting and has an office space where clients come and to discuss their finances. Claims arise out of both physical and professional situations. It is best to insurance yourself with a business insurance policy that is a combination of PLI & CGL coverage if you are a business owner.
If you would like to know more, head over to page: General Liability vs Professional Liability.
The broker should be able to conclude if you need both professional liability and general liability insurance along with a ballpark premium amount that you should be paying after you provide them:
- Description of your business operations
- Risk exposures that you feel exist
- Expected 12 month gross revenues
- Description of the type of clients you have or may have
- Precautionary measures you take with each client
Most industries today have a mandatory requirement through their governing bodies that require professionals to obtain a minimum liability insurance limit. Examples of these industries would be physicians, consultants, engineers, and accountants. You as a professional may find that the fine line between landing a contract with your client and losing the business is being adequately insured by a policy.
We must also keep in mind that in some industries, not having liability insurance can violate the law while practicing.
Professional Liability Insurance for Ontario Companies – Example: Consultants & Accountants
Professional liability insurance for consultants is not just bought for ones peace of mind. The basic industry standards require individuals practicing as consultants to maintain a minimum liability coverage limit which is usually over 1 million dollars. The clients today are more aware about the importance of dealing with professionals who are covered by an insurance policy.
During a survey in Toronto, Canada, 100 consultants were asked the reasons behind their success and failures in their career. Over 35% of the professionals mentioned not being insured up to client requirements as a reason behind failing to land projects. The majority mentioned being insured with a good insurance company such as LLoyds of London and Intact Insurance as a key to client satisfaction.
Accountants today operate out of offices in the city downtown or sometimes from a small room in their basement. Location being a high end office or a room in a house, the chance of getting a lawsuit from a client does not change. We must keep in mind, it’s your services that can cause damages, not just the location. It is often misunderstood by professionals that Accountants professional liability insurance is not necessary. This is absolutely incorrect!
A fair warning
If you are a professional who offers services for a cost or voluntarily, your actions/services/outcomes can potentially cause financial damages to other parties. When such a situation occurs, there is usually a very direct outcome; being served with a lawsuit. Even if you are a business owner who operates from home and provides any sort of professional services, you must buy professional liability coverage to protect yourself from financial loss with insurance as your shield.
Not only may you be covered for the amount of the lawsuit up to the policy limit, you may also opt to have a coverage which shields you from the lawyer costs that incur while defending or representing you in court.
How do I get a quote? What is the application process?
For some professionals, we can provide you instant professional liability insurance quotes over the phone after understanding your business’ insurance needs. If you do not fit our instant issue programs, we have a standard procedure that we use in house. You can also checkout our guide on how to get a professional liability insurance policy.
Let’s use an engineer as an example
Every time we get a call from an Engineer, the first question always asked is something like, “Can you please give me a quote for a civil engineer”? We understand your needs and want to provide you the best and lowest quote ASAP. Saying that, we must keep in mind that there is a process to quoting professionals.
There are 2 types of quotes, the predetermined prices for which we can provide in seconds & the others that we have to quote on case by case basis. Although sometimes quotes are not available the right second demanded, we can always provide you details of the coverage that you will receive. This gives you an idea of the policy coverages you will receive along with a ballpark premium range.
The process
When we receive a request from let’s say an engineer, the first step we take is process it with our broker partners. The step following that is marketing your submission to specialized insurers to obtain a custom quote. Keep in mind, our brokers and agents place millions of dollars in business with these insurance companies so getting special rates isn’t far fetched especially if a program exists with fix prices and coverages for a given profession! Once we receive multiple quotes (The turn around time is between 1-3 days), our commercial department analyses and provides your broker a proposal which contains the best coverage for the lowest premium.
If you agree and are comfortable with the proposal, we proceed to binding your insurance which can be done within a few hours.
Need coverage in effect? Compare the market!
Other useful pages that you should read
- How much professional liability insurance coverage do I need?
- What is the difference between claims made & occurrence form of coverage?
- When will I need to be insured?
- Disability insurance
Why Choose ProfessionalsCoverage?
We have been in the industry for many years! This has allowed us to build reliable relationships with brokerages and agencies that are contracted with Canada’s leading insurance companies. We have been contacted for thousands of policies across Canada and arrange insurance from single individuals to groups containing more than 12,000 members. We can get you fair rates and fast turnaround time on policies! Get your professional indemnity aka E&O insurance policy through us today!
Refer to our list of professions that we commonly arrange insurance for above. If your profession is not listed, contact us Toll Free 1.888.480.7677. We can find a specialized broker that can arrange a custom professional liability insurance policy just for you!