My husband is starting a welding business and we got a quote today from an insurance company for Commercial Liability Insurance that includes coverage for his tools as well. What does this all cover, I understand the tools part (for the most part) but I do not completely understand what commercial liability covers. I tried Google’ing it I just got "get a quote sites".
First things first, the agent you obtained the quote from should be more then willing to explain this to you. If not, then do yourself a favor and obtains quotes from other agents/brokers.
Basically liability can be defined as:
"An individual or business may incur a loss as a result of their actions toward other people or their property. Such losses are called liability losses. A liability loss occurs when a person is determined to have been responsible, or liable, for loss to another person or another persons property and is required to make financial restitution"
As a welder your husband needs to understand what risks he may be responsible or liable for? What actions might cause harm to another person or their property?
Does he have a shop where he might have customer coming and going? The most common exposure for this is trip and fall. What if someone enters his shop and trips/slips and they hurt themselves? He could be held responsible for their safety and Commercial Liability would cover this.
What is he welding? You need to make sure your quote(s) include coverage for Products & Completed Operations. This would cover his actual "welding" as this is his completed operation.
For example: say your husband welded on a trailer hitch to a truck. The owner of the truck then hooked up their trailer and went on their way. After a few miles the hitch gave way causing the trailer to disconnect from the vehicle wrecking into another vehicle. Later they determined the weld on the trailer hitch was the cause of the accident and your husband gets sued for faulty workmanship.
This could be considered his responsibility and is exactly why you would purchase liability coverage.
Liability is not always clear cut as to what is covered and what is not. Unfortunately often times there is no black or white (what is or is not covered).
Hope this helps and good luck with your business