Skip to content
CoverMatch
MATCH GUIDE

Matching general liability: how the comparison works

QUICK ANSWER

General liability pays when your business is blamed for injuring someone or damaging their property, and for the lawsuit that follows. To quote it, carriers want your operations, revenue, locations, years in business and loss history. CoverMatch sends one application to every eligible carrier, lines the quotes up limit by limit beside the policy you have today, and shows the differences in plain language before you buy.

Add your policies Get matched
Reviewed by Michael LaBarbera, Licensed property & casualty agent, Provident Financial Group · Reviewed Oct 11, 2026 Updated
Coverage scoreEvery policy in one wallet
General LiabilityRenews in 47d
Workers' CompensationLive cert ✓
Business Owner's PolicyCan switch
CoverMatch Two of your three quotes carry a $2M aggregate; the third stops at $1M. Your lease asks for $2M.
01 / WHAT UNDERWRITERS ASK
  • What exactly the business does, in your words — class codes follow from the description
  • Annual revenue and, for some classes, payroll or square footage
  • Each location and whether you own it or lease it
  • Years in business and your experience in the trade
  • Claims in the last five years, open or closed
  • Whether you hire subcontractors and collect certificates from them
  • Contract requirements you need to meet: additional insured, waiver, primary and non-contributory
02 / WHAT MOVES THE PRICE
  • Class of businessA bakery and an excavation contractor carry very different injury and damage exposure.
  • Revenue or payrollThe rating base; more activity means more exposure.
  • Limits and aggregateA higher per-occurrence limit and aggregate cost more; many contracts set a floor.
  • Loss historyRecent paid claims raise the quote; a clean five years helps.
  • EndorsementsBlanket additional insured and waiver forms add a little and save certificate work later.
Direction only — the carriers' quotes carry the figures.
03 / HAVE READY
  • Your current declarations page, if you have one — scanned into the wallet it prefills most of the application
  • Last twelve months of revenue and a projection
  • Addresses of every location
  • The insurance clause of any lease or contract you need to satisfy
  • Loss runs from your current carrier if you have had a claim

What general liability actually responds to

Three things, in practice: a customer or visitor is hurt on your premises or by your operations, your work damages someone else's property, and personal and advertising injury claims such as libel or a copyright complaint in your marketing. Products and completed operations coverage extends the first two to things you sold or work you finished. Each of those has its own line on the declarations page, which is why the comparison shows them separately.

How CoverMatch compares the quotes

Your one application goes to every carrier appointed for your state and class. As quotes come back, each one is read twice, checked against what you asked for, and placed in a grid: the policy you have today in the first column, each quote beside it, every limit and every endorsement on its own row. Where a quote is lower than your current policy on a line that a contract requires, the row says so. Where a quote adds something, the row says that too. The summary under the grid states only facts from the quotes themselves; a licensed agent can walk through anything that needs judgment.

Reading a general liability quote

Look at six numbers and two forms. The numbers: each occurrence, general aggregate, products and completed operations aggregate, personal and advertising injury, damage to rented premises, and medical expense. The forms: whether additional insured status is blanket (automatic for anyone your contract requires) or scheduled (one name at a time), and whether a waiver of subrogation is blanket. Blanket forms are what let live certificates issue instantly, so the comparison flags them.

Where quotes commonly fall short of a contract

A lease or client agreement often asks for a $2M aggregate, additional insured on a primary and non-contributory basis, and a waiver. A quote with a $1M aggregate, scheduled additional insured and no waiver can look cheapest and still fail the contract. The requirement rows in your wallet are matched against each quote so the gap is visible before you buy, not when the certificate is rejected.

After you buy

The policy lands in your wallet, live certificates switch on, and renewal autopilot shops the market about sixty days before the term ends, with the renewal offer shown alongside the new quotes.

Questions people actually ask

Does general liability cover my own injuries or my employees'?

No. It covers injury and property damage to others. Your employees are covered by workers' compensation, and your own medical costs by health insurance.

What is the difference between the occurrence limit and the aggregate?

The occurrence limit is the most the policy pays for one incident; the aggregate is the most it pays in the whole policy year. Contracts usually name both.

Why do two quotes for the same limits differ so much?

Carriers classify businesses differently, weigh loss history differently, and include or exclude things like products liability and contractual liability. CoverMatch shows the coverage differences next to the price so the cheaper quote is not a surprise later.

Can I buy general liability alone or do I need a package?

Both exist. A business owner's policy bundles general liability with property and is often the better value for a shop or office; contractors and service businesses often buy general liability on its own.

MANAGE IT IN THE APP

Every policy, renewal and live certificate in one wallet.

Scan a dec page and the card appears. Share a live certificate link that updates itself. Get matched when a renewal comes around.

Add your policiesGet matched

Keep reading

MATCHMatching abuse and molestation coverage: how the comparison works MATCHMatching bailee coverage: how the comparison works MATCHMatching builders risk: how the comparison works MATCHMatching business income coverage: how the comparison works MATCHMatching a business owner's policy MATCHMatching commercial auto MATCHMatching commercial crime coverage MATCHMatching commercial earthquake coverage: how the comparison works