There are two really important phrases that will mean a lot to you if you
ever have to make a claim on your insurance, whether it’s your commercial
general liability, workers compensation, employee practices liability, commercial
auto, and many additional types of business policies. The terms are “per occurrence
limit” and “aggregate limit”. For our purposes, let’s look at a typical commercial
general liability policy.
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A small construction company may have a general liability policy with an
aggregate limit of $2,000,000. This may lead the company owner to believe
that if a house his crew is working on is damaged in a fire, his insurance
company will cover the damage up to the amount of $2,000,000. This common
misconception is untrue. Many insurance policies, including commercial general
liability policies, have “per occurrence” limits, meaning that they will pay
up to a certain amount of money per occurrence.
The construction company owner above may have a $2,000,000 aggregate limit
with a $1,000,000 per occurrence limit, which means his insurance company
will only pay up to $1,000,000 for the damaged home. If damages were to exceed
$1,000,000 for this occurrence, or claim, the construction company owner would
be responsible for the difference. When you are in the market for an insurance
policy, please make certain that you understand the difference between an
aggregate limit and a per occurrence limit.
Ask your insurance broker to detail the coverage limits, so there are no surprises
in the event of a loss. It will probably look something like this on your
policy: $2,000,000 General Aggregate $1,000,000 Per Occurrence Limit.
We’re always happy to review our clients’ policies with them so they know
exactly how much financial support to expect when disaster strikes.
Review your options with a DCI Agent to learn more.
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