Other

Questions

• Additional insured vs certificate holder — what is the difference?

  They differ in kind, not degree: a certificate holder receives a document proving your insurance exists, and the document grants nothing. An additional insured is endorsed onto the policy itself and can claim defense and payment under it. A contract that says "name us as additional insured" is asking for the endorsement, not the paper.

• Amazon seller insurance requirements — the compliance mechanics

  Amazon requires commercial liability insurance once gross proceeds exceed $10,000 in a month: at least $1 million per occurrence and aggregate, naming "Amazon.com Services LLC and its affiliates and assignees" as additional insureds, deductible no greater than $10,000, insured name matching your legal entity. Proof is a certificate uploaded in Seller Central — and most rejections are paperwork errors.

• Client wants to be added to our snow insurance — what are they asking for?

  They're almost certainly asking for additional insured status: coverage rights under your general liability policy for slip-and-fall claims arising from your snow work — not just a certificate proving you're insured. Granting it usually costs little or nothing in premium. What it costs is exposure: their defense draws on your policy, your limits, and your claims history.

• Do I need business insurance if I have an LLC?

  Yes — an LLC and insurance solve different problems. The LLC separates your personal assets from the business's obligations; it does nothing to pay a claim, fund a legal defense, or protect the business's own assets. And no insurance mandate turns on entity type: requirements attach to employees, vehicles, and contracts, not to the letters after your name.

• Do I need business insurance if I work from home?

  Usually yes, because the policy you're counting on — homeowners — wasn't built for this. Most US homeowners policies cap business property at about $2,500 inside the home and $250 away, and tend to exclude business liability entirely. The fix is mechanical: a homeowners endorsement, an in-home business policy, or a business owner's policy, scaled to the operation.

• Do I need business insurance?

  It depends on two triggers, not on your size. Hire an employee and most states mandate workers' compensation; put a vehicle in the business's name and state auto liability laws apply. Nearly everything else — general liability, property, professional coverage — is mandated by contracts: leases, client agreements, lenders, and platforms demand what the law never will.

• Do photographers need a certificate of insurance?

  Yes — whenever a venue, studio landlord, or corporate client demands proof of insurance before you shoot, which for working photographers is routine. The certificate itself is free and can be issued the same day you buy a policy. What you actually need to own is the liability coverage the certificate describes; the paper follows automatically.

• Does insurance cover food spoilage from a power outage?

  Usually not under a base commercial property policy — utility failure starting off your premises is the classic gap. Coverage comes from a spoilage endorsement (ISO form CP 04 40), which pays for perishable stock lost to refrigeration breakdown, contamination, or power outage, with its own limit and deductible — and, for outages, only if off-premises interruption was selected.

• Should I file an insurance claim or pay out of pocket?

  It depends on three numbers: the loss against your deductible, the premium impact at renewal, and the three-to-five-year claims history — your loss runs — that every future insurer will read. Self-paying small first-party losses is often rational. But report anything involving an injury or a third party promptly, even if you expect to absorb the cost.

• What is commercial insurance?

  It depends on who's asking — the term means two things. In property-casualty, commercial insurance is the business side of the industry: liability, property, workers' comp, auto, and related lines, more than half of US P&C premium. In healthcare billing, "commercial insurance" means private health coverage — usually an employer plan — versus Medicare or Medicaid.

• Why is a certificate of insurance required?

  Because the party hiring you needs verifiable proof, before work starts, that the coverage your contract promises actually exists. A certificate of insurance is that proof: a standardized one-page summary issued by your insurer or agent, free of charge, often the same day. It verifies coverage — it does not create, extend, or guarantee any.

• Why is commercial insurance so expensive?

  Because commercial premiums are priced on class-wide loss data, your exposure base, and a litigation environment that keeps inflating liability claims — not on your record alone. That's why premiums rise at renewal with zero claims: social inflation, a hardening market, and growth in your own payroll or revenue all move the number without a single loss on your account.