Best Small Business Insurance in Georgia

Georgia Insurance Requirements

The State of Georgia currently requires businesses with three or more employees to have workers’ compensation insurance. It also requires businesses to have commercial auto insurance for any vehicles.

Commercial Auto Insurance

The Georgia Office of the Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner provides the minimum liability coverage required for vehicles in the state:

• Bodily Injury Liability: $25,000 per person; $50,000 per incident
• Property Damage Liability: $25,000 per incident

It also provides information about additional auto insurance:

Physical damage insurance helps pay for loss or damage to your own vehicle. There are two types of physical damage insurance:

• • Comprehensive – this type of physical insurance, also called “other than collision coverage,” covers theft, vandalism and fire-related losses
  • Collision – this covers losses associated with vehicle collisions

Georgia state law does not require you to purchase physical damage coverage. However, if you financed or leased your vehicle, the lender or leasing company usually requires it. 

Workers’ Compensation Insurance

The State of Georgia requires businesses with three or more employees to have workers’ compensation insurance. If the company is a corporation or an LLC, the officers or members are included in the employee count, but up to five officers or members may waive coverage on themselves. However, officer exemptions do not reduce the number of employees of the corporation.

Georgia’s state code provides a definition of employee, which includes the following:

GA Code § 34-9-1

"Employee" means every person in the service of another under any contract of hire or apprenticeship, written or implied, except a person whose employment is not in the usual course of the trade, business, occupation, or profession of the employer; and, except as otherwise provided in this chapter, minors are included even though working in violation of any child labor law or other similar statute; provided, however, that nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed as repealing or altering any such law or statute. Any reference to any employee who has been injured shall, if the employee dies, include such employee's legal representatives, dependents, and other persons to whom compensation may be payable pursuant to this chapter. 

Data Breach Insurance

Georgia’s data breach notification legislation requires Georgia residents to be notified when their personal information has been or is reasonably believed to have been acquired by an unauthorized person.

Individuals who have been notified of a data breach may consider taking legal action against the business where the breach originated. Consequently, to protect themselves from claims of negligence, businesses that collect and store the personal information of customers should carry data breach insurance.

10-1-912: Notification Required Upon Breach of Security Regarding Personal Information

(a) Any information broker or data collector that maintains computerized data that includes personal information of individuals shall give notice of any breach of the security of the system following discovery or notification of the breach in the security of the data to any resident of this state whose unencrypted personal information was, or is reasonably believed to have been, acquired by an unauthorized person.

(b) Any person or business that maintains computerized data on behalf of an information broker or data collector that includes personal information of individuals that the person or business does not own shall notify the information broker or data collector of any breach of the security of the system within 24 hours following discovery, if the personal information was, or is reasonably believed to have been, acquired by an unauthorized person.

Georgia Insurance Resources

Georgia Office of the Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner’s Business Insurance Information
Georgia State Board of Workers’ Compensation
Georgia Auto Insurance

General Liability Insurance

The vast majority of Georgia companies purchase general liability insurance from an insurance company even though it is not legally required. This type of business liability insurance covers third-party bodily injury, third-party property damage, advertising liability, libel, slander, copyright issue, and other common claims faced by companies across various industries. 

General liability insurance is one of the most important types of business insurance your company can purchase.

Business Owner’s Policy

A business owner’s policy (BOP) is an affordable way to bundle business insurance coverages. This type of policy includes commercial general liability insurance with commercial business property insurance. Many small business owners with a physical business space opt for this coverage.

Commercial Auto Insurance

You need to carry commercial auto insurance if your company uses vehicles to transport people or goods. This type of insurance is very similar to personal auto insurance and covers liability, medical costs, collisions, and uninsured/underinsured motorists. A commercial auto policy also covers vehicles rented or owned by your company and employees who use their own vehicles for company business.

Workers’ Compensation Insurance

Georgia requires businesses with three or more employees to carry workers’ compensation insurance. Taking out workers' compensation insurance puts a limit on the amount and type of compensation that an injured employee may receive. The limits are set by law.

Employee Health/Life/Disability Insurance

Companies that provide health, life, and/or disability insurance as a fringe benefit will need appropriate Georgia insurance. Under the Affordable Care Act, firms with more than 50 full-time employees must offer health insurance or pay an expensive penalty.

Professional Liability Insurance

Professional liability insurance covers financial risks to attorneys, accountants, and other people who provide professional services or expertise. Professional liability coverage varies depending on the industry but usually includes negligence, legal defense, slander or libel, and copyright and trademark disputes. 

Professional liability insurance includes errors and omissions (E&O) insurance.

Data Breach Insurance

If your company hosts customers’ personal information on its servers and those servers are hacked, lawsuits and damages can result. Data breach insurance protects you in these cases. 

Cyber Liability Insurance

Similar to but more comprehensive than data breach insurance, cyber liability insurance may pay for legal expenses related to a data breach or set up a call center for individuals affected by a breach. It also may pay for active protection against cyberattacks.

Commercial Crime Insurance

Crimes like extortion, forgery, burglary, computer fraud, and embezzlement are covered by commercial crime insurance. Situations in which this type of insurance is particularly useful include dishonest or libelous acts by employees.

Fiduciary Liability Insurance

Fiduciaries, who are legally required to act in plan participants’ best interests rather than the company’s when choosing advisors and investments, should consider this type of insurance coverage. It covers them if they are sued for allegedly providing negligent investment advice or administering plans or benefits incorrectly. 

Third parties like out-of-company consultants and benefit plan administrators are usually not protected.

Directors and Officers Insurance

Any company with directors and officers should consider directors and officers (D&O) insurance coverage, a type of liability insurance that reimburses directors and officers for claims made against them regarding harm allegedly caused by their management decisions.

Executive Risk Coverage

Executive risk insurance is business liability insurance that provides coverage for fraud, D&O, employment practices, initial public offerings, pension funds, extortion, and professional negligence.