professional liability insurance

huangyhg

professional liability insurance
curious what amount of professional liability coverage any smaller firms are carrying. do you prefer split limits or not?
stress02-
my small firm (2 people) carries e & o insurance of $500k per claim and $500k annual aggregate, with a $1,000 deductible per claim.  this is less than we used to carry ($100k agg) but becasue the price of insurance in my area has doubled in the last year, had to scale back.  
this level of coverage costs my small firm $4,300 a year, ouch. (have had no claims ever, by the way).
some days i think i should just open a 7 eleven somewhere, ha ha.
your rates seem are pretty good.
for 500/1 mil quote is $6800.
i am just trying to figure out a safe base value.
500k, 1 mil or ?
7 elevens have to be tough. retail is not something i'd do unless it was selling corn on the side of the road.

samdamon and stress02,
do you both do work for public owners, where e/o coverage is required?  since you haven't had any claims, what about being "self insured" or limiting your liablity to the amount of your fee - two alternatives i hear about in this part of the country?
i do public work, but always through an architect. he is the one required to carry the 5 mill insurance.
all the same, one doesn't want to get wiped out if something should go wrong.
the current insurance level for my practice is £1m professional indemnity and £2m public liability. i had to fight real hard with the broker in order to get the premium down to £2500.
we have never had a claim and we are always wary that we are being ripped off by the insurance companies. my broker told me that engineers were a bigger liability than architects, a fact that i find hard to believe. renewal is in may and i am gearing up for another battle this year.
this is a subject that is dear to my heart. i would keep it to the minimum unless your clients has requirement. if you can limit your liability, contractually, to your fees that would be great.
the more coverage you have, the more trial attorneys would seek (lol).
seriously, i would not be caught without coverage. your premiums are based on many factors (practice type, clientele, gross annual billing, etc.).
have fun filling the application!
lutfi
how much do you carry?
one million and we do multi-disciplinary engineering (civil, structural, and mep).
if clients want us to carry more, we ask them to pay for it.
i'm a sole practioner (spelling was never my strong point).  i have been in "business approximately 2-1/2 years.  i averaged for the last 2 years approximately 150 projects per year.
my e&o insurance is $1,000,000.  my premium is about $4,000 per year with dpic.
wow.
been in business abput 9 years, no claims, and quoted $8800 for 1 million. ben with the same company for the whole time. yikes.