The claim arrives years later, from someone who bought it secondhand.
Cover for injury or damage caused by something you made, sold, distributed or installed — a claim that reaches you long after the sale, from a person you never dealt with.
Tell us the situation.
A licensed human replies the same business day — not an auto-responder, and not five producers calling at once. We shop it across our carriers and tell you if the policy you already have is the right one.
We use this to quote and service your insurance, and we do not sell it or pass it to lead networks. Privacy policy.
What product liability businesses actually need.
Bodily injury from a product
Somebody is hurt by what you made or sold, whoever they bought it from.
Without it — A defense funded personally, against a plaintiff with no contract with you and no need for one.
Property damage from a product
The product damages something else — the building it was installed in, the machine it was fitted to.
Without it — Damage to other people’s property is the larger half of most product claims.
Completed operations
Work finished and handed over that fails afterwards. The same idea as a product, for services.
Without it — General liability covers the job while you are doing it and stops when you leave.
Vendors additional insured
Extends your cover to the retailers and distributors selling what you make, as their contracts require.
Without it — No major retailer will stock you, and the ones that do will charge you for their own defense.
Failure to warn
Claims that the labelling, instructions or warnings were inadequate rather than the product itself defective.
Without it — A safe product with a bad label is the same claim and one of the most common.
Where product liability shows up.
- Manufacturing
The largest exposure a manufacturer has, and the one that arrives years late.
- Machine Shops
Working to a customer’s print is not a defense, and shops assume it is.
- Food Manufacturing
A single contamination event reaches every consumer who bought the lot.
- Craft Breweries
A bad batch already distributed is a recall, not a liability claim.
- Life Sciences
The exposure that follows an approval and outlives the company that got it.
- Medical Devices
Long-tail claims that can arrive many years after implantation.
- Pharmaceutical
The defining exposure of the sector, and the slowest to emerge.
- Supplements & Nutraceuticals
The exposure is per consumer, and a formulation reaches all of them.
- Salons & Barbershops
Selling shampoo makes you part of the chain of supply.
- Bakeries
An undeclared allergen is the most common food claim there is.
- Coffee Shops
Milk alternatives and shared equipment make allergens a live issue.
- Tattoo & Piercing Studios
A reaction to a pigment involves you in the chain of supply.
- E-commerce & Online Sellers
A seller or importer is in the chain of supply and gets sued as one.
- Cannabis
Edibles, vapes, potency and labelling claims are the live product exposure.
- Dispensaries
A retailer is in the chain of supply even when it made nothing.
- Hemp & CBD
CBD is sold as a consumable and is regulated as one.
- Smoke, Vape & CBD Shops
A retailer sits in the chain of supply even having made nothing.
What product liability operators ask us.
We only distribute. Does it still apply to us?
Yes, and this surprises distributors constantly. Product liability follows the chain of supply, so an importer, distributor or retailer can be named alongside the manufacturer — and if the manufacturer is overseas or has since dissolved, you may be the only defendant a plaintiff can actually reach. Importers are treated as manufacturers in many circumstances for exactly that reason. Being the last solvent party in the chain is a real exposure and it is not covered by hoping.
Is it not just part of our general liability?
Usually it is written on the same policy, under products and completed operations, and it carries its OWN aggregate limit separate from the general aggregate. That matters: a single bad batch can exhaust the products aggregate while the general aggregate sits untouched, so the limit that answers your real exposure may be much smaller than the headline number on the certificate. Read the products aggregate specifically.
What is the difference between this and a recall?
Liability pays for the harm a product caused. Recall pays for getting it back before it causes harm — notifying customers, shipping, disposal, replacement and the lost income while the line is down. They are separate coverages and the second is routinely absent, which is how a manufacturer with a million in liability finds themselves funding the recall out of working capital.
A retailer wants us to name them. What are they asking for?
Vendors additional insured status, extending your policy to them for claims arising out of products you supplied. Large retailers publish their requirements and they are not negotiable — a limit, the endorsement, sometimes primary and non-contributory wording. Send us the vendor agreement rather than the summary; the wording is what gets certificates rejected and it is the part that gets paraphrased.
How is the premium calculated?
On sales, almost always, which makes it an audited policy: you are rated on an estimate of turnover and reconciled against the real figure at the end of the term. That is why a growing manufacturer gets an audit bill — and why an estimate nobody has revised in three years produces a large one.
Not ready to talk? The guides answer the questions this page raises in more depth. Already insured with us and need a certificate or a policy change? Ask the service team rather than starting a quote — it is faster and it goes to the people whose job it is. We also write home and auto, which is usually cheaper alongside the business policy than apart from it.