We’re reader-supported and may be paid when you visit links to partner sites. We don’t compare all products in the market, but we’re working on it!
Both public liability and professional indemnity insurance cover you and your business for different situations. Public liability protects your business if it operates in public, while professional indemnity insurance covers you if you provide a professional service. For lots of businesses, both are essential.
Compare quotes online and see who has a policy that's best suited to you or keep reading to find out more about their differences.
Get quotes online Speak to a broker Learn about liability
The main difference between public liability and professional indemnity insurance cover is this:
Put simply, you need to consider:
To help you decide which type of insurance you need, let's look at two different scenarios involving Jason, who owns his own medical practice.
Jason prescribes the incorrect medicine and is sued for damages.
A client of a patient slips in the bathroom of Jason's practice and sues.
As the name suggests, professional indemnity cover is designed for professionals who offer advice or a service. If you offer professional advice, design, analysis or consultancy, you should consider taking out this type of cover. Architects, designers, real estate agents and PR consultants are some of the professionals who commonly need professional indemnity insurance. However, as the examples above show, many of us can benefit from having both professional indemnity insurance and public liability insurance.
Public liability cover is important for anyone who has customers or members of the public visit their place of business regularly, or if you visit with clients on site and there is a risk of you damaging their property.
We've laid out what both types of insurance cover to help you understand their differences.
| Public liability - what's covered | Professional indemnity insurance - what's covered |
|---|---|
|
|
Determining an adequate level of Public Liability Insurance to take out will depend on a number of factors including:
If your business is such that you never have to visit a client's premises and very few clients actually come to your location, then you can opt for a more basic level of cover.
An insurance broker can help you secure a competitive policy that provides the right level of cover by helping you determine how much cover you actually need and finding an insurer offering suitable cover.
In order to enable you to get the best quote possible you must be able to give the insurer the most accurate information you can, especially regarding the following:
For example, if you run a suburban news agency with only two or three employees your public liability premium will be much lower than a blacksmith with a contract of shoeing horses for a number of leading race horse stables.
Learn more about Public Liability Insurance
In comparison to other types of insurance such as travel or car insurance, it is not really possible to put a clear price tag on professional indemnity insurance as it will really come down to the individual cover requirements of the professional or organisation. Some key factors that will impact the cost and amount of cover required include:
What to know about insurance before renting out your home, and what to look for in Airbnb insurance.
If you’re looking for home insurance for an apartment, here’s the ultimate guide to finding comprehensive and affordable cover.
Melbourne and parts of Victoria have been struck by a large earthquake. Learn the key facts about making a claim on your home insurance.
Find out how to claim vasectomies and tubal ligation with Medicare or private health funds, and the things you should know before going in.
Dialysis treatment for Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is covered by Medicare and private health insurance, but which offers the best cover?
Find out the steps needed to find adequate cover, and give you an assurance that you won’t have to pay the full cost of your podiatric surgery.
Would you know what to do if you were involved in a car accident? This guide looks at the steps to take after an accident has occurred, from securing the scene to making a claim with your insurer.
Learn how buy sell insurance actually works and organise cover with a consultant to protect your business and loved ones.
Find out what exactly TPD insurance covers and how to determine an appropriate level of cover to give adequate protection in the event of disablement.
A number of major income protection changes are taking place on 1 October – here's how the new rules impact you.
I am working as a short term educational adviser in the TAFE sector in the Pacific. I have been told I need to get Public Liability and Professional Indemnity insurance. I do not understand why I need public liability as I am working at a TAFE institute.
Hi Angela,
Thanks for your inquiry.
Professional indemnity insurance applies to individuals and organizations involved in providing services based extensively on personal knowledge and skills.
It protects your business against claims for loss by a client or a third party if you make mistakes and are found to have been negligent.
Typically engineers, solicitors, consultants, and accountants carry PII, but many self-employed are also now choosing to have cover if they provide advice, support or contract auditing.
PII covers claims against an individual for a breach of a professional duty but, depending on the policy, cover can extend to:
• Misleading and deceptive conduct
• defamation
• Breach of intellectual property rights
• Damages arising from fraud
• Defence costs associated with claims
Insured amounts can vary depending on the level of risk to which you are exposed.
If you think of some project disasters, these sums are not unreasonable.
Hope this information helped.
Cheers,
Arnold
Where, as an Australian company, can I go to find public liability insurance in Chile?
Hi Tony,
Thanks for getting in touch. Many South American countries require insurance to be purchased in that country and you cannot use an international insurance policy, so you will need to look for insurance from a provider in Chile.
I hope this was helpful,
Richard