Gaps and Overlaps

If your company needs several types of liability insurance, pay special attention to any gaps or potential overlaps in coverage.

This is particularly important for claims falling in the realm of both automobile and general liability coverage. Rather than finding yourself caught between an "it's your claim" tiff between carriers, it is probably safer to have one insurer write both policies.

Even if this is done, though, be careful to see where you might have overlapping coverage. When more than one policy covers a given incident, the insurer may try to assign the claim to the policy providing — surprise! — less coverage.

Try to avoid this by making sure any overlapping coverage results in fairly equal reimbursement levels, or by having clearly defined policies to minimize these redundancies.