What Illinois businesses are required to carry, and what actually keeps the doors open.
Illinois requires almost every employer to carry workers' compensation, and the Secretary of State requires liability on every vehicle. Beyond that, the law is silent, which is why so many businesses run for years with a gap that one slip-and-fall, one lawsuit or one fire would expose. A good commercial package is built around your operation, not a checklist.
Workers' compensation: required in Illinois
Illinois requires workers' compensation coverage for nearly every business with employees, including part-time staff, and in many cases from the first hire. It pays medical bills and lost wages for work injuries, and it protects you from being sued over them. Going without it in Illinois carries serious penalties, including stop-work orders. We write it through Farmers alongside the rest of your package so it's never the thing that falls through the cracks.
General liability: the foundation
General liability (GL) covers bodily injury and property damage to third parties, a customer slips in your shop, a landscaper's mower throws a rock through a window, a contractor damages a client's floor. It also covers personal and advertising injury. Most landlords, general contractors and municipalities require a certificate of insurance before you can work, lease or bid.
Heads up: a BOP is usually the smarter buy
A business owners policy (BOP) bundles general liability with commercial property and business interruption into one policy, priced below buying them separately. For most retailers, restaurants, offices, salons and contractors under a certain size, a BOP is the core of the package, and Farmers writes them competitively.
Commercial auto: your personal policy excludes it
If a vehicle is titled to the business, hauls tools or product, carries clients, or makes deliveries, a personal auto policy can deny the whole claim. Commercial auto covers owned vehicles; hired and non-owned auto covers employees driving their own cars for work. We write both, often bundled with the BOP.
Commercial property and business interruption
Property coverage rebuilds the building (if you own it) and replaces equipment, inventory and tenant improvements after a covered loss. Business interruption replaces the income you lose while you're closed, the coverage most small businesses skip and most wish they hadn't after a fire or a burst pipe in January.
Surety bonds
Contractors, auto dealers, notaries, and businesses bidding on public work often need a surety bond, a guarantee to a third party that you'll perform. It isn't insurance for you; it's a promise backed by a surety. We place license and permit bonds, contract bonds and fidelity bonds for businesses so you can get licensed or bid without a separate broker.