Tick off the information, contract checks and policy wording points to cover before you request or accept a business liability quote.
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Use this checklist in the weeks before you request quotes or before your renewal date. The items are grouped in the order you would normally work through them: gathering information, comparing quotes, reading the wording and accepting cover. Your ticks are saved only in this browser.
Why it matters. Business liability policies are generally not consumer insurance contracts, so the duty of disclosure in section 21 of the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 still applies when you take out, renew, extend or reinstate cover. If you do not tell the insurer something you knew, or that a reasonable person in your position would know, was relevant, the insurer may be able to reduce a claim payment under section 28 or, if the failure was fraudulent, avoid the policy.
Worked example (illustrative). A landscaper describes the business as lawn mowing and garden maintenance but also builds retaining walls a few times a year. A wall collapses onto a neighbour's driveway. If retaining walls were not disclosed and would have changed the premium, the insurer could reduce the claim by the amount needed to put it where it would have been had it known. Listing that activity up front might have added to the premium but kept the claim intact.
Limits. The checklist does not replace advice. If your business has unusual activities, contracts with wide indemnities or a history of claims, a licensed broker can help you present the risk and read the wording.
Claim Failures, Disputes and Official Sources
Step by step: internal dispute resolution, the 30-day response rule, AFCA eligibility for small businesses, time limits, what to send, outcomes and when to see a lawyer.
Worked Quotes and Checklists
A step-by-step checklist for getting and comparing business liability quotes in Australia, from the information to gather to the renewal timeline and final checks.
Claim Failures, Disputes and Official Sources
How claims-made professional indemnity, management liability and cyber policies work in Australia, section 40(3) notifications, retroactive dates, switching insurers and run-off.
Costs, Price Factors and 2026 Rules
What insurance Australian businesses must hold by law, which professions need professional indemnity, and when contracts, councils and leases make public liability mandatory.
Claim Failures, Disputes and Official Sources
Why Australian liability policies exclude liability assumed under contract, how to read indemnity clauses in leases and subcontracts, proportionate liability and safer wording.
Costs, Price Factors and 2026 Rules
The sections of the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 that matter to business policyholders, the 2021–2023 reforms, and what they mean when you buy, renew and claim.
