Product liability
A product you made or sold causes injury or damage after it leaves your hands.
Manufacturing and Wholesale Insurance
Makers and distributors carry risk from the floor to the shipment. We cover product liability, equipment, and stock.
We shop the market for you, no broker fees
Chubb
Manufacturing risks
Travelers
Manufacturers
The Hartford
Small manufacturers
Great American
Specialty manufacturing
Markel
Specialty manufacturing risks
AmTrust
Manufacturing packages
Starr
Industrial risks
Philadelphia Insurance Companies
Manufacturing programs
How it works
10 minute form
A few questions about your business or home.
We shop the market
We compare carriers and read the forms line by line.
Pick the best policy
We explain what is covered, what is not, and what it costs.
Manufacturing and Wholesale
- Product liability
- Property and stock
- Equipment breakdown
- Business interruption
What changes your premium
There is no flat rate for this coverage. These are the inputs a carrier prices against, and they are the same things the quote form asks you for.
- Products, materials, and end uses
- Annual sales and payroll by operation
- Building, machinery, and stock values
- Quality control and product testing
- Supply chain and business income exposure
- Claims, recalls, and requested limits
Text us. We're by your side.
Common exposures in this line of work
Property and stock
Fire, theft, or water damages your building, machinery, or finished goods.
Equipment breakdown
A mechanical or electrical failure idles the line.
Business interruption
A covered loss shuts you down and the revenue stops with it.
Anything that makes, assembles or distributes, including:
- Metal fabrication and machining
- Plastics and injection molding
- Electronics assembly
- Food and beverage processing
- Breweries, wineries and distilleries
- Furniture and millwork
- Apparel and textiles
- Printing and packaging
- Chemical blending
- Medical device manufacturing
- Cosmetics and personal care
- Building products
- Wholesale distribution and 3PL
- Contract manufacturers and private label
The coverages this industry actually buys
General Liability
Products and completed operations is the part of general liability that matters most to a manufacturer. It responds when something you made or sold causes injury or property damage after it has left your control, which can be years after the sale. Premises and operations liability at the plant sits on the same policy and is rated separately from the product exposure.
Commercial Property
Buildings, production machinery, raw stock, work in process, and finished goods are each insured on their own limit. How those values are reported is what decides the payment after a fire or water loss, and stock that swings seasonally is a common place to be short. Business income belongs on the same policy, so a shutdown does not stop the revenue along with the machines.
Business Owners Policy
A business owners policy packages property and general liability onto one form for smaller operations and normally carries business income without a separate purchase. Eligibility is a carrier by carrier judgment on class, size, and construction, and a good deal of light manufacturing qualifies. Once revenue or the operation outgrows those limits, the same coverage moves onto separate property and liability policies.
Workers' Compensation
Production and warehouse work carries real injury frequency, and comp pays the medical treatment and wage replacement while keeping the claim out of court. Premium runs on payroll by class code, and manufacturers often carry several codes on one policy. Getting that split right when the policy is issued is what keeps the year end audit from becoming an argument.
Excess and Surplus Lines
Some product classes and heavy operations never clear standard underwriting: anything ingested, anything that heats, anything with a recall history behind it. Surplus lines carriers write them and price the individual file rather than a filed rate. We put the submission in front of those markets with the product literature and the controls an underwriter needs to judge it properly.
Related from the Menlo Library
Commercial PropertyWhat Is Inland Marine Insurance and What Does It Cover?
Commercial PropertyBusiness Income Insurance: How Coverage Works When Disaster Shuts You Down
Commercial PropertyWhat Is Equipment Breakdown Coverage and Do You Need It?
General LiabilityCG 00 01 Explained: How the CGL Policy Coverage Form Works
Questions we get asked
The longer answers, with the form numbers, live in the Library.
Which policies do manufacturing and wholesale businesses usually need?
The right program depends on the operation, but the lines we most often evaluate are General Liability, Commercial Property, Business Owners Policy, Workers' Compensation, and Excess and Surplus Lines. We confirm which exposures are present before recommending a policy, so you do not pay for a line simply because it appears on a standard checklist.
What information do you need to quote manufacturing and wholesale insurance?
Have the products you make or distribute, materials, sales, payroll, building and equipment values, quality controls, and loss runs ready. A complete submission lets carriers evaluate the account on the actual operation and reduces follow-up questions before they can quote.
Can you help if a standard carrier already declined the account?
Often, yes. A decline does not guarantee another carrier will quote, but it tells us where the standard market stopped. We review the reason, improve the submission where the facts support it, and approach specialty markets when they are appropriate.
How do you compare the quotes you receive?
We compare the coverage form, limits, deductibles, exclusions, carrier financial strength, binding requirements, and total cost. The lowest premium is not the best option when the form removes the protection the business needs.
Get it placed by someone who reads the fine print
Start a quote and a licensed broker takes it from there, or talk to one now.