Coverage & policies
What insurance do independent consultants typically need?
Most enterprise clients require at least two policies. First, Commercial General Liability (GL) — typically $1M per occurrence and $2M aggregate — which covers bodily injury, property damage, and personal injury claims. Second, Professional Liability / Errors & Omissions (E&O) — typically $1M per claim — which covers financial losses your client suffers because of mistakes in your work. Beyond the policies themselves, contracts usually require you to (a) name the client as an Additional Insured on your GL policy, and (b) include a Waiver of Subrogation so your insurer cannot sue the client to recover claims payments.
What is an additional insured endorsement?
An additional insured endorsement extends your GL policy to cover a named third party — usually your client — as if they were a policyholder. If a claim arises from your work, the client can be defended under your policy rather than having to use their own. Enterprise procurement teams almost always require this before they will sign a contract. Fennel extracts the exact entity name from your contract — verbatim, with a citation showing where it appeared — so the endorsement names the right legal entity.
What is a waiver of subrogation, and why do clients require it?
Subrogation is an insurer's right to sue a negligent third party to recover money paid out on a claim. A Waiver of Subrogation means your insurer gives up that right against your client. Clients require it to avoid being sued by your insurance company after a covered loss. Fennel includes the waiver on every policy by default because it is requested in the vast majority of enterprise MSAs.
What is E&O insurance, and do I need it as a consultant?
Errors & Omissions (E&O) insurance — also called Professional Liability — covers financial losses your client suffers as a result of mistakes, omissions, or failures in the professional services you deliver. GL covers physical harm; E&O covers economic harm. Most management consulting, IT consulting, and other knowledge-work contracts require both. If your work involves advice, software, designs, or analysis — you almost certainly need E&O.
Does Fennel operate in all 50 states?
Yes — Fennel serves consultants in all 50 states. The software (contract parsing, coverage-gap analysis, COI tracking) works anywhere. Coverage itself is placed by a licensed Fennel broker, and availability varies by state and coverage type; where a market cannot write your risk, the broker places it through another market.
Getting insured
How long does it take to get insured through Fennel?
Two different clocks. Knowing what you need is immediate: the AI parses your contract and flags coverage gaps in seconds, and that part is self-serve on every plan including Free. Getting covered takes as long as placing insurance takes — you book a call with a licensed Fennel broker, who places the coverage with an A-rated carrier. Once it is in force, the certificate is tracked in Fennel and delivered to your client.
Do I work with a real broker?
Yes — and that's the point. Fennel's AI does the heavy lifting up front: it reads your contract, extracts every requirement, and flags coverage gaps in seconds. Then a licensed Fennel broker places your coverage and delivers the COI. You get a real broker who already knows exactly what your contract needs — without the weeks of back-and-forth a traditional broker takes.
Can I get insured before my contract start date?
Usually, yes — but plan ahead rather than relying on same-day placement. Upload the contract as soon as you have it: Fennel tells you immediately what coverage the agreement requires, so you know whether you already satisfy it. If there is a gap, you book a call with a licensed Fennel broker, who sets the effective date when placing the policy. Future-dated start dates are normal.
What happens when my policy is about to expire?
Fennel flags renewals at 60 and 30 days before expiry. On Pro and Agency, that is an automated email linking to the specific policy. On Free, the alert appears in the app rather than by email. Because an expiring policy can re-open a coverage gap against a contract you have already signed, Fennel recomputes your gaps when a policy lapses.
How do I know if my insurance meets my client contract's requirements?
Read the insurance section of the agreement and compare every requirement against your current policies, line by line — required coverage types, per-occurrence and aggregate limits, endorsements like waiver of subrogation or primary and non-contributory, and the exact legal entity to be named as additional insured. This is what Fennel automates: upload the contract and it extracts each requirement (with a verbatim quote showing where in the document it appears), compares them against the policies and certificates you already hold, and lists precisely where you fall short. A gap is usually one specific limit or one missing endorsement, not "you need new insurance".
Do I have to buy insurance from Fennel to use it?
No. The software stands on its own: parse your contracts, see exactly what each one requires, track the certificates proving your coverage, and get warned before anything expires — all without buying a policy through Fennel. Many users already have coverage and simply need to know whether it satisfies a new agreement. If a real gap turns up, a licensed Fennel broker can place the coverage, but that is a separate, optional service.
Pricing & cost
How much does business insurance cost for independent consultants?
Premiums vary with your revenue, state, coverage limits, and profession, so treat any range as a rough guide rather than a quote: GL-only ($1M/$2M) commonly runs $600–$900/year for a solo consultant under $500K revenue, and adding E&O ($1M/$1M) commonly adds $400–$800/year. A licensed Fennel broker gives you the actual premium before you commit to anything. Premiums are billed directly by the carrier — Fennel earns a standard broker commission and adds no surcharge. This is general information, not a quote or insurance advice.
Does Fennel charge extra on top of the insurance premium?
No. Premiums are billed directly by the issuing carrier — you pay the carrier, never Fennel. Fennel earns a standard 10–15% broker commission from the carrier, the same way any licensed broker is compensated, and adds no surcharge. Separately, Fennel sells a software subscription (Free / Pro / Agency) for the contract-parsing and COI-management product; that fee is for the software and is independent of any insurance you buy.
What does the free plan include?
Free includes AI contract parsing with full coverage-gap analysis, 3 third-party certificates tracked, 3 COI exports (lifetime), and 2 active policies. That is deliberately enough to run the entire loop on a real engagement — parse the contract, see your gaps, and close one by uploading the certificate that proves your coverage — without paying. Pro ($29/month) removes the caps, adds renewal alert emails, and raises the contract-parsing limits.
COIs & documents
What is a Certificate of Insurance (COI)?
A Certificate of Insurance is a one-page document (typically the ACORD 25 form) summarising your active coverage — insurer, policy number, coverage types, limits, and effective dates — and naming who it is issued to (the certificate holder). Procurement teams use COIs to verify you are insured before a contract goes live. Fennel stores your certificates, reads them to confirm they actually satisfy what your contract demands, warns you before they expire, and delivers them to your client.
What is an ACORD 25?
ACORD 25 is the industry-standard form for Certificates of Liability Insurance, maintained by the Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development. When a client's procurement team asks for a "COI," they almost always mean an ACORD 25. Fennel generates proper ACORD 25-formatted certificates that are accepted by enterprise procurement departments.
What file types can I upload for contract parsing?
Fennel accepts PDF and Word (.docx) documents. The AI parser works best with digitally-generated PDFs (not scanned images). If your MSA is in a scanned image PDF, AI extraction accuracy may be lower and we will flag uncertain fields for manual review.
Can I track certificates of insurance from subcontractors or vendors?
Yes. Upload any third-party certificate — a subcontractor's, a vendor's, or your own COI from an outside broker — and Fennel reads the ACORD 25, records the coverage types, limits, and expiration dates, and checks whether that certificate actually satisfies the requirements in the relevant contract. Certificates count toward closing a coverage gap, so if you already carry the coverage a contract demands, uploading the COI proves it. Free tracks up to 3 certificates; Pro and Agency are unlimited.
What does an AI contract parser extract from an insurance clause?
Fennel extracts the required coverage types (general liability, professional liability/E&O, cyber, workers compensation, commercial auto, umbrella), every limit (per occurrence, aggregate, per claim), the endorsements demanded (waiver of subrogation, primary and non-contributory, blanket additional insured, hired and non-owned auto, notice-of-cancellation days, specific form numbers such as CG 20 10), and the exact legal names and addresses of entities to be named as additional insured. Each extracted field carries a verbatim quote from the contract and its section heading, so you can verify every value against the source. Requirements that fall outside that structured model are captured separately rather than dropped.
About Fennel
Is Fennel a licensed insurance broker?
Yes. Fennel Insurance Services (a DBA of Fennel Insure Inc.) is a licensed commercial insurance broker in California — CA license #6020156, NPN 22327649 — and is expanding state licenses. The agent of record is Carl Ganz (CA license #4561753, NPN 22277852). Both licenses can be verified independently through the California Department of Insurance license lookup. As your broker of record, Fennel represents you in the placement of coverage — not the insurance carrier.
Who is the insurance carrier behind Fennel?
Fennel places coverage through A-rated commercial carriers that specialize in small commercial policies. Fennel is the broker of record; the carrier holds the risk and issues the policies.
How is Fennel different from other insurance marketplaces?
A marketplace sells you a policy. Fennel is software that manages the insurance side of your client contracts — and that is a different job. It reads each agreement, extracts exactly what it requires (limits, endorsements, additional insured names, with a quote from the contract showing where each came from), and checks that against the coverage you already hold. Most of the time the useful answer is "you are already compliant" or "you are short in one specific place" — neither of which requires buying anything. When you do need coverage, a licensed Fennel broker places it.
Still have questions?
Our team reviews every message. If you have a question about a specific contract clause or coverage requirement, email us with your MSA attached and we'll review it.