An investigator's work consists of collecting information about people who have not agreed to it, on behalf of somebody who is usually in dispute with them. The insurance question follows directly: the claim is almost always about the collecting rather than about an accident.
Privacy, data protection and the claims that follow
The realistic claims are misuse of private information, breach of confidence, harassment, and data protection failures, brought by the subject of an enquiry rather than by the client. General liability wordings do not answer for those, because nothing was injured or broken. Cover for this trade has to include professional indemnity written for investigation work, and often a privacy or data liability section with it, and a business comparing quotes should look for that section by name.
Surveillance, vehicles and the hours it happens in
Surveillance means long periods in a vehicle in residential streets, at night, following somebody. That raises motor questions about business use, the presence of cameras and equipment in the car, and the ordinary road exposure of a lot of driving. It also raises the practical question of how an operative behaves when approached, because a confrontation on a doorstep at two in the morning is where the complaint, and sometimes the injury, comes from.
The client's instruction is not a defence
An investigator acting on a client's instruction still owes duties to the subject and to the law. Insurers ask what the business does about lawful basis, proportionality, the boundaries of what it will accept, and its refusal policy for instructions that look like stalking or a domestic dispute. Firms that can describe those boundaries are easier to insure; firms that take any instruction are the ones the market has learned to avoid.
Process serving, tracing and reports relied on
Beyond surveillance, the trade serves documents, traces people and writes reports that clients rely on in litigation. A document served wrongly, a person traced incorrectly, or a report that turns out to be mistaken can all cost a client a case. Those are professional indemnity claims about the service, and they are why the limit should reflect the size of the matters the investigator works on rather than the size of the fee.
Questions people ask about private investigation insurance
Does public liability cover a privacy complaint?
No. Misuse of private information, breach of confidence and data protection failures are not injury or property damage, so they need professional indemnity and privacy cover.
Is surveillance in a vehicle a motor question?
Yes. Business use, the equipment carried and the volume of driving all need declaring, alongside the liability cover for the work itself.
Does acting on a client's instruction protect me?
No. Duties to the subject and to the law remain, and insurers ask about lawful basis, proportionality and the instructions the firm refuses.