Business Insurance in Spain for Expat Companies

Commercial cover built around expat-run Sociedad Limitada companies, Sociedad Civil partnerships and growing autónomo operations that have outgrown a single self-employed policy. Property, liability, employer's liability, business interruption and cyber — all in one English-language wording.

DGSFP-registered · English-speaking brokers · 7 days a week · SL, SC and autónomo businesses

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When Your Spanish Business Needs Real Commercial Cover

There comes a point in every Spanish business where a basic autónomo civil liability policy stops being enough. Maybe you've put a holiday-let portfolio inside a Sociedad Limitada, maybe you've taken a commercial lease on a restaurant or boutique, maybe you've hired your first employee and discovered that responsabilidad civil patronal is suddenly non-negotiable. At that point you need a proper multi-line commercial policy — and that's what this page is about.

A Spanish SL is a separate legal person with its own NIF, its own modelo 200 corporate tax return and its own balance sheet. That separation is the whole point of incorporating, but it also means the company itself needs cover in its own name — for the premises it occupies, the stock and equipment it owns, the staff it employs and the third parties it can injure or damage in the course of trading. A personal autónomo policy in the director's name simply does not respond when the limited company is the defendant.

Expat-run businesses face a specific stack of risks that Spanish-only insurers don't always anticipate well: English-speaking customers expecting Anglo-style claims handling, foreign suppliers and online sales channels, multilingual contracts, properties on Spanish leases drafted in legal Spanish, and employees from multiple nationalities. We place commercial business policies that are written to work for those realities, with the wording explained to you in clear English before you sign.

SL, SC & AutónomoCover for Sociedad Limitada companies, Sociedad Civil partnerships and larger sole-trader operations.

Multi-Line PolicyProperty, contents, public liability, employer's liability, business interruption and cyber under one wording.

English-Language WordingEvery clause, exclusion and claim notification handled in plain English by Spain-based brokers.

Lease & Sector CompliantMeets the cover levels required by most Spanish commercial leases and by law in regulated sectors.

What a Spanish Business Insurance Policy Covers

A commercial policy is built out of modules. The six below are the ones we recommend almost every expat-run SL or growing autónomo operation should hold. Some are required by law, others by your landlord, and the rest are simply the difference between a manageable incident and the end of the business.

Public & Civil Liability

Responsabilidad civil de explotación — covers third-party injury and property damage caused by your business activities, your premises, your products or your staff while working. Usually €600,000 to €3 million of cover.

Employer's Liability (RC Patronal)

Responsabilidad civil patronal pays compensation when an employee is injured at work and the company is held liable. Effectively mandatory the moment you have anyone on the payroll, and required alongside Seguridad Social cover.

Property & Contents

Buildings (where you own the premises), tenant's improvements, stock, fixtures, IT, machinery, tills and office contents — covered against fire, water damage, theft, vandalism and weather, on a new-for-old basis.

Business Interruption (Lucro Cesante)

Replaces lost profit and fixed overheads — rent, payroll, debt service — when a covered incident forces you to close or scale back. Typically with an indemnity period of 12, 18 or 24 months.

Cyber & Data

Ransomware response, data recovery, GDPR notification costs, third-party liability for breaches and business interruption from a cyber incident. Essential for any e-commerce, booking or customer-database business.

Legal Defence (Defensa Jurídica)

Pays a lawyer to defend the company in disputes with customers, suppliers, employees, neighbours and the tax or labour authorities. Includes Spanish court costs, expert witnesses and out-of-pocket litigation expenses.

Who Needs a Spanish Business Insurance Policy

If any of the situations below apply, a personal autónomo civil liability policy is almost certainly not enough — you need a commercial multi-line policy in the name of the legal entity that's actually trading.

Holiday-let businesses run through an SL — multiple properties, guest injury exposure, contents in each unit and lucro cesante if a flagship apartment is taken out by water damage.
Expat restaurant, bar, café or beach-chiringuito owners — high public liability exposure, kitchen fire risk, perishable stock and employees covered under Seguridad Social.
Retail boutiques and gift shops on a Spanish high street — stock cover, plate glass, footfall liability and business interruption while the unit is repaired after an incident.
Online businesses with a Spanish base — Amazon FBA stock, drop-shipping operations and DTC e-commerce with inventory, packing benches and order data held in Spain.
Professional consultancies — accountants, gestores, architects, surveyors and IT consultants billing through an SL where a single bad piece of advice can trigger a six-figure claim.
English-language schools and tutoring academies — public liability for pupils on premises, child safeguarding cover, contents and business interruption between term-time and holiday revenue.
E-commerce warehouses and fulfilment operators — stock at multiple values, racking, forklift liability, employer's liability for pickers and goods-in-transit exposure.
B2B services agencies — marketing, design, software development and recruitment SLs with offices, employees and contractual liability to corporate clients.

Common Mistakes Expat Business Owners Make

Most underinsured Spanish SLs aren't underinsured because they tried to save money — they're underinsured because nobody walked them through what a commercial policy needs to look like. These are the six mistakes we see again and again.

Treating an autónomo civil liability policy as if it covers the SL — once the limited company is alta en hacienda and trading in its own name, a personal autónomo policy in the director's name will not respond to claims against the company.
Underinsuring stock at cost rather than replacement value — Spanish loss adjusters apply the regla proporcional (averaging) if you've declared less stock than you actually hold, cutting every claim by the same percentage.
Hiring staff without responsabilidad civil patronal in place — the moment you have an employee on Seguridad Social, an injury claim can land directly on the company and personally on the administrador único.
No business interruption (lucro cesante) cover — a fire that closes a restaurant for four months will pay out for the building damage but leave you covering rent, payroll and bank repayments out of personal savings.
No cyber cover for e-commerce or booking businesses — a ransomware incident or a customer-data breach triggers Spanish GDPR notification costs and AEPD scrutiny that quickly run into tens of thousands of euros.
Mixing personal contents with business contents on a home policy — if you run the business from a converted spare room or garage, the home insurer will usually exclude stock and commercial equipment unless you've declared the business use specifically.

Why Choose 247 Expat Insurance

We sit in Spain, we're DGSFP-registered, and most of our commercial book is expat-owned. We know how a Spanish SL is built, how its tax and labour obligations flow, and how to match the insurance to the way the company actually trades.

DGSFP-Registered

Fully authorised by the Dirección General de Seguros y Fondos de Pensiones — the Spanish insurance regulator — so every commercial policy we place is properly licensed and complaint-eligible.

English-Speaking Brokers

Policy wording, exclusions, claims and renewal conversations all handled in clear English. We translate the Spanish legal terms — explotación, patronal, lucro cesante — so you actually know what you've bought.

7 Days a Week

Phone, WhatsApp and email cover seven days a week. When a Sunday night kitchen fire shuts a restaurant, you need a broker who answers — not an inbox that opens on Monday.

Multi-Insurer Quoting

We compare commercial quotes across the leading Spanish business insurers in one conversation, so you see real options and real numbers instead of being sold a single product.

SL & Autónomo Specialists

Most of our business book is expat-owned SLs, holiday-let companies and growing autónomo operations. We know the gestoría conversations, the modelo 200 timing and the lease wording landlords sign.

Honest Sizing

If a simple autónomo civil liability policy is genuinely all you need this year, we'll tell you. We only upsell to a multi-line commercial policy when the trading reality actually demands it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is business insurance required by law in Spain?

It depends on the sector. Civil liability cover is legally mandatory for regulated activities such as construction, security firms, regulated professional services (architects, engineers, lawyers), healthcare, food service in some autonomous communities, schools and child-care providers, and any business handling firearms, dangerous goods or events open to the public. Beyond that, employer's liability (responsabilidad civil patronal) is effectively required the moment you have anyone on the payroll, and most Spanish commercial leases contractually oblige the tenant to hold a minimum level of property and civil liability cover throughout the tenancy. For unregulated activities with no employees and no commercial lease, business insurance is optional in strict legal terms — but going without is rare and rarely sensible.

What's the difference between an autónomo policy and proper business cover?

An autónomo policy is written in the name of a self-employed individual. It typically covers professional or civil liability arising from that person's own work, often with small contents and legal defence add-ons. Business insurance is written in the name of a legal entity — usually a Sociedad Limitada (SL) or Sociedad Civil (SC) — and covers the entity itself, its premises, its employees, its stock, its lost profits and its data. Once you've incorporated an SL and you're trading through it, claims will be brought against the company, and only a policy in the company's name will respond. The personal autónomo policy of the director is the wrong defendant on the wrong document.

Can my employees claim against my business if they're injured at work?

Yes. Employees in Spain are covered by the Seguridad Social mutua for medical treatment and statutory wage replacement, but they can also bring a civil claim against the employer for additional damages — pain and suffering, loss of future earnings, family compensation — where negligence is shown. That second claim is exactly what responsabilidad civil patronal (employer's liability) is designed to defend and pay. Without it, the claim lands on the company's balance sheet and, in serious cases, on the personal liability of the administrador. We strongly recommend a minimum of €600,000 of RC patronal cover for any SL with employees, and higher limits for hazardous sectors.

What if I run the business from home?

A standard home insurance policy will not cover commercial activity. If you run an SL or autónomo activity from a spare room, garage or annex — even an online-only one — you need to declare the business use, and in most cases you'll need a small commercial policy alongside the home policy. The commercial side covers your business contents, stock, IT, civil liability towards customers visiting the property, and any data exposure. The home policy keeps covering the building and your personal contents. We can structure both so they sit alongside each other without overlap.

Is an online-only business covered?

Yes — and arguably it needs commercial cover more than a traditional shopfront does. An online-only business typically holds stock somewhere (a warehouse, a fulfilment centre or a spare room), processes payments and customer data, and depends entirely on a website and a few software vendors to trade. The right policy for online businesses combines stock and equipment cover at the storage location, cyber and data cover for the payment and customer-data stack, business interruption following a cyber or physical incident, and product liability if you sell physical goods to consumers. We size the cover to the actual stock value and the platform you sell through.

Can I add multi-location cover for several premises?

Yes. Most Spanish commercial insurers will write a single policy across multiple addresses — common for holiday-let SLs with several apartments, restaurant groups with two or three sites, or retailers with a shop and a separate warehouse. Each location is scheduled individually with its own sums insured for buildings, contents and stock, while the liability and business interruption sections usually apply across the whole company. It's almost always more efficient — and cheaper — than placing a separate policy at each address with a different insurer.

Other Insurance Cover

Most of our commercial clients use 247 Expat Insurance for the rest of their personal Spanish life admin too. Three of our most-asked household products are below.

Health Insurance Spain

Private health cover for directors, partners and key employees — English-speaking GPs, specialists and hospital access nationwide.

Home Insurance Spain

Buildings and contents cover for villas, apartments and townhouses across mainland Spain and the islands, with English-language wording.

Travel Insurance Spain

Single-trip and annual multi-trip cover for Spanish residents travelling within Europe and worldwide — including business trips.

Other Insurance Options

A commercial multi-line policy isn't right for every business. Browse the rest of our personal and small-business range below to find the cover that actually fits.

Autónomo Insurance — civil and professional liability cover for self-employed sole traders not yet trading through a limited company.
Tenant Insurance — contents and liability cover for renters of Spanish residential property, including expat tenants on long-term lets.
Health Insurance Spain — private medical cover that satisfies the NLV income requirement and gives access to English-speaking clinicians.
Home Insurance Spain — buildings and contents cover for owner-occupied and rented expat homes across Spain and the islands.
Travel Insurance — single-trip and annual multi-trip cover for Spanish residents, including business and leisure travel.
Funeral Insurance — Spanish-style decesos cover that handles repatriation, paperwork and arrangements in your chosen language.

Get Your Business Insurance Quote — Commercial Cover for Your Spanish Company

Speak to an English-speaking Spanish broker today. We'll review your trading set-up, size the right cover for your SL or growing autónomo operation, and compare quotes across the leading Spanish commercial insurers.

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