General insurance covers insurance of property against fire, burglary, theft; personal insurance covering health, travel and accidents; and liability insurance covering legal liabilities. This category of insurance virtually covers all forms of insurance except life. Other covers may include insurance against errors and omissions for professionals, credit insurance etc. Common forms of general insurance are motor, fire, home, marine, health, travel, accident and other miscellaneous forms of non-life insurance.

Unlike life insurance policies, the tenure of general insurance policies is normally not that of a lifetime. The usual term lasts for the duration of a particular economic activity or for a given period of time. Most general insurance products are annual contracts. There are however, a few products which have a long term.