Why You Need Vendor Liability Insurance For Your Next Event

Did you hear about the vendor at your last market whose tent toppled over while people were making a purchase from them? Or how about the guy whose goods ended up getting stolen when he left his merchandise overnight? Or how about the woman whose art was ruined because her tent wasn’t totally protecting her materials during a downpour?

Each of these individuals had a worst-case-scenario at their last show, how stressful would it be for you to encounter something similar?

We know the answer: very stressful.

Put the proper safeguards in place and protect your booth at your next show with vendor liability insurance from ACT Insurance. We’re here to tell you about a few reasons you need vendor liability insurance and how it could come in handy at your next show.

Reason #1: Vendor Liability Insurance Protects You

Vendor liability insurance from ACT is easy to purchase, easy to understand, and is available with two coverage options: you can choose a show policy that will cover you for 1–3 days or an annual policy that will come in handy with your many shows in the new year.

With vendor liability insurance you are protected against third-party general liability claims such as personal injury or property damage that arise out of your business operations.

So, if you set up your booth and during the show, your tent falls and hits someone on the head, you may be protected against an ensuing lawsuit from the injured person.

Our annual policy is slightly more robust in that it protects you, your business, and your products. This means that if someone were to purchase an item from you, say they buy a knit hat, and it caused them to have an allergic reaction and as a result wanted to sue you, your insurance could possibly cover the claim.

Reason #2: You’ll Likely Need To Include an Additional Insured

These days, the people putting on the show, festival, or market you’re hoping to vend at, are hoping to protect themselves against any wrongdoing that causes a lawsuit. For this reason, you will more than likely be asked to list the show promoter on your insurance policy as an additional insured.

“What’s an additional insured?”

Great question!

An additional insured is a person or organization that is added to your insurance policy by endorsement.

When you add someone to your policy as an additional insured, you are extending your policy coverages to protect the additional insured from a lawsuit that was caused by your negligence.

This means that if someone were injured while visiting your booth and sued you as a result but also decided to file a separate lawsuit against the event promoter, then only the lawsuit against you would be valid since the promoter was listed as an additional insured.

Once you’ve included your additional insured on your vendor liability insurance policy, you can print proof of coverage to send the promoter and rest easy knowing your insurance is taken care of.

Conclusion

You’ll need vendor liability insurance for your next show, no doubt about it. And even if it’s not required by the show promoter, you should still consider purchasing it to protect your business. With vendor liability insurance you meet show requirements, can list additional insureds, and you show your true investment in your business. Even if what you sell is done as a hobby, you never know what could happen at an event and you need to be prepared for the worst.