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Art can be complicated, but insurance doesn’t have to be. We strip away the jargon with simple artists and crafter insurance terms.
This is a rating an insurance company can receive from a credit rating agency like A.M. Best. The A+ rating is an indicator of the company’s financial strength and ability to meet its ongoing insurance policy and contract obligations.
Also known as an ACORD 25, Certificate of Insurance (COI), or proof of insurance, an ACORD (Association for Cooperative Research and Development) certificate provides insurance coverage details and insured status for the person or business listed on policy documents.
Available on:
ACT Pro | ACT Go
Certificate of Insurance for Artists & Crafters
Actual cash value is the amount the insurance provider determines for claims of lost, damaged, or stolen property. It accounts for depreciation and the cost of supplies to make a finished product. It does not reflect retail value.
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Filing a Claim With ACT
Also known as additional coverage or additional limits, add-ons are types of insurance coverage you can add to your standard or base plan. It allows you to enhance your protections and personalize your policy.
ACT offers the following add-on coverages to annual plans:
Available on:
ACT Pro
An additional insured is a person, business, or entity that you add to your insurance policy, typically required by contract. The insurance policy extends some coverage you have to the additional insured(s) in the event that an accident or claim is caused due to your business operations.
ACT Insurance allows you to add an unlimited number of additional insureds for free onto any policy.
Available on:
ACT Pro | ACT Go
What Is an Additional Insured?
Also known as an ACORD 25, Certificate of Insurance (COI), or proof of insurance, an ACORD (Association for Cooperative Research and Development) certificate provides insurance coverage details and insured status for the person or business listed on policy documents.
Available on:
ACT Pro | ACT Go
Certificate of Insurance for Artists & Crafters
Benefits refer to the protections and advantages your insurance policy offers.
Some of the benefits of ACT include 24/7 access to policy documents, an instant Certificate of Insurance, and free unlimited additional insureds.
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Why ACT?
Bodily injury refers to injuries, illnesses, and accidental death caused to a third party by the insured or their business, services, or products. It may be covered by liability insurance.
Business liability insurance is an insurance plan that typically includes different types of coverage all bundled together. It’s designed to cover the common risks and accidents a business may be liable for while operating and interacting with the public.
It is also known as general liability insurance and may include product liability or Workshop & Class Coverage (professional liability insurance).
The carrier is the term used for the insurance company that “carries” the insurance. This is the company that would help you handle a claim and make payouts if applicable.
ACT Insurance is the retailer of policies with Great American Insurance as the carrier.
Also known as the named insured, primary insured, or policyholder, the certificate holder is the individual or business that is covered by the insurance policy. They are provided with a Certificate of Insurance as evidence of their insured status.
Also known as an ACORD or proof of insurance, a Certificate of Insurance is an official document proving the insured status of the person or organization who purchased the policy and is listed on the certificate.
It outlines coverage details, limits, insured information, and more.
Available on:
ACT Pro | ACT Go
Certificate of Insurance for Artists & Crafters
A claim is a formal request by a policyholder to an insurance company to ask for payment for something covered by an insurance policy. A claims adjuster will help process a claim and determine a payout amount depending on the insurance policy terms.
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Filing A Claim With ACT | Claims Examples
Also known as general liability insurance, commercial general liability is a popular type of insurance coverage for third-party bodily injury and property damage caused by the insured’s business operations.
Also known as products-completed operations, completed operations refers to liability coverage for damages caused by operations performed by the insured or their business that are complete and no longer in process.
Damages caused by products after purchase may also be covered.
You may commonly see this coverage bundled with product liability insurance.
Available on:
ACT Pro
Coverage details are information regarding insurance coverage, including the types of coverage, limits, deductibles, exclusions, and policy period.
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ACT Pro Coverage Details | ACT Go Coverage Details
Coverage limits are the maximum amount insurance may pay for a covered loss on a particular type of coverage.
There are two types of coverage limits: aggregate limit (per policy) and per occurrence limit (per claim).
Also known as Data Breach Coverage, cyber liability insurance is a type of coverage intended to help the insured and their customers recover from a cyber attack on the insured’s business.
This helps cover the cost of recovering from a cyber-related crime, such as a data breach, phishing scam, or malware attack. It may also cover the cost of a ransom attack, stolen funds, or stolen private data.
Available on:
ACT Pro
Also known as fire legal liability, damage to premises rented to you is coverage for third-party damage caused to premises rented to you as the insured or to your business. It can also include coverage for damaged items and equipment stored on the rented premises.
After 7 days, it may only cover accidental fire damage to the rented property.
This coverage is often referred to as damage to rented premises.
Also known as cyber liability insurance, Data Breach Coverage helps an insured and their customers recover from a cyber attack on their business, such as a data breach, malware attack, or phishing scam. It may cover the cost of ransoms, destroyed data, or stolen funds.
Available on:
ACT Pro
The declaration page is typically the first page on a Certificate of Insurance detailing the insured’s information, policy period, coverage types, and coverage limits.
Read More:
Certificate of Insurance for Artists & Crafters (coming soon)
A deductible is the set amount the insured must pay out-of-pocket when filing a claim before insurance coverage can apply.
If the total costs of a claim exceed the deductible, the insured will be expected to pay the deductible amount, while their insurance may cover the rest.
ACT has zero deductibles on liability claims. Deductibles only apply to Data Breach Coverage and Theft & Damage Coverage claims on the ACT Pro policy.
Read More:
Filing a Claim With ACT
The effective date is the day coverage begins on an insurance policy. It’s also known as the start date.
With ACT, you can select your effective date up to 90 days in advance from the date of purchase. You can also elect for same-day coverage, where the policy starts on the same day of purchase.
An endorsement is a written amendment to an insurance policy that adds, deletes, excludes, changes, or updates the coverage, terms, or conditions. It is meant to accommodate unique circumstances and may be required by an event or venue.
Endorsements can be added at any time during a policy period and typically include an additional cost.
Common endorsements ACT offers are excess liability limits, waiver of subrogation, and primary non-contributory.
Also known as professional liability insurance, errors and omissions insurance protects against entities claiming your professional services or advice resulted in inadequate work, did not meet contract agreements, or led to a third-party financial loss.
It may also provide coverage for legal expenses to defend yourself against false claims made against you or your business.
Available on:
ACT Pro
Excess liability limits increase your coverage limits to a higher amount. It applies to the liability coverages on an insurance policy. This is sometimes needed to meet certain insurance, vendor, and contract requirements.
ACT offers up to $5 million in excess liability limits and up to $50,000 in excess inland marine limits.
Available on:
ACT Pro
An exclusion is a provision in the insurance policy that excludes coverage for certain risks, people, property classes, or locations.
Read More:
ACT Policy Exclusions | What Does ACT Not Cover?
The expiration date is the day coverage ends on an insurance policy. It’s also known as the end date.
With ACT, you can select your policy length. Depending on this, the expiration date will be a certain number of days after the start date. Policies can last 3 days, 7 days, 90 days, or 1 year.
Also known as damage to premises rented to you, fire legal liability is coverage for accidental fire damage that occurs on rented property. It can apply to damages to property and/or items being stored there.
Also known as commercial general liability (CGL) or public liability, this is a popular type of insurance designed to cover slips, trips, falls, and damages that occur on the insured’s premises or in a space the insured is temporarily occupying to do business, like a booth.
It may also cover accidents caused by the insured’s operations, equipment, or services.
Indemnification (indemnity) is a legal agreement where one party agrees to hold another party blameless for potential claims, financial losses, or legal damages. This is often agreed upon in contracts and is common with many online marketplaces and retailers.
Coverage for indemnification clauses may be included in liability coverage if another party could be affected by injuries or damages caused by you, your business, your operations, your services, or your products.
Available on:
ACT Pro
Inland marine insurance is a first-party coverage that can cover business items of the insured for claims of third-party theft or damage. This means someone else stole the items or caused damage to things your business owns.
It can apply to moveable property like tools, supplies, products, inventory, and items being stored at your place of business or another location.
ACT refers to inland marine insurance as Theft & Damage Coverage.
Available on:
ACT Pro
An insurance provider is a company or carrier that underwrites policies, sets limits, and processes claims. It may also refer to a company that supplies you with or sells you the insurance policy.
Also known as a certificate holder, policyholder, or named insured, the insured is the person, business, or entity buying the insurance policy.
Legal liability refers to the legal responsibility of an individual or business to compensate a third party for harm or damage caused by their business operations.
Liability insurance is a type of insurance coverage that protects an individual or business from financial losses arising from claims of injury or damage to others for which they are legally responsible. This typically covers legal expenses, medical bills, and awarded damages.
ACT offers policies for general liability and Workshop & Class Coverage (professional liability insurance).
Also known as limits of liability, the limit of insurance is the maximum amount of money an insurance company will pay for a covered loss.
This is known as the aggregate and per occurrence limits on an insurance policy.
Loss refers to the damage, injury, or financial harm that the insured experiences, which is covered by the insurance policy. It is the event that triggers a claim for compensation from the insurance company.
An insurance policy that covers multiple insureds of a similar group of persons or businesses. Each person or business insured under a master policy is a certificate holder.
Limits are not shared by certificate holders under the master policy. Each certificate holder has their own limits with no reduction or erosion of those limits, even if other certificate holders in the group file claims.
The medical expenses limit refers to a no-fault coverage for third-party claims of injury or illness. It is the maximum amount an insurance policy will pay for medical costs related to an injury or illness due to your business operations, whether or not you are at fault.
The limit of ACT’s medical expenses limit is $5,000.
Also known as the policyholder, the named insured is the person or business covered by an insurance policy. There can be more than one named insured on a policy, in which case the person or business listed first would be considered the primary insured.
Named perils are specific risks that are explicitly listed in an insurance policy. Coverage is provided only for these named perils.
Negligence is failure to use reasonable care, resulting in physical injury or property damage. This type of claim can be covered by Workshop & Class Coverage (professional liability insurance).
No-fault coverage is a type of coverage that helps to pay for an injured party’s medical expenses, regardless of whether the insured is at fault.
The limit of ACT’s no-fault coverage, or medical expenses limit, is $5,000.
An occurrence limit is the maximum amount an insurer will pay for all claims resulting from a single incident, regardless of when the claim is filed.
An insurance policy that covers claims arising from incidents that happen during the policy term, no matter when the claims are reported.
A peril is a specific risk or cause of loss covered by an insurance policy, such as fire, windstorm, flood, or theft.
Personal and advertising injury is coverage for non-physical harm caused by the insured to individuals or businesses. The harm could be considered libel, slander, invasion of privacy, copyright infringement, or advertising mistakes.
Available on:
ACT Pro
Also known as a policy period, a policy term is the period for which an insurance policy provides coverage. The policy term starts at the effective date and ends at the expiration date.
Also known as the named insured, primary insured, or certificate holder, the policyholder is the individual or business that is covered by the insurance policy.
A primary non-contributory is a type of endorsement that outlines the order in which insurance policies will respond to a claim.
For example, an event organizer may request vendors add a primary non-contributory waiver to their policies. This means if an accident happens, a vendor’s insurance is responsible for paying out a claim before the event’s insurance will kick in.
Premiums are the amount of money an individual or business pays for an insurance policy.
Read More:
Compare the Cost Of ACT Insurance
A product defect is any flaw or problem in a product that makes it unsafe or unusable for its intended purpose. It may also be mislabeling or manufacturing defects.
Injuries or damages caused by product defects may be covered by product liability insurance.
Available on:
ACT Pro
Product Liability Insurance is designed to protect a business against claims of injuries or damages caused by a product they manufacture or sell.
This coverage is often bundled with completed operations and is called products-completed operations.
Available on:
ACT Pro
Products-completed operations is a type of insurance coverage for claims of bodily injury or property damage arising from a business’s products or its completed services.
This is also known as product liability insurance or completed operations coverage.
Available on:
ACT Pro
Also known as errors and omissions insurance (E&O), professional liability insurance helps protect professionals from claims of damages, harm, or financial loss arising from the insured’s mistakes, negligence, or failure to deliver the services they provide.
ACT refers to professional liability insurance as Workshop & Class Coverage.
Available on:
ACT Pro
Proof of loss is a formal statement submitted by the insured to the insurance company in support of a claim. It details the amount of loss and the circumstances under which it occurred.
Property damage is harm or destruction caused to a third party’s physical property due to the insured’s business operations. This type of claim could be covered by general liability insurance.
An older term for general liability insurance, this type of insurance provides coverage for claims made by the general public against the insured for bodily injury or property damage. This can include slips, trips, falls, and damages caused by the insured’s business operations.
Also known as damage to premises rented to you or fire damage legal liability, rental damage insurance provides coverage for damages to a rented property caused by the tenant.
This is often referred to as damage to rented premises.
A retailer is a business or person that sells goods directly to consumers. It’s often someone that artists and crafters may wholesale their products through in-store or online sales.
Read More:
How to Start Wholesaling
A risk purchasing group is a group of businesses from the same industry that join together to buy liability insurance collectively from an insurance company, potentially obtaining more favorable insurance terms.
ACT is part of the BHTA Risk Purchasing Group.
Also known as inland marine, Theft & Damage Coverage is protection for movable business tools, supplies, and inventory in case of damage or theft.
Available on:
ACT Pro
Read More:
What Is Inland Marine Coverage?
A third party is a person or business that claims damages from the insured. In this context, the insured is the first party, the insurance company is the second party, and a customer of your business could be a third party.
ACT offers general liability coverage for claims of third-party bodily injury and property damage.
Transfer of risk is the process of shifting the risk of financial loss from one party, such as a small business, to another, such as the insurance company. Getting insurance is designed to transfer risk from you, the artist or crafter, to the insurance company, so you don’t have to pay out of pocket for claims.
An underwriter is an insurance professional who evaluates a policy’s associated risk and determines the coverage terms.
Vendor liability insurance is coverage for artists and crafters attending events, such as fairs, festivals, or shows, as vendors from claims of third-party bodily injury or property damage.
Read More:
Vendor Liability Insurance for Artists
Why Artists and Crafters Need Vendor Insurance
A waiver of subrogation is a provision in an insurance policy in which the insurance company agrees to relinquish its right to pursue a third party for reimbursement after paying a claim.
ACT policies offer this additional coverage as an option. It is sometimes requested by third parties who want to be added to your policy as an additional insured as a contractual requirement.
Also known as professional liability insurance or errors and omissions insurance (E&O), Workshop & Class Coverage helps protect professionals from damages, harm, or financial loss arising from the insured’s mistakes, negligence, or errors in the professional services they provide.
Available on:
ACT Pro