Event Planner Insurance: Cost, Quotes From $5 & More

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Event planner insurance is a specialized protection program for the planners of  birthday parties, weddings, conventions, trade shows, festivals, concerts, and other events. It offers liability and casualty insurance products for business income loss, lawsuits, employee injuries, and property damage. Read this guide to know:

• How the different types of business insurance for event planners work

• How much coverage to get as an event planner

• The cost of premiums

• Where to get the best coverage

Types Of Insurance for Event Planners

These are the common types of insurance for event planners you can buy online, through a broker, or insurance agent:

1. General liability insurance

2. Professional liability insurance

3. Commercial auto insurance

4. Workers compensation insurance

5. Commercial property insurance

6. Rental equipment insurance 

Some of these policies are required by law. If you have employees, then you need to get workers compensation insurance to avoid fines and penalties. Of course, commercial auto insurance is a must if you use a vehicle for commercial purposes. 

Event Planner Liability Insurance

General liability insurance is essential for your work. You need to have at least $1 million-$2 million worth of this event planner insurance coverage. Here are some situations where general liability insurance is useful:

• An independent contractor is installing lighting for the event. He falls from a height and sustains a fracture. The contractor wants you to pay for his injury

• A client files a claim after sustaining a broken hip caused by tripping over a loose cable in the event venue

• A lighting was loosely installed. It dropped on someone. The victim was admitted to the hospital for a concussion

Most clients will require you to get general liability insurance. This policy sees to it that you can indemnify them if someone sustains bodily injuries or property damage during the event. 

Also, most landlords of event venues will need you to add them as an additional insured in your general liability insurance. It’s nearly impossible to book a place if you’re not insured. 

Event planner liability insurance takes care of these costs each time a claim for property damage or bodily injuries is filed against you by clients, independent contractors, vendors, and other third parties:

• Medical treatments for the injuries you caused

• Refunds for the property you damaged

• Attorney fees, court filing fees, investigation fees, and other legal defense expenses

• Court judgments

Insurance companies underwrite general liability insurance for event planners as a broad-form policy. And so, its language doesn’t only have the function of public liability insurance for event organisers and also protects you against:

• Claims for slander, libel, and copyright infringement

• Liability over damage to a rented venue

• Third-party claims filed after you planned an event

• Accidents caused by a borrowed or hired commercial auto 

Professional Liability Insurance for Event Planners 

Event planning is a hectic job. There are many things to look after, such as the delivery of key items, renting equipment, booking venues, securing key persons, and more. 

It’s easy to commit oversights. This is why most event planners get a $1 million-$2 million professional liability insurance for event planners aside from general liability insurance. 

Also called errors and omissions insurance or professional indemnity insurance, this inclusion in your event management insurance covers claims filed because your service has significant flaws. Professional liability insurance is useful when:

• A client accuses you of providing substandard service that’s not equal to the amount they paid for

• A client accuses you of bailing out of an event planning project to cater to another client who gives more commission

• You forgot to secure key persons for the event. As a result, the client’s event got canceled 

Each time a claim for negligence, misrepresentation, violation of good faith, violation of fair dealing, inaccurate advice, and missed deadlines is filed, professional liability insurance will cover these costs on your behalf:

• Settlements

• Defense costs

• Court judgments

Commercial Auto Insurance for Event Planners

Traveling is a part of an event planner’s daily tasks. Having commercial auto insurance is useful if you own and use a passenger van, sedan, pickup or any other vehicle to meet clients, transport equipment, or visit vendors and independent contractors.

Commercial auto insurance covers the unfortunate events that can happen while you’re using a vehicle for business purposes. Use this inclusion in event organizer insurance to:

• Cover the medical treatment of third parties you injured or inflicted property damage through an auto accident

• Cover maintenance expenses if your car got damaged because of fire, theft, vandalism, weather, or collision

• Cover your own medical treatment and the passenger’s medical treatment if your auto got involved in an accident caused by an uninsured or underinsured driver

• Get reimbursement for vehicle rental or public transportation fees

Workers Compensation Insurance for Event Organizers

Workers' compensation insurance covers the occupational diseases or injuries sustained by your part-time or full-time employees. Independent contractors might also ask you to name them as additional insureds in this event organiser insurance policy.

Most states require workers' compensation insurance. Though expensive, consider getting the policy because it will fully cover these expenses on your behalf:

• Surgeries, therapies, lab tests, and other expenses for medical treatment

• Costs for prescription medicines

• Food, room, nursing, and other hospital bills

• Employee rehabilitation and retraining

• Lost wages of an employee

• Employee funeral expenses and allowance to dependents

Workers' compensation insurance has no set limits. The amount of coverage an employee can get from this policy is provided by the worker's comp law of the state where you’re working as an event planner.

If you’re working solo, then there’s no need to get this type of event organizer insurance. Nonetheless, it’s best to insure yourself with the policy in order to have a countermeasure second to your health insurance plan.

Commercial Property Insurance for Event Planners

Building an office and buying furniture for it costs a lot of money. Moreover, laptops and printers are never cheap. You have a lot of valuables to protect. The most effective way to do this is by getting commercial property insurance.

Commercial property insurance protects your office, whether it’s owned, leased, rented, or a private space at home. This event coordinator insurance policy will recover your losses if the event planning office gets damaged or destroyed by:

• Fire

• Theft

• Vandalism

• Civil commotion

• Riot

• Sinkhole collapse

• Volcanic action

• Impact

• Vehicle

• Aircraft

• Lightning

• Rain

• Hail

• Snow

• Winds

• Sprinkler leakage

You can also insure your office’s contents with commercial property insurance. By doing so, you can get reimbursement for losses if the perils we mentioned damage or destroy computers, important documents, cash, credit cards, cameras, furniture, tablets, and other valuables.

Commercial property insurance can be endorsed with a customer property floater. A customer property floater allows commercial property insurance to grant indemnification if the property of clients gets damaged while in your care, control, and custody.

Rental Equipment Insurance

While not usually included in most event and party planner insurance plans, rental equipment insurance is also useful for your work. You need this to rent sound systems, tables, chairs, and other equipment for events.

Most equipment rentals will require you to get a rental equipment policy that lasts for a few hours or days. As an event organizer, you need $5,000-$15,000 rental equipment insurance.

Rental equipment insurance sees to it that you can reimburse losses or provide a replacement piece in case a hired equipment gets damaged or lost because of theft, malicious mischief, and other covered perils.

Wedding Planner Insurance

Wedding planner insurance is a tailored coverage for event planners specializing in weddings. This is available as a one-day or long-term insurance policy. Inclusions are general liability insurance with products and completed operations coverage, professional liability insurance, commercial auto insurance, and workers' compensation insurance.

Event Management Public Liability Insurance

Event management public liability insurance is a specialty public liability coverage for big event planning agencies. It provides up to $10 million worth of coverage for personal injury and property damage claims. You also get coverage for tax audit proceedings and workplace injuries or diseases.

One Day Event Planner Insurance

One day event planner insurance is a short-term general liability policy having the language of public liability insurance for charity events, birthdays, and gatherings in its terms. It grants temporary protection against claims for bodily injuries or property damage.

Insurance companies that offer this policy are Thimble, Hiscox (in partnership with Thimble), and The Hartford (in partnership with Putty).

Event Planner Insurance Cost

One quick way to determine the event planner insurance cost is to look at the pricing of each insurance policy. The table below shows the rates of general liability, professional liability, and other insurance for event planners:

Expect to pay $27 per month or $324 per year for a $1 million general liability insurance, if you're an event planner with 5 employees and generate a revenue of $500,000-$750,000 per year. In connection, here’s a table showing the rates of recommended insurance companies.