For your best business protection and savings, we recommend bundling GL with some other important coverages on one Business Owners Policy!
As a small business in farmers’ markets, one of the first steps you’ll want to do after filing for your business retail license is to purchase a farmers market insurance policy to cover you against potential claims.
Whether you’re just starting your business and want to get covered; or you just want to compare farmer market insurance quotes online to find better options and rates and switch insurers - you’re at the right place!
This guide outlines some of the key reasons why farmers market vendors must have insurance.
We’ll break down the different types of farmers’ market insurance coverage options that different vendors may need and provide you with some tips on how to get an affordable farmers market insurance policy.
Then, we’ll give you a farmers market insurance cost comparison from top insurers to help you find the best insurance for farmers' market business.
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The most common inclusion in tailored farmers’ market insurance coverage is liability insurance which carriers offer as a general liability insurance policy.
Many individuals visit farmers' markets to shop or engage in window shopping. It’s highly possible for your business operations to cause property damage or personal injuries to a particular person. General liability insurance shields you from the consequences if this happens.
Someone who experienced personal injuries or property damage might file a claim and demand hefty compensation from you. The function of general liability insurance is to pay for the compensation on your behalf up to the limit stated in its terms. If the person decides to sue you, general liability will also help by taking care of attorney fees and other legal costs.
But there’s more to general liability insurance. General liability insurance is a very comprehensive type of liability insurance as it comes with optional policies that will protect you from other exposures aside from personal injury claims or property damage claims. Optional policies in farmers market general liability insurance are:
Advertising injury coverage
Rented premises liability coverage
Someone might file a claim against your business for slander, libel, false advertising, and copyright infringement. Advertising injury coverage in general liability insurance will take care of defense costs, legal fees, and compensatory payments to cover such exposure.
Selling in a farmers' market means that you’re renting a commercial space. If the space you’re renting incurs damage because of fire or other covered perils, you’re liable to reimburse the losses of the property owner. The function of rented premises liability coverage is to pay on your behalf.
Farmers' market organizers will request you to purchase general liability insurance before granting permission to sell. General liability insurance allows you to add the management of the farmer’s market as an additional insured. This is why it's a requirement.
Some businesses in farmers' markets decide to get a less comprehensive type of liability policy called public liability insurance.
Public liability insurance is a stand-alone liability policy that takes care of third-party personal injury claims and property damage claims against your business. Its primary function is the same as general liability insurance.
But note that general liability insurance and public liability insurance aren’t the same. General liability insurance has a wider scope because it will take care of personal injuries, property damage, advertising injuries, and liability to rented premises as well. On the other hand, public liability insurance only covers personal injuries or property damage.
Product liability insurance will cover costs if a customer files a claim because he or she bought a spoiled, defective, or expired product from your business and ended up getting sick, injured, or having property damaged. So how does product liability insurance work? This one helps by taking care of compensatory payments, defense costs, and other legal fees.
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Liability insurance is only one of the many protections that carriers include in their tailored farmers' market insurance. The following policies are available if you wish to get more protection:
Commercial property insurance
Business owner’s policy
Equipment breakdown insurance
Workers compensation insurance
Commercial property insurance has business equipment coverage that’s useful if you’re using equipment to sell in a farmers market. Fire, theft, vandalism, and other covered perils might cause the damage or loss of the equipment in your possession, and business equipment coverage will reimburse your losses.
Another inclusion in commercial property insurance is stocks and contents coverage. You have items to sell and these might get damaged or lost due to theft, vandalism, fire, and other covered perils. Stocks and contents coverage takes care of this exposure by giving you money equal to the value of items lost or destroyed.
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A business owner’s policy is an insurance product that’s a combination of general liability insurance and commercial property insurance.
A business owner’s policy is the smart option if you’re planning to get general liability insurance and commercial property insurance separately. This is because its price is cheaper. For example, if commercial property insurance and general liability insurance costs $85 per month if bought individually, a business owner’s policy will cost $60 per month.
And since business owner’s policies are common, some insurance companies decide to innovate to leverage themselves against competitors. For instance, there’s CoverWallet that offers a business owner’s policy with workers' compensation insurance. Another example is Nationwide selling a business owner’s policy with equipment breakdown insurance.
Your business’s equipment might have occasional defects. Of course, you need to get it fixed. Equipment breakdown insurance will become handy in this situation because its job is to cover the repair or replacement of defective business equipment. Note that this insurance only covers mechanical, electronic/electric, or computer equipment.
You need workers' compensation insurance if your business has one or more employees. Employees suffer from work-related injuries or diseases. Workers' compensation insurance provides a helping hand in such a situation.
When your employee becomes sick or injured because of work, workers' compensation will ensure that you don’t spend a single penny when taking care of him or her. Workers' compensation insurance will pay for the employee’s treatment/medical procedure, hospitalization, and rehab.
Furthermore, if the employee needs to take a leave to continue healing, the insurance will also reimburse lost income equal to two-thirds or 67% of the average weekly wage.
Workers' compensation will also take care of things on your behalf if the employee dies. But how? In practice, the insurance will provide death benefits to the deceased’s family equal to two-thirds or 67% of the average weekly wage.
Most food vendors purchase a full-term policy and pay their farmers market insurance monthly. However, if you’re a traveling vendor or you only sell on a scheduled basis, or maybe you are just starting out and have a full-time job and only offer your goods on farmers' market once a month, then you may find that purchasing temporary or on-demand coverage is more affordable. Most insurance providers offer on-demand coverage options. These policies are designed to provide coverage for specific dates, so you’ll only need to pay by the day instead of having to pay for a full month at a time. The best company for on-demand farmers' market vendor insurance policies is Thimble, as it can be paid for as little as 1 hour, at a very cheap rate starting from as low as $43 for 3 hours.
As we mentioned, farmers’ markets attract a wide range of shoppers and often contain several different types of vendors. While the majority of the vendors are local farmers, it’s also common to find food trucks, local artists, bakers, and other vendors. Below, we’ll explain the small difference in coverage that you may need, depending on which type of vendor you are.
If you’re a farmer selling their homegrown produce at the market, then you’ll most likely need a full-term general liability insurance policy offering $500,000 - $1 million coverage. This will protect you from personal injury claims and property damage claims. Furthermore, your liability for defective items sold is also covered because general liability insurance for farmers' market vendors comes with an optional product liability coverage.
Many farmers’ markets host pop-up artisans. If you only set up at the market from time to time, then you’ll probably benefit from a on-demand temporary farmers market liability insurance for artisans that lasts for either hours, days, weeks, or months only. A typical farmers market artisan liability insurance includes:
General liability insurance - Covers compensation, defense costs, and other payments if you injured someone or destroyed someone’s property while doing your craft
Product liability insurance - Covers defense costs, other payments, and compensation if a handmade product you’re selling turned out to be defective and caused personal injuries or property damage
Professional liability insurance - Covers defense costs and compensation if someone files a claim against your business for negligence, misrepresentation, and other acts constituting errors and omissions
Food trucks and food vendors are commonly seen at farmers’ markets, as most of the produce vendors don’t have the necessary license to sell cooked food to the general public. Compared to produce and artisan vendors, food truck liability insurance policies may be a bit more expensive. This is because there is a higher degree of risk involved with the large trailers and cooking equipment found on most food trucks and trailers.
So what are the liability insurances available for food trucks in farmers markets? Available liability policies are:
General liability insurance - Covers third-party personal injury claims and property damage claims. Includes coverage for rented premises and products and completed operations
Product liability insurance - Covers instances where your food truck sold poorly prepared food which resulted in guests becoming sick. Also covers situations where a customer displays an allergic reaction to the food you’re selling
Wondering how much farmers market insurance costs? Below, we’ve put together a table outlining the average rate of $1 million general liability insurance policies for different farmers' market businesses.
| Cost per Month | Cost per Year | |
|---|---|---|
| General liability insurance for farmers' market vendors | $35 | $420 |
| General liability insurance for farmers' market artisans | $38 | $456 |
| General liability insurance for food trucks at farmers' markets | $41 | $492 |
Keep in mind that these numbers are just an average obtained from nationwide surveys. The amount you pay could be slightly more expensive or more affordable, depending on where you live, how long you’ve been in business, your annual revenue, as well as other risk factors.
That said, here are some average farmers' market vendor insurance quotes from some of the best farmers market insurance companies according to third-party watchdogs and customer reviews:
| Cost per Month | Cost per Year | Best for | |
|---|---|---|---|
| CoverWallet | $38 | $456 | Farmers market insurance online quotes comparison |
| Thimble | $43 | $516 | Short-term farmers market insurance with liquor liability coverage |
| NEXT | $45 | $540 | Farmers market insurance you can avail regardless of location |
Get all the best quotes from leading providers in a click of a button!
Here's a review showing the best farmers market insurance companies' pros,cons, and pricing for a $1 million general liability coverage.
Buy insurance online
Pay premiums online
Cancel a policy anytime
Has live insurance agents ready to help you find the best coverage
Policy cancellation takes 30 days at most
CoverWallet is an insurance broker with an online quotes comparison platform you can use to find the companies that offer tailored farmers market insurance for different types of small businesses. Getting and comparing quotes is easy. All you have to do is provide your location, tell the platform the type of farmers' market business you’re running, and everything is set. Note that CoverWallet's platform shows the latest features and pricing of the farmer’s market insurance quotes from different carriers.
Best for: Farmers market insurance online quotes comparison
Average cost: $38 per month
Our rating: 10/10
Get covered in less than 5 minutes
Provides an instant ACORD certificate of insurance
Choose not to have a deductible
Only have coverage for hours, days, weeks, or months
Insure yourself without talking to an agent
Doesn’t have in-house experts who can advise you about business risk management, which helps to reduce premium costs
Thimble provides you general liability coverage with its farmers market insurance. You can choose to have protection for only hours, days, weeks, or months. You’ll find this useful if you're a home based business that operates in any farmers market occasionally. This company offers additional liquor liability insurance if your business sells liquor or alcoholic beverages.
Just like CoverWallet, Thimble insures you instantly online. There’s no need to talk with an insurance agent because the company’s insurance application platform simplifies everything for you - just provide a zip code, number of employees, revenue, the policy to get, length of coverage, and all is set.
Best for: Short-term farmers market insurance with liquor liability coverage
Average cost: $43 per month
Our rating: 9/10
Get a quote online
Save up to 10% when buying two or more policies
Offers live certificate of insurance you can send as a text message, email, or social media post
Has an easy-to-navigate mobile app where you can file a claim, track a claim, and manage insurance online
Available in all 50 states
Doesn’t cover customers with a poor claims history
NEXT’s farmers market insurance has general liability insurance, commercial auto insurance, commercial property insurance, and workers compensation insurance. Work with this company if you want your business insurance policies to offer the minimum amount of coverage available. Also, NEXT is a wonderful option if you want a company that allows you to seamlessly send certificates of insurance in different media.
Best for: Farmers market insurance you can avail regardless of location
Average cost: $45 per month
Our rating: 10/10
The best way to make sure that you’re getting the best rate is to compare quotes from different insurance providers. Most providers are in constant competition for your business and they’re often willing to outbid other companies in your geographical area.
To find cheap farmers market insurance quotes right now, simply click the ‘Get Quotes’ button below, complete the questionnaire, and compare customized farmers market insurance quotes and coverage options online from the best farmers market insurance companies.
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