Trade Show Insurance for Exhibitors & Vendors: Cost & Quotes From $7

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A trade show opens its doors to many people. This introduces an element of risk that would be detrimental to ignore. Specifically, there are risks of injury and other related damages that would be financially perilous and can potentially take a toll on businesses and their owners. This is why you need trade show insurance as an exhibitor or vendor to protect you against these risks. 

With trade show insurance for exhibitors and vendors, you can keep your business open without worrying about possible damages or lawsuits. It is important to note that there is no one-size-fits-all solution for expo insurance. This means that you need to combine several policies to address the trade show’s unique needs. Overall, shopping for insurance for trade shows as an exhibitionist or vendor ensures that you never have to worry about any mishaps during the trade show. 

This guide delves into exhibition insurance coverage and provides all the information you need. It sheds light on the importance of investing in trade show exhibitor insurance, what it covers, its cost, and more. 

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Trade Show Liability Insurance

Being a vendor and selling your products at trade shows is significant for your business. You do not want a mishap to compromise this opportunity and potentially threaten the continuity of your business. And to secure yourself, get liability insurance

This is a specialized liability policy designed for exhibitors at trade shows and exhibitions. Trade show liability insurance provides protection when you're responsible for the loss or damage sustained by others. This can be classified as:

• General liability insurance

• Public liability insurance

General Liability Insurance for Trade Shows

Suppose an attendee trips and falls or displays fall over and injure people or assets. Further, what if someone trips in an aisle because an item fell off the counter? In this case, the trade show liability insurance that offers protection against all of these eventualities is general liability insurance. Also called exhibitor liability insurance as it’s designed to cover a trade show’s exhibitors, general liability covers:

• Personal injury claims-If an attendee, visitor, or any other third party sustains injuries because of your business operations, general liability insurance will reimburse or pay their medical expenses

• Property damage-The activities of your tradeshow or business in the tradeshow can damage the properties of others. General liability insurance can help in this situation as it provides the money you can use to refund the value of the damaged property

General liability insurance can be added with host liquor liability insurance, liquor liability insurance, or advertising injury coverage.

• Liquor liability insurance-Liquor liability insurance will cover expenses if alcohol is sold in a trade show and a third party files a personal injury claim or property damage claim because he or she was over served or allegedly over served with alcohol

• Host liquor liability insurance-The function of host liquor liability insurance isn’t different from liquor liability insurance. This is purchased if alcohol is served for free

• Advertising injury coverage-Advertising injury coverage will cover expenses if a third party decides to sue for advertising or reputational harm such as slander, libel, copyright infringement, etc.

Exhibition Public Liability Insurance

Trade shows will have lots of people coming by your booth to check out your products. Accidents are inevitable, with the cost of said accidents being highly dependent on the business you are doing. Given how the public is currently quite litigious, you want to be covered in the event said accidents happen.

Exhibition public liability insurance should help cover you in the event of lawsuits from members of the public. You no longer have to worry about raising the cash to pay as compensation or cover the arising legal fees.

Suppose someone gets hurt due to activities in the tradeshow. If they were to seek medical treatment, your exhibition public liability insurance should help fill any cost gaps that their health insurance wouldn't typically cover.

Note that the nature of activities in the trade show will determine whether or not you can get exhibition public liability insurance. Traditional businesses shouldn't struggle to get this type of vendor exhibitor insurance. Some other types of businesses, for instance, those including a fireworks display, might require special liability. Overall, this is a conversation you want to have with the different trade fair insurance providers to see how you can work out a policy that meets your business needs.

Exhibitor Product Liability Insurance

The products you’re selling in a trade show can be defective and they might cause injuries or property damage to the person buying them. By law, a person who sustains losses due to a defective product can file a claim. Product liability insurance protects you against this peril.

Product liability insurance will cover attorney fees, administrative costs, and other legal expenses if a customer sues you for selling a product that has:

• Design defects

• Labeling errors

• Manufacturing errors

Product liability insurance is available as a stand-alone policy. However, it’s best availed as an inclusion to general liability insurance.

Rental Equipment Insurance for Trade Show Exhibitors

Rental equipment insurance is another helpful coverage for trade show exhibitors. Consider getting this one if you rent or hire equipment. This helps you minimize risks by covering event property owned, borrowed, or hired for the exhibition. The cover protects you from paying for equipment damage. Should a rented or hired equipment become lost or damaged due to fire, theft, vandalism, and other covered perils, rental equipment insurance will help you reimburse the losses of the owner.

Trade Show Cancellation Insurance 

When you exhibit at a trade show, you don't really know the number of people that might turn up, the number of leads you'll get, or the ROI on your investment. Overall, you will basically be gambling even when you embark on thorough planning and comprehensive research. 

All of the time and capital investment you've made is threatened when there is the possibility of trade show cancellation. Unfortunately, you do not have control over whether the organizers cancel the event or if unprecedented events like lousy weather mean the exhibition cannot occur. 

Fortunately, you can take a proactive approach to protect yourself and your business. Trade show cancellation insurance offers protection in the event that the trade fair gets canceled, disrupted, or postponed. If the event is canceled for any reason included within the policy, you should be reimbursed for all the expenses and investments you have made toward the event. This could include reimbursement for registration fees, travel and accommodation costs, and transportation and drayage costs. 

Note that there are some policies that might offer additional options, although you are going to pay higher premiums. A popular option has been to buy a policy that covers expenses that you will incur. However, such policies will have a set dollar limit set within the policy. 

It is prudent to mention that event cancellation policies will cover profits and revenue lost due to cancellation. Granted, this is an optional extra. However, such extras will often be availed more to the event organizers in favor of vendors and exhibitors. 

Further, note that event cancellation policies can cover either single events or extended periods. The amount you end up paying in premiums will depend on the coverage length you choose.

Exhibition Vehicle Insurance  

Other than the 3m by 3m booth you use to exhibit your wares, you might need to get commercial auto insurance for trade shows and exhibitions. This type of trade show vendor insurance comes in handy when you use a vehicle to transport your goods or conduct your business at the trade show. 

Exhibition vehicle insurance covers any lawsuits that might be brought against your business due to damages or harm caused by a commercial vehicle you own. The cover extends to accidents caused by your employees or if your employees were to get into an accident and require medical care.

Commercial auto insurance isn’t an insurance policy on its own. This is actually composed of different coverages that provide protection, namely:

• Auto liability coverage-Auto liability coverage enables commercial auto insurance to cover you in case the commercial vehicle causes an accident and injures people or destroys their property. Usually, what’s covered are medical expenses and remunerations for damaged properties 

• Physical damage coverage-This coverage in commercial auto insurance will cover the repair or replacement of your commercial vehicle’s parts. Physical damage coverage is available as a comprehensive policy or collision policy. Comprehensive physical damage coverage will pay for your commercial vehicle’s parts repair or replacement if it sustains damage due to fire, theft, vandalism, hail, snow, windstorm, and other covered perils. Collision physical damage coverage, as the name implies, covers  vehicle parts repair or replacement costs if the damage is sustained due to a collision with an object or another vehicle 

• Hired/non-owned auto coverage-Add this to commercial auto insurance if employees lend their vehicles for your business or if you’re a trade show exhibitor who's constantly hiring a vehicle to haul goods. If the commercial vehicle causes an accident, hired/non-owned auto coverage will cover your liability for personal injuries or property damage 

• Personal injury protection/medical payments coverage- Personal injury protection and MedPay coverage protect the driver of the commercial vehicle. If an accident happens and the driver sustains injuries, MedPay and personal injury protection cover medical or funeral expenses. Note that personal injury protection does more because it will also pay for lost wages, after-hospital visits, rehabilitation, and other costs

Trade Show Booth Insurance 

As an exhibitor, you’ll be renting a booth in the trade show or else there won't be any place for you to display products.  One of the requirements to rent a booth is to get trade show booth insurance. 

Trade show booth insurance is sold as a rented premises liability coverage. This is an optional policy to general liability insurance. Rented premises liability coverage will help you reimburse the event hosts if the booth they rented out to you becomes damaged due to a fire. 

If you want to protect yourself from losses whenever something happens to a rented booth, then get commercial property insurance from carriers providing tailored coverage for trade shows. Commercial property insurance can be added with stocks and contents coverage. Stocks and contents coverage will reimburse your losses if the rented booth burns and the products displayed on it become damaged. 

Pay-As-You-Go Workers Compensation Insurance for Trade Show Exhibitors 

Get pay-as-you-go workers' compensation insurance if you’re a trade show exhibitor working with part-time employees. A pay-as-you-go workers comp determines your premiums based on actual monthly payroll. This means that rates are more accurate and cheaper with this type of trade show exhibitors insurance policy. But that’s it, as for the function, pay-as-you-go workers' compensation isn’t very different from an annual workers' compensation insurance. You can cover the following costs on behalf of employees who sustained a work-related injury or disease by having this insurance:

• Medical expenses-Pay as you go workers comp will pay for the ambulance fees, emergency room fees, surgeries, and other related medical expenses if an employee experiences a work-related injury or disease

• Hospitalization-You can also use pay-as-you-go workers comp insurance to pay bills if an employee needs to stay in the hospital to receive intensive care for a work-related injury or disease

• Medication-Pay-as-you-go workers compensation insurance sees to it that your employee can cover the cost of medicines the attending physician requires

• Lost wages-Your employee has his or her lost wages covered by pay-as-you-go workers' compensation insurance. Coverage for lost wages is a weekly allowance equal to two-thirds or 67% of the average weekly wage

• Death benefits-Pay-as-you-go workers comp will cover funeral expenses and provide financial assistance to dependents if your employee dies due to a work-related injury or disease 

Temporary Exhibition Insurance

Temporary exhibition insurance is a broad term for different types of short-term or one-day business insurance coverages for trade show exhibitors or vendors.  Examples are:

Short-Term General Liability Insurance

Short-term general liability insurance is an hourly, daily or weekly general liability coverage. It works the same way as a normal general liability insurance policy. You can add rented premises liability coverage, host liquor/liquor liability insurance, and advertising injury coverage. 

Temporary Car Insurance

Temporary car insurance is an hourly, daily, or weekly commercial or personal auto insurance coverage. Common inclusions are auto liability, physical damage coverage, MedPay, and personal injury protection. Note that temporary car insurance can’t be added with hired/non-owned auto coverage.

Exhibition Insurance Coverage Requirements 

General liability insurance is a requirement for all trade show exhibitors. The amount can be a $1 million single limit or $1 million coverage with sub-limits for the optional policies included.  This is just a generalized example, though. Trade show organizers might require a greater or lesser amount of coverage. That said, ask the management of the trade show so that you truly know how much general liability insurance to have.

Also, be sure to get insured by a carrier that provides an instant certificate of insurance the moment you get covered. It’s because trade show organizers will ask you to show proof of insurance. Saying that you bought an exhibition insurance coverage without any supporting papers won’t cut it. 

Trade Show Insurance Cost  

Having highlighted the importance of purchasing trade show insurance for yourself as a vendor or exhibitionist at a trade fair, you are probably wondering how much trade show insurance costs. 

On average, premiums will cost $63 per month and $756 per year for a $1 million general liability coverage for an indoor trade show with only 20 participants. On the other hand, the best-selling tailored trade show insurance cost between $57 and $66 per month or $684 and $793 per year, respectively. Overall, the location of the exhibition and the type of vendor you are will determine the exhibition insurance cost you will incur. Here's a breakdown of the trade show insurance cost from the best trade show insurance companies in the market today. 

Comparing quotes is the best way to know your trade show insurance cost.  Start here by clicking the “Get Quotes” button. By comparing quotes, you’ll see the rates and the features of trade show insurance of different carriers. Ultimately, you’ll avoid getting scammed and find the most comprehensive coverage at the lowest cost.