The appeal of being a vendor is obvious. Whether you’re selling food via food truck, restaurant, or bakery; selling t-shirts at an event, re-selling used goods at the flea market, selling handcraft on busy streets, or selling homegrown fruits and veggies at the farmer’s market; one thing remains the same. You’re free!
You can come and go as you please, choose when and where you want to work and go, so long as there are people to sell goods to. You’re not bound to a certain location, and you won’t be stuck paying exorbitant rents.
Even though moving from location to location all vendors, like you, need a vendor's business insurance policy. In fact, before you even start selling somewhere, proof of insurance is sometimes required that indicates you have the necessary protection for yourself, customers, and third parties.
In today’s discussion, we will give you a basic overview of what vendor insurance is, how much it costs, and what sellers should purchase a vendor insurance policy.
Along the way, we’ll also give you some helpful tips for getting cheap vendor insurance and show you how to get free vendor insurance quotes.
As vending is a low-risk industry, insuring your small business is usually quite affordable! So, how much is vendor insurance? It costs $33 per month for a $1 million general liability coverage. This totals to $396 per year. We will give more information about this in the later parts of our discussion.
Vendors face a lot of risks. That’s why mobile food vending insurance is important because it provides protection. Some of the risks it aims to guard against are:
Customer personal injury claims
Community lawsuits
Lawsuits from product defects
Business interruption due to economic or environmental crisis
Customers will be comfortable to buy if there's a vendor insurance policy. Insurance reassures that, when something goes wrong, customers can go after a vendor’s coverage and get some reimbursement. In this sense, being insured doesn’t only protect vendors but their customers as well.
As opposed to what many suggest, not having vendor’s insurance coverage doesn’t mean that a vendor will fail. There are other ways to get back on track aside from insurance. For example, one can get a loan from the bank, borrow money from a friend, or get government subsidies.
Nonetheless, insurance is perhaps the fastest and easiest way for vendors to get the money they need in dire times. After all, all that there is to do is choose what coverages are needed, discuss the terms of the insurance with the carrier, get insured, and file a claim when it’s time to use the insurance policy.
Customers can sue vendors for injuries. The probability of facing a lawsuit isn’t only possible when the vendors were really the one at fault. Lawsuits might also result from mere allegations of causing injuries to customers.
Most of the time customers sue vendors because of slip and fall accidents, vehicle related accidents, and being hit with an object. If the lawsuit goes sideways, vendors might pay $324,000 up to $637,000 settlement fee for medical costs, lost income, pain and suffering, and punitive damages.
Vendors can avoid expensive settlement fees and legal costs by having vendor liability insurance with general liability coverage. General liability coverage applies when a customer experiences an injury and the vendor is at fault. Aside from injuries, general liability will also cover property damage. Types of property covered are phones, clothes, bags, and other personal belongings in the customer’s possession.
Liability insurance for vendors can have product liability and public liability coverage as additional options to general liability. Note that this doesn’t apply most of the time as some carriers offer general liability with no additional options. Product liability will answer personal injury and property damage lawsuits a defective product causes.
On the other hand, public liability accounts for personal injuries and property damage caused by accidents connected with the vendors’ business operations.
Liability insurance for food vendors works best if it has general liability with products liability and public liability coverage.
Common injuries that food vendors cause while working are cuts, burns, and lacerations. This can happen due to the mishandling of cooking equipment, poor management of cables and wires as well as business equipment, and lack of skill or experience.
Products liability is useful when a food vendor is accused of causing foodborne illness to a customer because of poor food preparation. Understand that food poisoning lawsuits can emerge from the simple mistake of serving cold food. On average, a vendor might pay $145,000 - $346,000 direct compensation - a very expensive amount without food vendor insurance policy with products liability.
Food vendors commonly face a lawsuit from the public after causing a fire. Lawsuits arising from fire accidents cost $56,000 for property damage and a minimum of $10,321 for personal injuries. And so, it’s important that public liability coverage is part of food vendor liability insurance. Also, aside from food vendors, public liability is also useful for food trucks.
Some vendors have permanent business locations, others prefer selling from one location to the next, and finally, there are a few who choose to do business only on specific days.
Vendors who do business on chosen days will find one day vendor insurance useful. After all, who needs a policy for a whole year when you only need protection for just a day? This insurance provides basic general liability coverage plus products liability coverage which takes effect for 24 hours by default.
But know that 24 hours isn’t the maximum duration that one-day vendor insurance policy takes effect. Carriers allow the policyholder to extend the effective period to weeks or months. By the way, some carriers call this insurance on-demand vendor insurance. And so, don’t get confused as both are the same.
Insurance for vendors lasting for only a short period is more expensive than standard vendor insurance. On average, the cost is $178 for one day coverage regardless of policy limits and deductibles.
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Special events can cause demand for specific goods to increase. And so, there are vendors that opt to do business during events only. Vendor event insurance is a type of vendors insurance coverage with terms that, as the name implies, takes effect when a vendor is involved with:
Trade shows and expos
Football and racing events
Charity and fundraising events
Live performances
Gaming and comic conventions
Other events
In addition, depending on which carrier offers it, vendor event insurance provides a certificate of insurance. A certificate of insurance is a document testifying a vendor is insured and won’t transfer any liabilities to the event organizers. Event organizers always look for certificate insurance before working with any vendor and this makes it very important.
One day event vendor insurance is a 24-hour general liability insurance policy having products and completed operations coverage and product liability coverage. Other inclusions are tools and equipment insurance and event cancellation insurance. The general liability insurance in this specialized insurance plan has a $500,000-$1 million limit.
Food vendor insurance for festivals that offer basic general liability and contents coverage fit festival food vendors best. General liability will take care of slips and falls, tripping, and fire breakouts festival food vendors may cause due to poor crowd and space management. On the other hand, contents coverage will provide protection against theft and stock damage. We recommend getting these duringmusical festivals.
Trailers used for selling food serve as food trucks. But surprisingly enough, mobile food truck insurance doesn’t cover trailers.
There are two ways for vendors to get their food trailer covered. The first is to get a stand alone commercial auto insurance for the food truck with comp coverage. If this is hard to do, the second option is to get insurance for mobile food trailers which provides coverage to trailers regardless of type, size, weight, and purpose.
Compared to most other food vendors, hot dog concessions represent the lowest risk. However, there’s always the possibility of your cart blazing in flames and burning people and their property. And so, it’s best not to underestimate the usefulness of hot dog cart insurance.
Another common scenario is that you could lose control of your cart, and it could crash into somebody’s car or personal property . This makes it imperative to maintain a simple hot dog cart liability insurance policy.
Vendors in flea markets sell secondhand items. Unlike brand new items, no one checks antiques for quality and consumer safety except the vendors themselves. And so, flea market vendors face risks that potentially defective products bring.
Items in flea markets such as thermometers, leathers, toys, and furniture can cause allergic reactions due to the degradation of substances used to make them. Allergic reactions can be the cause of customer personal injury claims if severe. A flea market vendor facing a lawsuit might pay $6,352 for lost compensation, hospital bills, and pain and suffering.
False advertising and product defects are other problems flea market vendors might face. On average, settlement for this is $3,234. However, if the customer is really set on making things hard, false advertising and product defect lawsuits can result in temporary suspension of business license. A great example is a couple who bought a dog for $400 during a flea market pet sale. The dog died a few days after the purchase. As a result, the aggrieved couple was determined to file a lawsuit that will stop the vendor from selling.
Flea market vendor insurance provides general liability and products liability coverage. General liability coverage protects flea market vendors from false advertising and personal injury claims. On the other hand, product liability will cover any resulting costs when a customer bought a defective secondhand item.
Just like flea market vendors, farmers market vendors can easily face lawsuits. Slip and fall accidents are the most common reasons. Contributing factors are:
Poorly managed electrical cords of stalls or tents
Wet grass or ground
Liquid spillage (oil, gasoline, or water)
Potholes and cracks on the ground
Vendors’ tents also cause injuries to customers in farmers markets. Tent-related accidents happen when:
the tents are dislodged by strong winds
a customer trips on the ropes/weights of the tents
the tent umbrella suddenly opens and hits someone’s eye or face
Personal injury lawsuits against vendors in farmers markets can be very costly. For example, a simple elbow injury - one that didn’t even affect the victim’s quality of life in any way - amounted to $135,000 in direct compensation. In connection, farmers market insurance for vendors can shoulder such an amount as it may provide $1 million for personal injuries, $400,000 for damaged customer property, and $5,000 for damages to business personal property.
Farmers market managers can be held liable for injuries vendors caused or are accused of causing. Commonly, customers go for the farmers market managers instead if the vendors in question don't have coverage.
To make sure that this doesn’t happen, farmers market managers prohibit anyone, who doesn't have liability insurance for farmers market vendors, from selling. Liability insurance most farmers markets require vendors to get are:
General liability
Products liability
Premises liability
Aside from liability insurance, managers require vendors to get:
Property insurance
Workers comp (only for vendors who have employees)
Commercial auto
Additionally, vendors must see to it that their liability insurance allows the naming of an additional insured in their policy. It’s because most farmers market managers want to be covered by the sellers’ vendor liability insurance coverage in case a customer files a claim against more than one party.
Wedding vendors have a lot at stake as clients want to have the best wedding. Everything must be perfect, from the invitation cards, flowers and lightings, wedding decorations, venue, up to how the wedding program is organized.
With that said, if something goes wrong, trust that things won’t only end up with “my sincere apologies” and “it's okay ".
Breach of contract is the most common reason why couples sue a wedding vendor. However, lawsuits don't only result from something so complicated. Couples can also raise a lawsuit just because something was different from what the wedding vendor promised, there was an unexpected wedding cancellation, or a missed delivery of key items for the wedding happened.
When facing a lawsuit that takes a whole year to resolve, wedding vendors can spend more than $11,000 for attorney fees. Also, if the case is lost, wedding vendors might have to reimburse what the client paid plus the cost of punitive damages and other penalties the court might impose. For this reason, getting general liability insurance for wedding vendors with products and completed operations coverage is crucial.
Some couples, because of financial constraints, rent rings, vehicles, and other equipment from wedding vendors for their wedding day. In case of damage or theft, it’s hard for wedding vendors to go after their clients. Carriers recognize this problem and make it possible for vendor insurance for wedding to reimburse, replace, and repair any stolen or damaged rented product.
One day wedding vendor insurance is an on-demand general liability coverage that lasts for 24 hours. This offers a general liability insurance policy having product liability and products and completed operations coverage.
Most artisansset up at flea markets, farmer’s markets, festivals, or events. As such, craft vendor insurance is a policy designed to cover mishaps that could happen at vending locations. Carriers offer this as short-term insurance or standard policy for artisans such as sculptors, weavers, metalworkers, potters, and clock smiths.
If availed as short-term insurance, craft vendor insurance only offers basic general liability coverage with a maximum duration of 3 months. On the other hand, if availed as a standard insurance policy lasting for a year, it offers general liability, products liability, business personal property, and false advertising coverages.
Wondering how much does vendor insurance cost? Your individual business insurance quotes may vary depending on the size of your business, the city you do business in, how many employees you have, gross sales, and what you sell, but this should give you a rough estimate of what to expect. In general though, the average vendor insurance cost is $30 per month or $360 per year for a $1 million general liability insurance coverage.
| | Cost per Month | Cost per Year | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| CoverWallet | $8 | $96 | Vendor insurance quotes comparison online |
| Thimble | $10 | $120 | Short term vendor insurance |
| NEXT | $25 | $300 | Food truck vendor insurance |
| Hiscox | $33 | $396 | Online vendor insurance |
| Geico | $38 | $456 | Food trucks and mobile food vendors who need to bundle commercial auto and vendor liability insurance |
| Allstate | $45 | $540 | Vendors with growing business |
| Nationwide | $60 | $720 | Vendor insurance with no deductible |
| Act Insurance | $80 | $960 | Arts and crafts vendors |
There are a number of factors that determine your insurance rates. However, here are a few tips if you want to make sure that you get cheap vendor insurance:
Pay your full year of insurance upfront.
Enroll in automated billing.
Ask for a policy with a higher deductible.
Bundle your vendor insurance with other policies through the same provider.
Increase your credit score.
Ultimately, the best way to get a great deal and cheap vendor insurance is to compare quotes from different insurance providers. To make it easy for you, we’ve partnered with some of the nation’s top insurers. Simply click the ‘Get Quotes’ button below, enter some preliminary information about your vendor business along with your email address, and you will receive cheap vendor insurance quotes online from some of the best vendor insurance companies in the market. Then, you can compare quotes and coverage options and decide which one is best for your vendor business!
One of the best all-around vendor insurance providers we’ve found in our research is CoverWallet. But there are other noteworthy carriers too. Here’s our brief and to-the-point review on CoverWallet, Thimble, NEXT, Hiscox, Allstate, Nationwide, Act Insurance, and Geico vendor service. Know about these companies' pros, cons, and pricing for a $1 million general liability coverage.
Vendors easily find their needed coverage with CoverWallet . This company offers general liability, workers comp, commercial property, and other essential policies to food vendors, farmers market vendors, flea market vendors, and more. With its online quotes comparison platform, CoverWallet allows you to get the quotes of numerous carriers and see offers and pricing.
Get free quotes and compare the pricing of different carriers online
Covers different kinds of vendors
Stable rates
Get covered online
Policies CoverWallet sells are underwritten by its partners
Best for: Vendor insurance quotes comparison online
Average cost: $8 /month for vendor general liability coverage
Our rating: 10/10
Thimble’s coverage is available for vendors in trade shows, conferences, festivals, markets, and flash retails. Though it only offers $1 million or $2 million general liability coverage, the policyholder can still benefit greatly, because Thimble’s vendor insurance is available as a short-term policy by the hours, days, weeks, or months. Moreover, Thimble customers, who already bought an entertainment and events policy, can purchase vendor insurance as an add-on.
Get short-term vendor insurance in 60 seconds
Get covered online through Thimble’s website or mobile app
Instant proof of insurance
Only includes general liability
Best for: Short term vendor insurance
Average cost: $10 /month for vendor general liability coverage
Our rating: 9/10
NEXT is one of the leading insurtech companies right now. The company states that it’s 100% dedicated to small businesses. At present, NEXT is helping 130,000+ customers. Depending on the customers' location and business, available small business insurance policies are general liability, commercial auto, commercial property, workers comp, business owner’s policy, and more. NEXT allows customers to enjoy discounts when buying more than one insurance policy. It also provides instant proof of insurance through its mobile app.
Get quotes, get covered, and manage insurance online
Online live support that responds quickly
Instant proof of insurance
Get insured in less than 5 minutes
Depending on location, a vendor might not get all the needed coverage from NEXT
Only insures food truck vendors
Best for: Food truck vendor insurance
Average cost: $25/month for vendor general liability coverage
Our rating: 8/10
Hiscox provides coverage to online vendors selling furnitures, clothes, and other consumer products. Vendors already working with this company enjoy fast claims process, worldwide coverage, and flexible payment options. Hiscox offers general liability that includes products and completed operations coverage.
Provides worldwide coverage so long as the claim is filed in the US, a US territory, or Canada
Allows customers in good standing to get more than $2 million policy limits
Each customer claim is assigned to one Hiscox representative
Some customers reported that Hiscox increases rates questionably without even giving a heads up
Best for: Online vendor insurance
Average cost: $33 /month for vendor general liability coverage
Our rating: 7/10
Geico is one of the largest insurance providers in the United States, and they offer customized policies for vendors so you’ll pay for exactly what you need and nothing more. So, whether you’re looking for Geico B2B vendor insurance, mobile food cart coverage, or flea/farmer’s market liability insurance, a Geico agent can hook you up with a comprehensive policy designed to cover all of your needs.
Additionally, Geico also offers great rates on commercial auto policies. So, if you have a food truck or mobile food trailer, then this presents a great opportunity to bundle a commercial auto policy with your vendor liability insurance policy and save money!
Offices nationwide and agents available 24/7.
Easy-to-use Geico app.
Geico vendor insurance can be bundled with other policies for better rates.
Build the policy that’s best for you.
Premiums may increase without warning from one year to the next
Best for: Food truck and mobile food cart vendors who need to bundle commercial auto and vendor liability insurance
Average cost: $38/month for vendor general liability coverage
Our rating: 6/10
Allstate’s vendor insurance is composed of general liability coverage, product liability coverage, and commercial auto coverage. With that said, this is perfect if you’re a vendor selling numerous goods using customized trucks or vans. In addition, the company even has an online tool on its website to hasten claims filing and processing.
Easy claims filing and processing
Has three options for its vendor insurance
Doesn’t offer commercial property as an option
Average cost: $45/month for vendor general liability coverage
Best for: Vendors with growing business
Our rating: 5/10
, premises, products and completed operations, and false advertising. Additional options also allow you to avail short-term policies, decide on the depth and duration of coverage, negate deductibles, and cover loss to property, stock, or inventory.
Can be availed without deductibles
Works in the event of theft
Expensive rates
Average cost: $60
Best for: Vendor insurance with no deductible
Our rating: 4/10
Last but not the least is ACT Insurance. The vendor insurance from this company is highly tailored to the needs of small businesses. Coverage isn't that hefty. However, the pricing is one of the fairest in the market. ACT Insurance covers all types of vendors but mainly focuses on the needs of the ones selling arts and crafts.
Policies tailored to vendors selling handicraft and art
Cheap rates
Slow to respond to claims
Best for: Arts and crafts vendors
Average cost: $80
Our rating: 3/10
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This place is an absolute joke of a company and should be ashamed of the way they conduct business. I was hurt on the job at the end of July and it took them just shy of 7 weeks to issue out a paycheck to me. Yes the amount was back dated but still. Not many have the luxury of not receiving a paycheck for almost 2 months. To top it all off, the original adjuster marked me down for the wrong state which caused a problem from the get go, I've had 3 different adjusters now since each one can't seem to figure out the simplicity of my claim. All my paperwork which includes, my job, house, and drs visits all are from the same state and city but yet some how I have been filed under a completely different state 1500 miles away. They do not answer your phone calls or emails no matter how many you leave. I've had to escalate my frustrations to the supervisors of each of these individuals in order to even get some kind of response. I've had more communication and information given to me about my claim from the customer service representatives then the actual adjusters.......... please tell me how that works?! A serious overhaul needs to happen here in order to serve your clients the way they deserve to be taken care of. 10/10 do not recommend this company to a single soul on earth
I have never had the displeasure of working with a more incompetent and disrespectful person in my life. I’m an injured worker and the adjuster that was assigned to my case was named Carrie Furgeson. In the past 6 weeks that I’ve been injured and out of work I have only been able to get ahold of her twice, not for lack of trying. I have left countless voicemails, countless emails, and she ignores them all. When I am finally able to get ahold of her I’m greeted with terrible customer service. She is rude, she talks over me and I’m hardly able to get a word in edgewise. She spelled my name wrong on my documents even after I spelled it for her properly countless times, this caused a whole new issue with my bank. I have bill collectors from the hospital calling me demanding payment and Carrie Furgeson won’t do a single thing to help, or to get them paid. All of my documentation is in Colorado, my job is in Colorado, my address is in Colorado, all my Dr offices and appointments have been in Colorado and Carrie still managed to hold my claim because she wasn’t sure what state she needed to file it under. It’s been 6 weeks since my Injury and my company still hasn’t received the wage paperwork to fill out so they can get me my correct wages. When she’s not ignoring me she’s answering my questions with “I don’t know” well I don’t know how she got this job, because apparently she doesn’t know anything about it. She is a disgusting morose individual inside and out and I genuinely wish her the worst in all of her future endeavors. I highly recommend you don’t use this company. Please if you are a business owner and your looking into this company please don’t use them. I’m sure they have the cheapest payment and that’s why companies use them in the first place, but you will be doing your employees a grave disservice by forcing them to venture into this absolute dumpster fire of a company. I would rate 0/5 if possible but 1 was the lowest I was allowed.
Their general liability insurance purchase process is simply the best online experience I've ever had in my life!
As long as they cover your line of business, you're literally covered! best rates, best coverage, best online experience, best professionals, can't be happier that I chose them!
It really can't get any better than this... wow
Not all those who wander are lost.
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