Vendor Insurance & Vendor Liability Insurance

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The appeal of being a vendor is obvious. Whether you’re selling meals out of a food truck or cart, selling t-shirts at an event, re-selling used goods at the flea market, or selling your homegrown fruits and veggies at the farmer’s market, one thing remains the same - you’re free! 

As a vendor, you can usually come and go as you please, choose when and where you want to work and go wherever the people are. If a particular area is slow, no problem! Just pick up and move to a different spot. You’re not bound to a certain location, and you won’t be stuck paying exorbitant amounts of rent through the slow season as many brick-and-mortar retail stores do. 

The one thing that many vendors forget about, though, is their vendor’s business insurance policy. In fact, before you even park your food truck or set up your vending table at an event, many landlords will require you to provide proof of insurance. This protects them from being held liable if anything goes wrong on your end. It also protects you from having to pay claims out of pocket as well. 

In today’s article, we will give you a basic overview of what vendor insurance is, how much it costs, and what types of businesses 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. Let’s dive in! 

Do I Need Vendor Insurance? 

Legally speaking, you may not necessarily need vendor insurance. As it’s a relatively low-risk industry, many states don’t require small vendors to purchase a comprehensive business insurance policy. 

That being said, without proper insurance, you’ll find it hard to land gigs or find landlords who are willing to rent a space out for you. Aside from this, maintaining a vendor insurance policy is just part of being a responsible business owner. 

Even though vending is a relatively low-risk business to be in, there’s always the possibility that something could go wrong someday. For example, let’s say that you run a hot dog cart. One day, as you’re in the middle of serving a customer, one of the wheels gives out, and the cart lands on the customer’s foot and breaks it. 

Without vendor’s insurance coverage, you would be held liable and could be required to pay for that person’s medical bills and even compensate them for the time they miss working. As you can see, a simple mistake can quickly turn into you paying thousands of dollars out of pocket! 

A simple $50/month vendor insurance policy can completely prevent incidents like this. Even photographers should keep a basic wedding videographers insurance policy to protect them against an angry client suing them. 

How Much is Vendor Insurance? 

As vending is a low-risk industry, insuring your small business is usually quite affordable! On average, vendors pay $33 per month for a general liability insurance policy. This totals out to $384 per year. As you can see, this is cheaper than most people’s mobile phone bills, so there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to afford it. 

Can I Get One-Day Vendor Insurance?

Yes! In fact, if you only plan on vending a few days out of the month or you need to insure yourself while you go out of town and do an event for a few days, then purchasing a one-day vendor insurance policy is a smart solution. 

Otherwise known as on-demand vendor insurance, these policies provide coverage for specific dates. This, in turn, means that you won’t be stuck paying into a long-term insurance contract when you only need insurance for a few days here and there. Not all insurance providers offer one-day vendor insurance, though, so you’ll need to ask your insurance provider or agent. 

Now that you know a little bit more about the basics of vendor insurance let’s take a few minutes to examine the various types of vendors that should purchase vendor liability insurance coverage. This list is by no means conclusive, but we’ve done our best to mention some of the most common vendors that come to us for insurance coverage. 

Vendor Event Insurance

Event vending can be a bit tricky as you’ll often be setting up and selling your products in different locations every time. Traditional insurance policies may only apply within your home city’s limits. This presents a bit of a problem for traveling vendors. 

If you’re a traveling vendor, then you may find that your best bet is to purchase on-demand vendor insurance, as we discussed earlier. These policies can provide immediate short-term coverage for your business in any city, which means that you don’t have to go through the hassle of calling your insurance agent and telling them you’re going out of town for the week. That being said, some insurance companies have particular policies designed for mobile or traveling vendors.

Liability Insurance for Food Vendors

As a food vendor, you’re basically a restaurant on wheels. That being said, the risk is still relatively low compared to a full-blown restaurant, meaning that insurance costs are still relatively cheap and affordable. 

Liability insurance for food vendors provides coverage for chefs and their mobile kitchens. A general liability policy will protect you and your business from injury or property damage claims. Some of the most common claims that food vendors face include:

• Food poisoning claims. 

• Property damage claims (e.g., hitting a mailbox with your food truck or accidentally killing the grass where you set up your mobile kitchen). 

• Personal injury claims (e.g., if the customer’s food was too hot or if they tripped over your power cords). 

Hopefully, you won’t have to deal with any of these types of claims. However, something is bound to happen one day, and when it does, it helps to be prepared. The best way to be prepared is to maintain an affordable food vendor insurance policy. 

Below, we’ve listed some of the most common types of food vendors that should purchase liability coverage. 

Mobile Food Truck Insurance

One of the biggest issues with food trucks is the relatively low visibility that drivers have. It’s not uncommon for food trucks to back up into other cars, damage personal property, or even accidentally hit somebody. A simple food truck liability insurance policy and a commercial auto policy for your food truck will protect you against almost any claim that comes your way. 

Insurance for Mobile Food Trailers

Mobile food trailers are basically just food trucks that need to be towed by another truck. Since they don’t have an engine of their own, they are typically covered by your commercial auto insurance policy. This means that you should have a commercial auto insurance policy on whatever truck you use to tow your mobile food trailer. Additionally, you should also maintain a public or general liability insurance policy to protect against other injury or property damage claims. 

Food Vendor Insurance for Festivals

If you’re a food vendor working a festival, then you’ll definitely want to have a comprehensive general liability insurance policy. Festivals are usually packed full of people, and there’s often alcohol involved, which means that the risk of your customers hurting themselves in or around your food truck or vending station is increased. 

If you’re traveling for the festival you’re vending at, then we suggest contacting your existing insurer to inform them of your travel plans or purchasing separate on-demand liability coverage for the duration of the event. 

Hot Dog Cart Insurance

Compared to most other food vendors, hot dog carts represent the lowest risk. However, as we mentioned above, there’s always the possibility of your cart giving way and hurting somebody. Another common scenario is that you could lose control of your cart, and it could crash into somebody’s nice car or personal property. This makes it imperative to maintain a simple hot dog cart liability insurance policy. 

Flea Market Vendor Insurance

As a flea market vendor, you’ll likely be setting up a cart, small retail space, or table at a weekly flea market. Some flea markets are open daily, while others are only open on the weekends. Either way, though, you’ll want to have a basic liability insurance policy to cover you in the event that somebody gets hurt in or around your stand. Flea market vendor insurance can also protect you from customers claiming that you sold them defective or malfunctioning items. 

Farmers Market Insurance for Vendors

If you sell fruits, veggies, or other goods at your local farmers market, then you’ll need to maintain a farmers market public liability or general liability insurance policy. In addition to protecting your business against customer claims, most farmer’s markets require all vendors to show proof of insurance before they’re given a vending space. 

Liability Insurance for Farmers Market Vendors

Although vending at a farmers market is very low-risk, there’s still the possibility of you accidentally selling rotten fruit or veggies to a customer or a customer tripping and falling in or around your setup area. As many of your products come from a farm, there’s also a chance that there could be a spider hiding in your wares that could bite a customer and cause serious injury. Liability insurance for farmer’s market vendors will protect against any random occurrences that could come up. 

Read more about Farmers Market Insurance

Craft Vendor Insurance

Most artisan craft vendors set up at flea markets, farmer’s markets, or events. As such, craft vendor insurance is a liability insurance policy designed to cover similar instances or mishaps that could happen around your vending location. It will also protect you from customer injury claims resulting from the misuse of your items.

Read more about crafters insurance

Vendor Liability Insurance

As you can see, the most common coverage purchased by vendors is liability insurance for vendors. Liability insurance protects you and your business from any claims that could arise as a result of the products you sell or customers getting hurt in or around your setup. Thankfully, getting vendor liability insurance is quick, easy, and affordable.

Vendor Insurance Cost Comparison

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 $33 per month or $384 per year for general liability insurance coverage.

How To Get Cheap Vendor Insurance

There are a number of factors that determine your insurance rates. However, here are a few tips that you can employ if you want to make sure that you get cheap vendor insurance that won’t break the bank:

• 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! 

Best Vendor Insurance

One of the best all-around vendor insurance providers we’ve found in our research is Geico. Here’s our brief, to-the-point review on Geico vendor service insurance. 

Geico Vendor Insurance

Geico is the second-largest insurance provider 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! 

Pros:

• Offices nationwide and agents available 24/7. 

• Easy-to-use Geico app. 

• Great deals for bundling policies. 

• Build the policy that’s best for you.

Cons:

• Premiums may increase without warning from one year to the next. 

Best For: Food trucks and mobile food vendors who need to bundle commercial auto and vendor liability insurance.

Average Cost: $32/month for vendor general liability coverage. 

Rating: 4.5/5