No certificate, no pitch. Usually decided the week of the show.
Liability for traders, concessionaires and exhibitors — the certificate a market, festival or convention demands before they will assign you a space.
Tell us the situation.
A licensed human replies the same business day — not an auto-responder, and not five producers calling at once. We shop it across our carriers and tell you if the policy you already have is the right one.
We use this to quote and service your insurance, and we do not sell it or pass it to lead networks. Privacy policy.
What event vending businesses actually need.
Event liability
General liability for a single event or a season of them — the cover a venue, park or municipality requires, naming them, before they will confirm the booking.
Without it — The organiser, the venue and often the landowner all named, before you are allocated a pitch.
General liability
Third-party bodily injury and property damage — the line nearly every contract names by default.
Without it — An annual policy covers every show rather than a certificate per event — and it is where products liability for anything you sell or sample sits.
Inland marine & equipment
Tools, equipment and property in transit. It picks up exactly where commercial property stops, which is the moment the item leaves the building.
Without it — Stock, stall, equipment and a vehicle full of both, all of it away from any premises.
Commercial auto
Vehicles the business owns and the people who drive them for work.
Without it — Getting to the show with the stock aboard is business use whatever the vehicle is.
Workers compensation
Required in almost every state the moment you have employees. Priced on payroll and class code, which is why the class code is worth arguing about.
Without it — Casual help on the stall are employees in most states, however briefly.
What event vending operators ask us.
Annual policy or per event?
Annual, if you do more than three or four shows a year, and it is usually cheaper by a wide margin. It also solves the real problem, which is timing: organisers ask for certificates at short notice and per-event cover has to be arranged each time, so an annual policy turns a scramble into an email. Blanket additional insured wording lets you name each organiser as their date comes.
We sell food. Does that change things?
Substantially. Product liability becomes the main exposure rather than a footnote, because the claim arrives days later and away from the event. Cooking equipment, gas, hot oil and temporary structures add their own, and some organisers set higher limits for food traders specifically. Say what you cook and how; a page of specifics prices far better than "food vendor".
The organiser says we are covered by their policy. Are we?
No. Their policy covers their event and their own negligence. As a vendor you are a separate business, and their contract almost certainly requires you to carry your own cover and to indemnify them. If somebody tells you otherwise, get it in writing — they are usually being casual about a question they have not checked.
Not ready to talk? The guides answer the questions this page raises in more depth. Already insured with us and need a certificate or a policy change? Ask the service team rather than starting a quote — it is faster and it goes to the people whose job it is. We also write home and auto, which is usually cheaper alongside the business policy than apart from it.