Insurance For Farmers Markets
If you run a farmers market or you are a farmers market vendor, you are going to need insurance to protect your business.
This post will serve as your 101 guide to insurance for farmers markets. We will explain the different types of policies available as well as the factors that can influence your insurance costs. But first, let’s explain the importance of farmers market insurance.
You need farmers market insurance if you are:
- A farmers market manager
- The owner of the space
- A vendor selling at a farmers market
Each of these parties is assuming some degree of risk when participating in a farmers market, so it makes sense to get coverage.
Why Do You Need Insurance As A Farmers Market Vendor?
Many things can go wrong during the course of a farmers market. When they do, it is a big help to have insurance to compensate you. Here are a few examples:
- A customer trips over a street barrier and gets hurt. They sue you for medical costs. Your insurance can pay out to cover it.
- Someone gets sick after eating the food you sell at your booth, and sues you. Thankfully, you have insurance to compensate.
- While you are busy with a customer, someone else manages to steal expensive merchandise from your stall. Insurance can help to compensate for your losses.
You can likely imagine many more possibilities. When you purchase farmers market insurance, you will have peace of mind from knowing your policies will be there to lean on if you need them.
Coverage Types of Farmers Markets
Here are some of the most popular types of insurance policies for farmers market businesses. Keep in mind that there may be some additional types of policies that are applicable, depending on the details of your business and the specific risks you face.
- General liability insurance: For many businesses, this is the most important type of insurance to purchase, alongside workers’ compensation. General liability insurance exists to cover you if you damage another person’s property or injure a third party. It can help to offset medical costs, legal costs and more.
- Commercial auto insurance: You can protect the vehicle you use to commute to and from the farmers market with commercial auto insurance. Note that your personal auto policy will not cover the vehicle.
- Commercial property insurance: To protect the rest of your property, you will need commercial property insurance. Remember, general liability insurance is for other peoples’ property.
- Workers’ compensation: If you have employees, you need to purchase workers’ compensation so that they will be covered if they become sick or injured on the job.
- Product liability insurance: If you happen to be selling food at the farmers market, you might want to tack on this type of coverage. If a customer gets sick or has an allergy attack and blames you for it, the policy may pay out.
Now Much Does Farmers Market Insurance Cost?
According to NEXT, you may be able to get away with spending as little as $25 a month on farmers market insurance. But your insurance costs will depend on a variety of factors.
- Types of policies: The types of policies and how many of them you get will be one of the major factors in determining your costs. You will spend less if you just get general liability insurance and workers’ comp than if you buy all of the policies we mentioned. In many cases though, more coverage is worth the extra cost.
- Deductibles: Your deductible determines how much you need to pay out of pocket before your insurance starts paying. Raising your deductible is one way to reduce your monthly insurance expenses.
- Coverage amounts: You will need to decide on maximum amounts for each of your policies. The higher these amounts, the more you will need to pay for your policies.
- Where you work: If your farmers market is located in a nice area of town, you probably will pay less for your insurance than you would if it were located in a dodgy area.
- What you sell: There are more risks associated with some products than others. Someone selling food and requiring product liability insurance, for example, may have more expensive insurance than someone selling ceramics.
- Payroll: A higher payroll will result in a higher cost for workers’ compensation since workers’ comp helps cover lost wages.
- Discounts: Check into the discounts offered by the insurance carriers you might be going with.
- Track record: The longer you have been in the farmers market business, the more experience you have mitigating your risks. When a carrier sees you have been running farmers markets or selling at them for a long time without claims, they may offer you more competitive quotes than they would someone who is new to it or who has made a lot of past claims.
- Underwriting: The underwriting guidelines of different insurance companies result in different quotes, even if all the other factors are the same.
Where to Get Farmers Market Insurance Coverage
Our top recommended carrier for farmers market insurance is NEXT, a company that specializes in working with small businesses like yours. At NEXT, you can purchase policies for your farmers market business like general liability insurance, commercial auto insurance, commercial property insurance, workers’ comp and more. Click below to get a personalized quote.