Understanding Event Liability Insurance

Some venues will require you to have event insurance. This helps to protect their property and reduce their liability. It's important to know what the minimum coverage amount they require is.

If there is a possibility your event could get cancelled, you need event insurance. Event insurance can provide cancellation coverage if your event gets cancelled due to external factors. 

If you're serving alcohol, you need event insurance. You can add on liquor liability insurance to protect you if anything goes wrong. 

If the venue you rented gets damaged, you might be responsible for the costs. However, event liability insurance can help; if you're found liable, your insurance can cover the cost of repairs. 

This is why many venues require you to have event insurance. In addition, you want to choose event insurance that provides for third-party property damage. 

If someone is injured during the course of your event, event insurance could cover it. Due to the cost of medical bills and more, you want to make sure you have this coverage. 

You also need to check and see whether your policy covers third-party injuries. 

When you start paying deposits and getting things set up, the last thing you want is to have to cancel or postpone your event. However, at times something happens that forces you to do that. 

For example, many weddings were cancelled or postponed recently due to the pandemic. Talk to your insurance company about cancellation coverage and in what situations it would apply. 

This can help you recoup lost deposits.

What happens if your tuxedoes or gifts get damaged before, during, or after an event? Some insurance companies provide the option to add on extra coverage for items like tuxedos, presents, and more. 

Talk to your insurance provider about what is available and what it covers. 

Are you planning on serving alcohol at your event? If during the course of your event, any statute, regulation, or ordinance that is related to the sale, distribution, gift, or use of alcohol is broken, liquor liability insurance can cover you. 

In addition, if during the course of your event a guest becomes intoxicated and gets harmed, your liquor liability insurance can cover you. 

Are you planning to rent vehicles for your event? If so, you might want to consider adding on hired or non-owned auto liability insurance to your event insurance. 

This will cover vehicle damage or injury to third parties if something were to occur in a vehicle rented for your event. 

What happens if an injury occurs during your event, and the injured person sues the facility, which then sues you? If your event is responsible for the injury, you might end up with a lot of costs. 

However, contractual liability can help you pay to defend the case in court, and it can also help pay final damages. 

Are you hiring anyone to work your event? If so, you should look into adding worker's compensation insurance to your event insurance. 

If someone hired to work your event gets injured, this could ensure that you're covered and they get the help they need. 

This type of insurance is not as well known. While the likelihood of an act of terrorism happening during your event is probably low, there are some circumstances where you might want to add this on to your event insurance. 

For example, if you're throwing a basic holiday party, you're probably okay without it. However, if you're having an event where multiple members of parliament are attending, the risk could be higher. 

One-time event liability insurance can cover a variety of different events. This type of insurance can cover events that are one day or multiple days. 

You will need to talk to the insurance provider before purchasing to ensure that your event can get covered under this. 

Special event insurance also gets called one-day event coverage. This can cover a variety of claims, but it only covers certain events. 

Some public events like art shows, fundraisers, corporate parties, or sporting events might not get covered. However, if your event does qualify for this type of event liability insurance, you might have alcohol liability and general liability insurance covered under the policy as well. 

How much time and money have you spent planning your wedding? The average cost of a wedding in Canada is $22,000 to $30,000.

That's a lot of money. If something goes, wrong during your wedding or before, it can add on to that cost. In addition, if for some reason your wedding needs to get postponed, you could lose any deposits you paid. 

Having wedding insurance can help cover those possibilities so that you don't have to stress about the investment you've put into your wedding.  

Even if you're having your child's bar or bat mitzvah at home, damages might not get covered by your policy if attendance is over a certain number of people. However, if you rent a venue, you want to ensure you cover any possible damages that occur at the venue or to people attending the party. 

You can also get protection for gifts just in case they're stolen during the event. Ensure that when you are making your bat or bar mitzvah budget, you consider event insurance. 

Do you have a food truck? If you're planning on taking it to a food truck festival or another event, you'll need event insurance. Even if you don't have a food truck, but you're participating in a food festival, you need insurance. 

This can cover injuries and equipment losses so that you can continue to go to these festivals in the future. For example, in 2021, at the Taste of Edmonton festival, one food vendor's booth caught on fire. 

One person went to the hospital, and damages to the property were estimated at around $75,000 In a circumstance like this, event insurance can help cover your business during food festivals. 

In addition, many event organizers require food vendors to carry event insurance. 

If you're hosting or planning a trade show, you'll also need event liability insurance to protect you from liability claims. This coverage can help pay for third-party injury or third-party property damage. 

It may also include liquor liability and contractual liability. Many trade show venues required a minimum of one million dollars of liability coverage when you're hosting an event at their venue. 

• Activist events, for example, protests or rallies
• Aircraft events
• Boating events
• Hot air balloon events
• Motorized sporting events, including tractor pulls
• Haunted houses

Does the insurance company you are looking at have the ability to customize your insurance? We talked about a lot of coverages you can get above, make sure that the company you choose has what you need. 

How much does the policy cost? Take the time to get a few quotes and shop around. Make sure you're getting a good deal for your money. 

How is the service? If you do need to use your insurance, you want to make sure that the process is smooth and you get good customer service. 

There are a few ways you can potentially save money on event liability insurance. First, make sure you work with an experienced insurance agent. 

They can help point you in the right direction when it comes to discounts. In addition, choosing to not serve alcohol at your event typically will help reduce the costs of insurance. 

Finally, if you already have other types of insurance, talk to your insurance provider about whether event insurance can be part of a multi-policy discount.