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Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: Dezrah on February 05, 2014, 09:35:45 AM

Title: Where to get short term liability insurance
Post by: Dezrah on February 05, 2014, 09:35:45 AM
I would like to thank everyone who takes the time to read and/or respond to this in advance.

I'm part of a very large extended family that's scattered across the country.  We're all very close, so every-other year we have a family reunion get together.  This year, I've agreed to act as the lead organizer.  Out location has already been booked with a deposit for mid July.  After reading through the guest policy agreement, I noticed this line:

18. INSURANCE: We are licensed for small venues in regard to insurance and parking. Groups over 50 must provide general liability insurance of $1,000,000 listing [site] as an additional insured for the date of the event.

If every family member and spouse attended, we'd have 48 people.  It's likely some people won't be able to attend and/or can only come for some days.  It's also likely some people will come with their long term girlfriend/boyfriend or locally based extended family.  Overall I would say it's 80% likely we'll be over the 50 person limit at some point.

So where on earth can I go about finding $1M worth of liability insurance for 8 days?  How much would something like this cost?

Thanks again.
Title: Re: Where to get short term liability insurance
Post by: arebelspy on February 05, 2014, 09:40:39 AM
I have a few ideas, but first (obvious) question is did you ask the location managers for a recommendation (i.e. what do people usually do/use in that situation) - get their ideas and check the prices, then we can comparison shop, as it were.
Title: Re: Where to get short term liability insurance
Post by: MissStache on February 05, 2014, 01:16:25 PM
I know that GEICO has special event insurace policies you can buy (a non-profit I worked for used them to insure a golf tournament they hosted).  You could try calling them (or your current insurance company) and see if they have any specialty lines like that. 
Title: Re: Where to get short term liability insurance
Post by: Dezrah on February 05, 2014, 03:55:59 PM
arebelspy,
I admit I have not contacted the location managers; I simply saw that line and started panicking.  It does seem like an obvious place to start in retrospect.  I'll actually probably wait for now until we can get a firmer number on who will/won't attend.  I'd hate to get them worried about us breaking contract before it's a sure thing.

MissStache,
That helps to know it's simply called "special event insurance".  My own world-view is so small I didn't even think that the same companies that sell car and home insurance would do these kinds of things as well.

Still, does anyone even have a ballpark number for how much something like this will cost?  I feel like it surely can't be more than a few hundred but my husband suggested it would be a few thousand; neither of us have any basis in why we suspect these costs.  A very number would at least give me an idea for how much this would add to the group's cost.


Title: Re: Where to get short term liability insurance
Post by: jba302 on February 05, 2014, 08:05:55 PM
No, it isn't special event insurance per se, it's event liability insurance. SE covers event issues, rainouts, etc. They want you to have a liability policy in case you get sued for someone getting killed on premise and going after them, for example -

https://www.privateeventinsurance.com/Pages/Event-Liability-Insurance.aspx

Cost depends on a lot of things, including how much / what kind of liquor you are serving, time of the year, etc. There are a lot of variables but I think it's common enough now that you will get a reasonable deal, though I couldn't even hazard a guess (i would assume well under 5k unless you have an open bar in the middle of winter with a trampoline theme).
Title: Re: Where to get short term liability insurance
Post by: LibraryGirl on February 05, 2014, 09:32:02 PM
Several of my friends have had to get liability insurance when they throw big events (generally weddings).  I think they all have went through whoever they get their home or car insurance from.  I don't know how much coverage any of them had or exact prices, but I think you would be more accurate estimating a few hundred dollars.