Photographer's Commercial Insurance?

Hey everyone,

As I'm picking up more clients and getting more involved in the photographic trade, I've decided it's best to get some business insurance for this photography thing.

I'm not sure what my homeowner's covers but I suspect it's probably not enough. I'm going to go on the assumption that it is not what I will need and will get my own separate policy.

Does anyone know where I can get this type of insurance in Vancouver?

I have a great rider setup for a small business through my home owners and one can also find insurance via AAA as well as The Divers Network.

Another option is insurance through a professional photographer association. With membership you get various benefits including a break on insurance packages specifically for photographers. CAPIC has a local chapter and a couple of insurance package options with Coast Capitol locally and with Sun Life. Another option is PPA which has indemnification insurance optionally with membership as well as insurance discounts.

Cheers,
Dana

state farm offers them too ...

find a local insurance agent
s/he will also be able to help.

One idea:

Join the PPofA.

Here is a link:

http://www.ppa.com/

Section on Insurance:

http://www.ppa.com/benefits/ppa_insurance.php

Perhaps call the PPofA to see if it will cover you where you live.

Or what they recommend to help you.

I do freelance audio work. State Farm (homeowner's insurance) wouldn't cover my equipment as it was considered "profession equipment" and wouldn't write me a business policy. I ended up finding another company, but they wouldn't cover me with out a liability component to the policy. While I see the need, in my personal situation I didn't feel that I needed the level of liability that they wanted, as the majority of my work is done my myself alone. After a very detailed letter describing my business environment, they agreed and wrote me a policy with less liability. I guess my point is, you may have to shop around, but some companies are willing to work with you to meet your needs.

There are basically two forms of liability coverage that you might need and I think both are pretty important for a photographer. First, you will want to have some of what is called business liability coverage or office liability. This covers bodily injury and property damage mostly and an example of how it could be useful is if you leave a piece of equipment on the floor and a client trips on it, injuring themselves. Many companies offer this and you would probably be best off checking with an independent agent who works a lot with businesses. Usually it will come in a package that will cover your equipment for theft or accidental damage as well, kind of like how a homeowner's policy works for your personal liability and belongings.

The other sort of liability coverage is called professional liability and it covers damages due to your performance of your job. For example if a client sues you after you shoot their wedding because they think that you did a lousy job. This coverage is included in normal PPA membership, but I don't know about Canada for that. I think it might be harder to find folks who offer this coverage, here in the US, State Farm will cover a photographer with a business/office policy, but not professional liability, for example. I do think that the afore mentioned independent agent who does a lot of business coverage is your best bet here if you can't get covered under PPA. If you are eligible for the PPA coverage, I think it is a fantastic deal.

In a former life I was an insurance agent, by the way.

Good luck,

Paul

Nice web site Paul!