Portrait Photography Insurance – What Kind and at What Cost

Whenever you budget the expenses of your business, portrait photography insurance must be near the top of the list because you can’t always know exactly what is going to happen in the future.

With the protection provided by insurance against accidents and all the other sorts of insurance we will tell you about, you can protect your business and yourself in case something unexpected happens.

Like any business owner, for your portrait photography enterprise, you must consider how much financial danger you are taking on.

If your portrait photography business runs without proper insurance, you are taking a giant chance not just of losing some money but of a complete wipe-out.

This is because the laws in every state are very strict in enforcing liability on the owners of businesses for the results of their actions. 

In this article, we are giving very general guidelines for small businesses to explain what the main kinds of insurance that you need are, and where we can, a rough guide to how much you can expect to pay.

The question is, can you afford to NOT have insurance for your portrait photography business?

What this means, for any portrait photography business owner, is that if some person claims that your business caused them some physical or economic damage, a court can award damages far beyond the total size of your business.

Your portrait photography business is not sheltered by laws in the same way as states are, where legislation can place a “cap” on the maximum level of liability.

In some states, like New Jersey, there are specific monetary levels that limit the amount a court can award in any case against the state.

In a court case, it’s purely the duty of the jury to award whatever amount they deem appropriate, even sometimes giving a plaintiff more than they have sort.

When you are running your portrait photography operations, you can’t deny responsibility for the consequences of your actions.

Even more importantly, unless you have spent in advance the money necessary to have your business running as a limited liability company, all of that liability belongs to you as a person.

What does portrait photography insurance protect you from?

For your portrait photography business, the most important sorts of insurance are meant to cover the risks to your business from accidents, from unexpected events, and from mistakes.

In addition there are some official kinds of insurance that various states require.

In the next few paragraphs, we will describe the most important points any portrait photography business owner should know when negotiating the insurance needed.

The main types of insurance for your portrait photography businesses are liability insurance, commercial insurance, asset insurance and workers compensation insurance.

Liability insurance

General liability insurance

Any portrait photography business is dealing directly with members of the public, and that means you generally have the danger that some accident can happen to them bodily or else something of theirs can be ruined.

In such a case, they can require compensation.

General liability insurance policy for your portrait photography business insures you against claims coming from injury to customers or damage to their property.

It protects your portrait photography business from the claims themselves and as well to any follow-on court costs and legal fees of the lawsuits.

In many cases, it can also help you to qualify for extra business from city and state organizations, where contracts require proper liability insurance.

The usual level of general liability insurance for your portrait photography business would be with a upper limit of $1 million for a single event and a total of $2 million for the whole year.

See the table in the costing section below for average prices of general liability insurance for your portrait photography insurance operations.

Professional liability insurance for your portrait photography business

In the event where a customer alleges some negligence, errors, or omissions in how you conducted your portrait photography business for them, you can quickly have to fight a monetary claim.

Even if the lawsuit against you is decided in your favor, the cost of defense can be substantial, and the impact on your reputation can be damaging.

Every small portrait photography business should have enough professional liability insurance to cover a once-off claim of $25,000, with annual cover of $50,000.

See the table in the cost of portrait photography insurance section below for average prices of professional liability insurance for your portrait photography operations.

Product liability insurance

Whatever goods you sell or advice you give about the goods, you are running a risk that customers may claim that what they received didn’t meet your description of function, or that your guidance was basically incorrect.

You need to be aware of the particular laws of product liability in your own state.

For example, in California, all businesses in the supply chain can be held responsible for results caused by products claimed to be defective.

To cover yourself against any possible lawsuit, you need Product liability insurance for portrait photography

Only you can estimate exactly how much insurance you need.

Best advice is to consult with experienced insurance agents, brokers or company representatives for guidance.

Commercial insurance

Commercial vehicle insurance for your portrait photography business

Beware! – practically all policies for private vehicle insurance do not cover any event like theft or accidental damage when the car is being used for business purposes.

The proper way to make sure that your vehicle is insured for both its own value, and the valuable contents, is by taking out a designated commercial vehicle insurance package.

Commercial van policies cover the value of any vehicle in case of accident, malicious damage, fire, or theft.

In addition, in case of any accident, the car itself, the content and any legal bills, medical expenses, and property damage is guaranteed if your van is involved in a crash.

Most states, other than Virginia and New Hampshire, insist on this type of insurance.

The necessary value of the insurance is worked-out for the depreciated value of the vehicle, and your intended level of cover of contents. 

Tools and Equipment insurance

Since your portrait photography business needs specific and expensive equipment, you can appreciate how much it can cost to replace it in case of any damage, loss, or theft.

The equipment may be subject to malicious damage, deliberate fire, theft, other such unforeseen acts.

In addition, acts of nature like lightning strikes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and other highly damaging natural events can wipe-out your whole business in one stroke.

Unless you can afford to immediately replace such specialized gear quickly out of your own pocket, you need full-level equipment insurance so that you can immediately buy everything needed to keep your portrait photography business running.

It is difficult to advise how much equipment insurance you need – it’s basically dependent on how much you have invested in your portrait photography business’ equipment.

Commercial Property insurance

Any portrait photography business that owns or rents space in a building must have a commercial property insurance policy.

If you own the building, you probably have a substantial capital investment, in addition to a big liability if there’s a mortgage.

Every physical building location should carry insurance coverage for the value of the premises and contents against accidental occurrences like fire and storms, and against deliberate damages like theft and vandalism.

If your portrait photography business deals in areas of high risk, like Florida or North Carolina, supplementary coverage may be needed for earthquakes and hurricanes or tornadoes.

In other states like Washington, where intense cold snaps can cause damage to outer coverings of portrait photography business premises, there is a need for more supplementary cover than in warmer climes.

Although the level of cover depends entirely on the value of the property, it’s not possible to say what cover your need, but we have been able in the table in the cost of portrait photography insurance section below to give some idea of the average prices per million dollars of property insurance for your portrait photography business.

Temporary insurance by month, week or day for your portrait photography business

Is your portrait photography business working part-time or casually, or is the level of business fluctuating?

Using short-term insurance makes perfect sense. Business insurance by the month, day, or week – temporary insurance for portrait photography – are special policies where you can cover a designated period when you want to be covered.

By only paying for that period of cover, you will save by having less premiums but still having the same risk cover.

The key feature of short-term insurance is that you purchase the cover for a defined period – a nominated date, or a week or month starting on a specific date, for example for 30 days beginning on the specified date.

When you are expecting periods of higher business activity, get the existing cover improved.

Talk to your insurance agent, broker or the company’s representatives to see what options you have.

Business Owners Policy BOP for your portrait photography business

You have the choice to combine most of the important kinds of small business insurance in one policy that is known as the business owner’s policy – BOP.

A BOP integrates commercial property and public liability insurance by packaging these coverages into one insurance policy, which can save you money.

BOP insurance will protect you if any claims of injury or property damage are made.

It is mostly the right choice for small and medium-sized portrait photography businesses, such as yours.

There are a few limits that will determine whether BOP is suitable for your own business.

BOPs cannot cover your professional liability or commercial vehicle policies.

Also, the size of your business will rule whether you are allowed to take out BOP cover.

The normal business that is allowed to take a BOP policy must have no more than one hundred employees, and maximum five million dollars in annual turnover.

In addition, you must separately take out the required worker’s compensation, health and disability insurance as determined for your state.

Workers Compensation insurance for your portrait photography business employees

In most states, it is mandatory to have workers compensation insurance when your portrait photography business has one or more employees.

Workers compensation insurance covers the enterprise against any costs that arise if any hired hand experiences an injury or becomes sick as a result of work.

The benefits provide for medical expenses, death benefits, lost wages, and vocational rehabilitation.

Failure to meet a state’s laws in this regard can leave you as the employer obliged to pay penalties levied by the states.

Some states, such as North Dakota, Ohio, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming only allow coverage from the government-run monopoly state funds.

In these states, you can’t get your workers compensation obligations from private insurance corporations.

Workers compensation rates are worked out based on the employee’s pay, and usually come out at around $1.00 per $100 per month.

However, you must consult the relevant authorities in your state.

Average costs of these types of insurance

Although every portrait photography insurance level is unique, there are enough examples of standard quotes from insurance companies for us to give approximate guidelines, including what are the cheapest rates offered.

Of course, you should always check with an insurance representative what’s relevant for your business.

The list below is of annual premiums we have collected for the main types of insurance your portrait photography businesses needs.

Cost of insurance for your portrait photography operations depends on many different factors.

We have estimated these figures for small freelance portrait photography businesses.

In larger states like New York, premiums are generally about 20%-30% higher than national averages, but in smaller states like Oregon, they can be about 20%-30% cheaper.

The location and size and type of your portrait photography business can have a big effect on the cost of different policies.

You should discuss with professional insurance agents and brokers, or insurance company representatives.

Also you can let the internet do the work for you by searching for insurance companies near where your business is located.

Another good source of information is the local Better Business Bureau in your suburb.

FAQ

What is small business insurance for portrait photography operations?

This is a wide term used to describe standard insurance policies designed to protect portrait photography business owners from risks like bodily injury, property damage, claims of negligence.

Does my portrait photography business have to have insurance?

Some of the forms of insurance are not mandatory for you to run your business, but they can protect you from risks in your business operations.

Certain other forms are required by state law, such as workers compensation and vehicle insurance.

What does a small portrait photography business insurance policy cover?

Liability insurance provides insurance against lawsuits or claims filed by a third-party for bodily injury, property damage, or negligence.

The precise cover will vary based on your own operations.

See the table in the costing section above for average prices of the most common policies for portrait photography insurance.

How much will portrait photography business insurance cost?

As well as the size of the business, some other factors, such as location and claims history, are used to determine your policy’s cost.

You should consult with professional insurance agents and brokers, or insurance company representatives.

You can search for more information insurance for portrait photography , in the search box below, and follow the relevant links.

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