Wine Tour Insurance – What Kind and at What Cost

Whenever you budget the expenses of your business, wine tour insurance must be near the top of the list because you can’t always know exactly what could happen in the future.

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With the protection provided by liability insurance and all the other kinds 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 wine tour enterprise, you must consider how much financial liability you are taking on.

Business Insurance for wine tour

If your wine tour business runs without proper insurance, you are taking a tremendous chance not just of losing some money but of a total wipe-out.

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

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

The question is, can you afford to NOT have insurance for your wine tour business?

What this means, for any wine tour 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 wine tour business is not protected by laws in the same way as states are, where laws can place a “cap” on the maximum level of liability.

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

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

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

Even more importantly, unless you have spent beforehand 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 wine tour insurance protect you from?

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

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

In the next few paragraphs, we will outline the most important points any wine tour business owner should remember when negotiating the insurance needed.

The main categories of insurance for your wine tour businesses are liability insurance, commercial insurance, asset insurance and workers compensation insurance.

Liability insurance

General liability insurance

Any wine tour business is dealing directly with other people, and that means you usually have the danger that some accident can happen to them themselves or else something of theirs can be ruined.

In such a case, they can require compensation.

General liability insurance policy for your wine tour business covers you against claims coming from injury to clients or damage to their property.

It protects your wine tour business from the claims themselves and also 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 demand proper liability insurance.

The usual level of general liability insurance for your wine tour business would be with a boundary 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 wine tour insurance operations.

Professional liability insurance for your wine tour business

In the event where a client alleges some negligence, errors, or omissions in how you conducted your wine tour business for them, you can quickly have to fight a law suit.

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

Almost all small wine tour business should have enough professional liability insurance to cover a single claim of $25,000, with annual cover of $50,000.

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

Product liability insurance

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

You need to understand the specific laws of product liability in your own state.

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

To cover yourself against any following lawsuit, you need Product liability insurance for wine tour

Only you can know exactly how much insurance you must have.

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

Commercial insurance

Commercial vehicle insurance for your wine tour business

Take care! – almost 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 best way to make sure that your vehicle is insured for both its own value, and the valuable contents, is by taking out a proper commercial vehicle insurance package.

Commercial car policies insure 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 an accident.

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

The wanted value of the insurance is calculated on the depreciated value of the vehicle, and your declared level of cover of contents. 

Tools and Equipment insurance

Since your wine tour business needs unique and expensive equipment, you know 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 unpredicted acts.

Also, acts of nature like lightning strikes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and other highly damaging natural events can eliminate your whole business in one stroke.

Unless you can afford to immediately replace such unique gear quickly out of your own pocket, you must have full-level equipment insurance so that you can immediately buy whatever needed to keep your wine tour business running.

It is impossible to advise how much equipment insurance you need – it’s essentially dependent on how much you have invested in your wine tour business’ equipment.

Commercial Property insurance

Any wine tour business that owns or rents space in a building needs a commercial property insurance policy.

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

Any physical building location must carry insurance coverage for the value of the premises and contents against unexpected occurrences like fire and storms, and against criminal damages like theft and vandalism.

If your wine tour business works in areas of high risk, like Texas or South Carolina, additional coverage may be needed for earthquakes and hurricanes or tornadoes.

In other states like Rhode Island, where unlimited cold snaps can cause damage to outer coverings of wine tour business premises, there is a need for more extra cover than in warmer climes.

Although the level of cover depends mainly 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 wine tour insurance section below to give some indication of the average prices per million dollars of property insurance for your wine tour business.

Temporary insurance by month, week or day for your wine tour business

Is your wine tour business working part-time or casually, or is the level of business variable?

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

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

The essential feature of short-term insurance is that you pay for 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 better 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 wine tour business

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

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

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

It is frequently the right choice for small and medium-sized wine tour businesses, such as yours.

There are some limits that will dictate whether BOP is suitable for your own business.

BOPs do not cover your professional liability or commercial vehicle policies.

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

The normal business that is eligible for a BOP policy must have fewer than one hundred employees, and not more than five million dollars in annual sales.

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

Workers Compensation insurance for your wine tour business employees

In almost all states, it is mandatory to have workers compensation insurance when your wine tour 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 required to pay penalties levied by the states.

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

In these states, you may not obtain your workers compensation obligations from private insurance corporations.

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

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

Average costs of these types of insurance

Although every wine tour insurance requirement 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 agent what’s relevant for your business.

The list below is of annual premiums we have gathered for the main types of insurance your wine tour businesses needs.

Types of insurance Price range
Public liability insurance $365 – $615
Commercial vehicle insurance $1690 – $3155
Equipment insurance $435 – $1255
General liability insurance $750 – $975
Product liability insurance $225 – $500
Commercial insurance $980 – $2550

Cost of insurance for your wine tour operations depends on many different factors.

We have estimated these figures for small independent wine tour businesses.

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

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

You should talk to professional insurance agents and brokers, or insurance company representatives.

In addition you can let the internet do the work for you by enquiring about insurance companies near where your business is located.

Another useful source of information is the local Better Business Bureau in your city.

FAQ

What is small business insurance for wine tour operations?

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

Does my wine tour business have to have insurance?

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

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

What does a small wine tour business insurance policy cover?

Liability insurance provides coverage against lawsuits or claims filed by a client for bodily injury, property damage, or negligence.

The specific cover will vary based on your own operations.

See the table in the costing section above for average prices of the recommended policies for wine tour insurance.

How much will wine tour business insurance cost?

On top of the size of the business, several other factors, such as location and claims history, are used to determine your policy’s cost.

You should talk to professional insurance agents and brokers, or insurance company representatives.

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

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