Public Liability Insurance

September 24, 2009 9:46 PM

I need public liability insurance for a 1 day stall at a country church fete. Is there any Australian insurer who does this? The shortest term I can find is 3 months at $110 via AAMI.

I have been given the run around all day and I'm at the end of my tether. All that I seem to have done today is write complaint letters about being given wrong info.

Any suggestions? $110 to run a jam stall at a tiny Church Fete seems utterly ridiculous. What are they going to do? Put an eye out with an exceptionally sharp marmalade?

Any suggestions? Because at this rate I'm ready to throw in the towel.

posted by ninazer0 to law & government (9 answers total)

Have you tried going through a broker instead of direct to companies? Sorry, I've no directly useful info about Australia, but when I had to get similar insurance both in England and in California it was easily arranged by a local broker each time.
posted by anadem at 9:58 PM on September 24, 2009

I've tried phoning a dozen or so local brokers, but no dice.
posted by ninazer0 at 10:32 PM on September 24, 2009

You could recoup by running a couple of fundraisers in that time, all covered by the same insurance.
posted by Jilder at 10:56 PM on September 24, 2009

Is there any chance that the church already has public liability insurance which would cover you? Otherwise, find out which company's insurance covered it for previous events by asking whoever requires that you take out insurance.
posted by Joe in Australia at 11:42 PM on September 24, 2009

Maybe you can find a volunteer who already carries their own insurance to help run the stall?
posted by emilyw at 11:56 PM on September 24, 2009

Where are you holding the fete that it won't be covered by the public liability of whomever owns/leases the land? Are you sure that the church has no insurance of its own which will cover this?

Try the local council for information. Plenty of organisations hold one-off events at random locations and I can't remember this being a problem with fundraisers I've been involved in organising.

Another option is getting the church to contact their own insurer. Perhaps what you want is some kind of event insurance which includes PL and it's the way that you're asking the question which is getting in the way of obtaining an answer. I do know that the whole insurance related to volunteer activities has become very messy over the last few years.
Heck, you could even find out from other churches or community groups how they handle the issue for fund-raising events like sausage sizzles.

If all else fails, can you hold the fete at a location which already HAS public liability insurance - footy ground, local school, local fire station, community hall, etc?
posted by Lolie at 12:37 AM on September 25, 2009

How is the church handling having you on their property? Not a clue how it works in Australia, but in the US in my experience, facility users are covered by the landlord's insurance (at any rate, I've often used churches, both rented and donated, for music events and have never had to carry my own insurance).
posted by nax at 7:36 AM on September 25, 2009

The whole Australian liability insurance for market stall holders is a complete schamozzle and insurance company scam. It used to be that stall holders were covered under the general insurance of the market location - the church, the rec ground, whatever. But it changed a few years ago when the insurance costs tripled (or more) and the markets began demanding that the vendors had their own insurance - even requiring proof of before giving them a stall. 'Tis a peeve of mine.

You've probably checked out most of these insurers listed on stallholders.com.au.

If you are only going to do one stall, and not regular stalls, see if you can get a half-stall share with another stall holder and go under their insurance.

If you do come up with a good stall insurance, please post it back here.
posted by Kerasia at 3:43 PM on September 25, 2009

Thanks for all your suggestions, folks. I ended up going with AAMI's three month cover and have suddenly found myself converting parts of my online shop into a slightly more portable form - the idea being that I do mum's jam stall and then market like a mofo before Christmas with my own stuff.

To answer various suggestions, I found out that yes - the church has both public and product liability cover. They sell jams, craft and Devonshire Tea's to raise money for restoration, and they often have a variety of functions either in the church, the hall or on the grounds. We did consider partnering with another stall, but it seems that no-one else has been required to have insurance, and I attribute the whole kerfuffle to a clique of ladies within the historical society. My mother appears to have trodden on toes. The official reason is that we are the only stall that isn't giving all its profit to the church group. They offered to waive the insurance requirement for a 20% "donation" but we suspect that might actually be more than the $110 - particularly if we have a good day. If nothing else, it will be money well spent to assist my mother in toe-stomping. I loathe cliques.

Thanks again for helping me negotiate the murky waters of both insurance companies and pernicky social factions.
posted by ninazer0 at 10:15 PM on September 28, 2009