What is Liquor Liability Insurance?
If you own a business that sells, serves, or distributes alcohol, then you need what’s called liquor liability insurance.
Don’t know what liquor liability insurance is?
Where to get it?
How much it costs?
Or who needs this coverage?
You are in luck, that is what we are going to go over in this article.
Liquor Liability Coverage
Liquor liability insurance is going to help protect your business in the event somebody that you sell, serve, or distribute alcohol to causes some bodily injury or property damage.
It’s going to help protect your business against legal fees or settlements or judgements, the damage that that person might cause to some property. So, to pay the expenses to repair that, or also medical bills for the injured person.
Areas that we see this come into play more so than others, usually when somebody is served alcohol and then causes damage in an auto accident while leaving your establishment.
Other areas that where it could come into play is assault and battery. If there happens to be a fight or something along those lines, and there it causes some bodily injury or property damage there, you could get brought in that situation.
Another situation might be just property damage itself. That person leaves and causes some property damage to somebody else’s stuff, there is where you could be brought in on these type of claims.
Who needs Liquor Liability Insurance?
Well, basically anybody that sells, distributes or serves alcohol. So, the ones you would think of the most, this would be bars, restaurants, breweries & wineries.
But it would also include places like grocery stores, caterers, liquor stores or anyone that has, sells, and serves alcohol on a regular basis.
Where do I get Liquor Liability Insurance
There’s two ways where you can get this insurance coverage.
Either, one, you can buy a separate policy for it, a liquor liability policy, or if your primary insurance is insured with an insurance carrier that allows you to add liquor liability to your master policy.
It’ll depend on the industry that you were in, whether or not that second option is more readily available.
Some of the more higher risk industries, like bars and taverns, might not have that option, but liquor stores, grocery stores, restaurants, will have more options to add liquor liability coverage to your master business liability policy.
How much does Liquor Liability Cost?
Well, this is going to depend on a few factors. It’s going to depend on the industry you’re in.
A bar or Tavern is going to pay significantly more than a grocery store would.
Next would be the location of where your establishment is?
How many locations you have?
It’s going to depend on the coverage limits that you have. Do you have 300 or 500,000 in coverage, or do you have a million or more in coverage?
And lastly, and probably the most important one would be how much annual sales do you do selling alcohol?
This is going to be the driving force of the premium, the lower your sales, the lower the cost will be.
How to lower the cost of Liquor Liability Insurance?
Great ways that you could potentially save money on your liquor liability coverage is to find an insurance policy that does allow you to add it to your master policy.
And again, depending on the industry you’re in, if you’re buying this policy separate, it is most likely more expensive than when it is added to that master policy.
Trying to bundle your business insurance needs together will obviously help maximize the discounts that could potentially be available to you.
Do you have the right coverage?
So, in summary, now that we’ve talked about what liquor liability coverage is, we’ve talked about where you can potentially buy liquor liability, what industries need it, how much it could cost, now the most important factor is if you’re one of these establishments, do you have liquor liability coverage?
Please review your insurance policies to make sure that your business is properly protected.
If it’s not, or if you’d like to learn more or talk about it, feel free to reach out to us at Crowley Insurance. We’d be glad to help review what you currently have and put together the package that best protects your business.
