How much do you spend on Public Liability Insurance?

[AutumnCurl]

I've done a search and can't find the info i really want to know, and some of the results were a bit on the old side.

I have been looking into getting public liability insurance for a while now, as i intend to start expanding my hobby into a business, however some quotes i have receive seen much much higher that some prices i have seen in other threads, for example i saw someone say they pay 600$ a year, while the lowest quote i got was $2000...


How much do you pay/budget for public liability insurance? and do you pay yearly or monthly?

What should i expect to be covered for?

Does the insurance cover you for travel going interstate?

Any recommendations?

Thanks

[macmich]

you have asked questions that can really only be answered by insurance companys
your cover will start out dearer as any insurance
what covered for will differ to everyones needs
as for interstate you would have to check with insurers and pick the right policy to suit
and most insurers do pay by month these days
i had 20 mill public liabilty and i was paying no where near that because of the years without claims or accidents
shop around before jumping in
cheers macca
cheers macca

[kiwi]

Try the online quote engine at www.photoinsure.com.au

I think you should expect to pay around $500

[birdsrus]

I also have professional liability so my public liability is about $500. Not sure having the two makes one cheaper.

[birdsrus]

I also have professional liability so my public liability is about $500. Not sure having the two makes one cheaper.

[AutumnCurl]

Thanks guys, it nice to have a ballpark figure

[MJay]

It may also be worth considering what 'bundled' packages are available, ie bundling a burglary/theft policy with broadform public/professional liability.

Or maybe bundling liability and theft on top of your car insurance. ie if your camera gear is in your car and your car gets stolen or broken in to you will want the contents covered as well as being covered if you are at a public event and your bag is sitting in a corner somewhere and somebody takes your bag with all your gear in it.

For a business I run from home (not photography related) your figure above is fairly close to what I pay for a bundled package that includes liability. As someone posted above not sure if having a couple together makes one cheaper, but on my current package as such I need to have at least 2 'policies' ie theft and liability bundled together.

[Miss Jane]

Ok this might be a dumb question, but what do you need public liablilty for as a photographer?

[Dylan & Marianne]

we had to get it for the SALA exhibition last year - 500 is around the ballpark from what we looked at

[MJay]

Ok this might be a dumb question, but what do you need public liablilty for as a photographer?

If an old dear at a wedding trips over your camera bag breaks her hip and spends the next 6 months in hospital someone is going to have to foot the bill.

I am sure there are plenty of other scenarios. But the tripping over a camera bag seems to be the one most often used.

[Miss Jane]

So would this be for any photographer that does is as a hobby or does it change when you strat charging money for a shoot or photos? Would the old dear tripping sue the young wife with the nappy bag on the floor?

[ricktas]

So would this be for any photographer that does is as a hobby or does it change when you strat charging money for a shoot or photos? Would the old dear tripping sue the young wife with the nappy bag on the floor?

If you start offering your photography services to others, paid or free, verbal or written, you are entering into a contract, and thus you could find yourself liable if someone is injured due to something related to that photography session

[I @ M]

So would this be for any photographer that does is as a hobby or does it change when you strat charging money for a shoot or photos?

In the same way that your household insurance has (or should have) public liability indemnity attached to protect yourself against being sued to the hilt by a member of the public who may injure themselves whilst on your property purely as an invited (or maybe even uninvited) guest it would be very wise to have some form of cover to protect yourself from zealous litigants whilst you are photographing whether in a paid or purely informal situation.

Would the old dear tripping sue the young wife with the nappy bag on the floor?

In Australia, probably as we seem to be heading towards a litigation concious society in much the same way as certain other countries.
If you were to trip over a nappy bag in the local council playground ( public space ) and suffer an injury and then start to seek recompense for the costs etc any good lawyer is going to to start a list of who you can sue. At the top of the list of people your lawyer picks out to sue will probably be the council who administers the park as they are almost guaranteed to have a healthy public liability policy in place to ensure that clumsy nappy bag tripping people who try to blame the council for allowing nappy bags to be placed in hazardous areas are at least not going to be able to get there hands on the ratepayers money too easily. Of course, the councils legal representatives will then try to force you to sue that person who was so remiss to allow said nappy bag to be placed where your hooves can come into contact with it so negligently.

Even at the end of the day when it has been proven in court that you were the negligent party because you tripped over the bag whilst texting on your phone, the owner of the nappy bag will then try to sue you for damage to the bag, the nappies, the legal costs and for the emotional distress that your inattentiveness cost them.

Buy some insurance an welcome to the 65th state of the ------

[macmich]

just about every building job you quote now you need at least 20 mill public liability
and with government jobs they want to see the proof
and with photography it would be the same
cheers macca

[Miss Jane]

Thanks for the replies. It is the last thing I would have thought of doing a hobby!

[TonySlattery]

The only winners here are the insurance companies and the lawyers. What ever happened to personal accountability? An accident is an accident. We are becoming a litiguos (spelling? - but you know what I mean) society. Guess that's progress.