Commercial Liability Insurance for my Bulk Vending Machines-I Finally found it!

[bandersnatch27]

Ok you guys, it was tuff, but I finally found A place that will Cover my Bulk Vending machines, Arcades, What ever else I grow in to.

They Cover everything! Bars, Restaurants, Bowling Alleys, No limitations! I can sell All my bulk vending stuff, Geared towards children & everything!

I spent Hours & Hours & even Weeks researching Which Company to go with. 

Most of my quotes were going up into $12,000/year, other companies told me "We won't cover Restuarants" "We won't cover Products Geared towards Children"

State Farm will not Cover Restaurants, Bowling alleys, Bars etc.. They don't want to take on too much Risk, I heard they are $250/year- But You can see why- they don't cover You!

Hartford is $425/year but they don't cover "Products Geared Toward Children" was This! close! to signing with them, The Agent was like "yeah yeah, your fine, your fine!" I made her double check with the "Under Writer" & Sure enough! There was an "Exclusion" And that was "No products toward kids" NONE!

Finally! FINALLY! FINALLY! FINALLY! I found it! I FOUND IT!

My Insurance Company is Huge! And they are "An Admitted Carrier" Meaning, they will cover you regardless, even if they go bankrupt, the Government will for sure bail them out, they pay $20 million/year for that Insurance with the Governmental. Make sure you get an "Admitted Carrier"

*Also, I found that some of you guys went with a Non-Admitted Carrier, small time carrier in the middle of no where- Just to have insurance. I'd like to encourage you to switch to an Admitted Carrier & One that will cover you for all your machines, & locations & future machines/locations. while Talking to all these different people involved in the Insurance business, I got educated on it a little. And they told me if I had a little company, and some one wanted to sue for $1million or more, that company would "Run" they would/could file bankruptcy & since they are not admitted the government won't bail them out. But an admitted carrier is Guaranteed Help from the Government. So non admitted, not guaranteed you'd be covered. Admitted, guaranteed you'll be covered. even if the company goes bankrupt, you'll still be covered. (But admitted carriers are too huge to go bankrupt so, don't think your claim will put them out of business.)

Now, My Agent did not Charge me a Broker's Fee. My Agent is also a Huge Company with people at a call center, Not some Dude in Some office in some small town. So if you call, you will for sure get some one that will help you regardless you know?

So here is all the info:

My Insurance Company is "CNA"  (Huge & Admitted)

We went through "Met-Life" To get them  (Also Huge!)

My Agent was "AIS" (Auto Insurance Specialist) They do Commercial stuff too.

My Insurance is $500/year, I am paying it monthly- They don't charge a fee to split it up monthly. I just have to pay 25% (first payment), (3 months worth) than make 9 more payments (9 months left of payments) So it comes to $123 first payment. than Make 9 more payments of $41. And I didn't even have to pay right on the spot, I don't have to give up any info over the phone or anything. I'm getting billed, So.. I haven't even payed yet, but I got insured right on the spot, right as I said "Yes!" got faxed my proof & everything.

Her is the number for AIS, & CNA. (To get insurance with CNA you have to go through an Agent like AIS-AIS doesn't charge you a fee, they charge CNA)

(all toll free numbers, even if u don't have long distance, u can call these numbers at no charge)

CNA- 877.724.2669

AIS-  877.772.4247

Met-Life 877.638.0022

So you can't call CNA directly for their insurance. And take it from me- You want/Need CNA! I called ALLLLLLLLLL!.... the insurance companies there are, and Either they want $12,000/year to cover me (or in that ball park) Or- they don't Cover me completely. (Hartford insurance don't cover kids products, And Statefarm & many others won't cover Restaurants, Bars, Bowling alleys) I already have a ton of restaurants, and a bowling alley- I plan to expand too. putting Peanuts in bars, so.. yeah, don't wana limit my self with Statefarm.

So You can call AIS & tell them to "shop for you" (they will find u the best insurance/prices & get back to you) or you can tell them straight out- "I want CNA"  Same with Met-life. I could have called metlife & got it, Same thing. Only I went through AIS cause that's where my Great Auto insurance came from.

By the way: CNA covers- Arcades, all bulk, Candy, toys, Gumball, Tattoo, sticker, Full line vending, They cover: Restaurants, Laundromats, bowling alleys, Bars etc.. no exclusions like that.

My policy is 1 million dollars, And 2 million dollars on other stuff. 10 thousand medical (instant medical assistance)

details:

$1 million for each Occurrence (each claim)

$2 million General Aggregate (I think if for what ever reason you need more than $1 Million, you've got another $1million back up)

$2 million Product coverage (Incase some kid gets hurt on one of your machines, or swallows a toy, chokes) They cover that stuff with $2 million

$10,000 Instand Medical Expenses- (Incase some one Got hurt & needed immediate medical assistance, they will write a check up to $10,000 no questions asked, Right away & pay for what ever Medical needs they may have right there.) but your policy covers $1 million in medical if you are at fault that is.

$300,000 to property Damage, incase some how you damage property at one of your locations, or your machine causes damage. maybe you are carrying Supplies in & you bump into some thing, & break some window or something? or what ever. 300k right there.

And it's absolutely free to add any Location as an "Additional Insurer" you are unlimited on that, u can add as many as you want.  A location might request that from you, they did with me.

And yeah, so if you have State Farm, or heartford I suggest you switch, look & Compare the coverage amounts that I listed too, i'll bet this coverage is higher, like the immediate medical expense. Other quotes i've seen only do $1,000 or $3k at most. This is 10 grand coverage no questions instant- that's good to have. And Look at your policy & call your Insurance carrier, not your agent, your carrier & ask them about Exclusions, like the ones I talked about "Do you cover products geared towards children?" Than ask if all your locations you have are covered, & all your machines. Your agent may have signed you up with out even checking that for you. As long as you say "Yes" & get billed, the agent gets payed some how & they can care less weather your covered, I mean I'm sure they care. But it's your responsibility to be certain you are covered.

And if you don't have insurance I suggest you get it. I mean, Now that I have it, I am not afraid to expand, before I was subconsciously afraid to get too big, fear that too many customers, too many kids- what if a kid chokes on a toy?  Now I feel comfortable expanding. Also, with out the insurance I wouldn't have been able to get my latest Location (A Huge Family Fun Center) Kind of like Chuck-E-Cheeze,Adventure Zone, & Dave & busters. It's like that, but out here. They needed me to have Proof of liability insurance, & add them as an additional insurer & by the way that was free to add them.

And even if you are an LLC- You may think- oh I'm covered, than cant' go after me personally. But they can Make you sell your business? than what? Liquidate all your machines, & supplies- sell all that hard work, & give away all the money you get for your machines & supplies. That would suck dude. I think it's totally worth paying $40/month, knowing I wouldn't have to do that. I'm a sole proprietor right now. And I do plan on Switching over to LLC & still having my insurance.

First I was just operating with out any business license etc.. Than I saw there was opportunity here, & money to be made. Got my business license, & had no insurance- I expanded some what, but was afraid to go Big as possible. Now that I have that insurance & my business license There is no Fear of me getting caught operating with no license. And there is no fear of some kid choking on a toy, or a machine falling on a kid what ever. I can have as many locations & sell as many toys as I want, & not be afraid.

By the way- it's feeling pretty good. I do mostly $1 toys through my Tomy machines.

And I'm up to about $2,000 in gross/month. (About that) And That means, I am selling about 2,000 toys per month! that's great! Imagine, I am effecting the lives of maybe 2,000 people per month. Selling things to people i've never met.

I have 19 Tomy Gacha machines only have 10 of them out right now. I have a lot of other machines too candy, gumball, cranes, arcades. All at home, gunna get 'em out there soon as possible.

I have 10 arcade games, 3 of them are out there. (Got those so cheap, some were free)

And also, if anyone knows a good CD/Audio book kind of a CD for Bulk Vending business, can u tell me what it's called? some dude told me about a good one but didn't know the name. said this guy gives you advice on how to build a huge route & manage it etc.. this guy doesn't even work on his route, he has over 350 locations? or was it 3,500 & all he does is Find the locations. He gives good advice on how to Get locations. And he'll tell you how to have others work for you or what ever, a break down of that operation I guess.

Anyway, just being a "Good Sport" I guess, I went through Soooooooooooooooo.. much trouble to find my insurance, & I looked all over this website for help, couldn't find any! And NOw that I found it, I thought i'd put it here, cement it into the website. so if anyone does a google search or a search here, they will find it easily.

I needed it desperately- that location wanted me to have it, I needed to put a machine in ASAP! And it was something I been meaning to do for ever, finally its' taken care of, what a relief..

well take care!

Mr.Bander-******

[cavity]

Great advise Bander, thanks for the insurance update.  Sounds like you found a great company.

But does anyone else feel like they need a shot of whiskey, xanax, or something else to relax now?

[G-Vending]

If you have a claim CNA will drop you...

I had my laundry insurance with them...They paid the claim in about a month

[dsimms]

Your property damage is fairly low...in my area, most avg homes are in the $300k range...

if the building you are in is over 300k, and burns down, you are out of business, and

most likely it will be a lot more then $300k

[BudLeiser]

I gave a respect for passing along such great info. Wish it had less salesmanship to shorten it up and make it more cut and dry. In fact I didn't finish reading it, I might someday. But thanks for passing along such great much needed info.

-Bud

[BluePlate]

Your property damage is fairly low...in my area, most avg homes are in the $300k range...

if the building you are in is over 300k, and burns down, you are out of business, and

most likely it will be a lot more then $300k

Remember the insurance covers the physical building replacement cost - the 300K home replacement cost is much lower, you're not replacing the property, just the building

[bandersnatch27]

yeah but my machine is not going to start a fire. That coverage is incase I or my machines some how cause damage to the Property of the Location ( I don't own the locations my machines sit at) It's in case like I knock something over while walking through the location or what ever.

[bandersnatch27]

That Category of coverage is for in case I some how mess up the property, LIke if I have my vending machine at a Restuarant, & it falls & damages their property, my insurance covers that property. But if something happens to their property & has nothing to do with me, than My insurance doesn't need to kick in- We aren't involved at that point.

[bandersnatch27]

If you have a claim CNA will drop you...

I had my laundry insurance with them...They paid the claim in about a month

What do you mean they will drop me? Did they drop you? what happened? tell me the story.

and what do you mean, your Laundry insurance? You owned a laundromat?

So tell me the story, I am interested.

[sbishop]

Hey bandersnatch27,

I gave you respect for that post. Way to keep looking until you find what you wanted and the share the info with everyone.

[bandersnatch27]

Hey bandersnatch27,

I gave you respect for that post. Way to keep looking until you find what you wanted and the share the info with everyone.

Hey thanks bro, I really appreciate that.

It took me days & days & hours & hours of work. & I looked here first (one of the first things I did) If I would have found a post like the one I wrote here, It would have saved me all............... that time.. & wow dude, I just though- Hey man, I'm sure some one will be in a similar situation, let me go ahead & provide that information, save that person some valuable time.

Anytime bro-

Kenny.

[motownman_715]

Great post really appreciate that. isurance tip

darryl

[mizugori]

Great advise Bander, thanks for the insurance update.  Sounds like you found a great company.

But does anyone else feel like they need a shot of whiskey, xanax, or something else to relax now?

man seriously, I feel like I need all three. This was a sobering post... going to look into insurance coverage now. I never even thought of what could happen if my machine started a fire or if a kid choked on a gumball.