When it comes to finding the best insurance for photographers, the truth is that very few people actually enjoy the process of reviewing coverage policies.
Of course, as a professional photographer, you understand that getting insurance is crucial to protecting your business, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t a million other things you’d rather do than dig through different coverage plans. Insurance can be hard to understand, and it’s often challenging to know which policies your business needs and how to get the best deal.
Luckily, your friends at Full Frame are here to help!&
In this article, we will help you discover which policies your business needs and how to get the best deal on coverage possible.
Photographers Insurance Defined
We mentioned this in a previous article, but it’s important to note that “photographers insurance” isn’t actually an insurance policy. Rather, it’s a name given to a combination of policies that a provider has bundled into a single plan for photographers.
Grouping policies can make getting insurance for photographers easier, but it can also complicate things. Because there is no uniformity between providers, each of their plans can vary in the policies they include and the price for each policy, so you could end up paying more money for a plan that actually provides less coverage than others.
If you really want to know what the best insurance for photographers is, you need to look at the policies that constitute each plan. By understanding which policies the plan provides, as well as its price per policy, you can find the best coverage for your business at a price that’s right for you.
Let’s take a look at professional liability policies and discuss why you might want to include one in your coverage as you look at different providers’ insurance options.
Professional Liability Policies
Professional liability is a policy that can protect you from paying out of pocket for third-party professional negligence claims that arise as a result of your business’ operations.
What is professional negligence? Let’s say you’ve been hired for a client’s wedding reception and that upon returning home, you find that your memory card has been corrupted. Let’s say you didn’t use a backup, so the reception photos are totally ruined. It could be argued that, as a professional, you should have known better than to not have a backup, so you could be held as professionally negligent. Without insurance for photographers, if the client decided to press charges, you could be held liable.
There are many occasions where a photographer might be accused of professional negligence, including:
- Failing to use a backup in case equipment fails
- Failing to deliver a promised service, such as capturing certain photos on a shot list (another term for this is breach of contract)
- Failing to deliver a high quality product, such as your photos being blurry
- Arriving late or failing to arrive at all without hiring a replacement photographer
As unfair as it seems, clients can even accuse you of professional negligence if they are unsatisfied with your product or if they feel your service should have been better for the amount they paid. These accusations, even if unfounded, can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars to resolve. Without insurance for photographers, these types of insurance claims could financially cripple your business.
In today’s litigious society, businesses that work closely with clients—like photographers—have a greater risk of being sued for unsatisfactory services, even if the claim is illegitimate. With a professional liability policy included in your insurance coverage, you can mitigate the financial burden that these claims can put on your company.
How Much Does Professional Liability Cover?
Professional liability coverage usually doesn’t come built into most insurance for photographer plans, but most plans will allow you to include it at an extra cost. At Full Frame Insurance, for example, you can include a professional liability policy in your annual coverage plan for an additional $100 per year.
There are limits on how much a professional liability policy will cover, however, so by comparing the amount of coverage a policy provides with its cost, you can find the insurance plan with the best deal.
With all insurance for photography policies, there are two limits to look at when comparing cost and coverage: the aggregate limit and the occurrence limit.
Aggregate Limit
The aggregate limit is the amount of total coverage a policy will provide during your policy lifetime—usually one year. The aggregate limit will vary by provider, so it’s important to pay attention to how much coverage you will get for your dollar. For Full Frame Insurance, the aggregate limit for professional liability is $200,000 for the duration of the policy.
Occurrence Limit
The occurrence limit is the amount of coverage a policy will provides per insurance claim your business receives. Again, this can vary from company to company, but most insurance policies will cover about $100,000 per insurance claim, which is also the amount covered by Full Frame Insurance’s professional liability policy.
See Limits Chart
What About Deductibles?
The last thing to look for when comparing insurance for photographers is whether or not the professional liability policy will require your business to pay a deductible per “wrongful act”—or insurance claim—it receives. This is a pretty common practice amongst insurance providers, so it’s important to note how much you will be required to pay out of pocket per claim you receive.
At Full Frame Insurance, the deductible is $500 per claim your business receives, although the price may vary from provider to provider.
Get Covered Today
Insurance for photographers can be tricky. There are a lot of policies a photographer could need, but if you don’t know what you’re looking for, you’ll never know what you need—let alone know if you’re getting a good deal.
As a professional photographer, it’s a good idea to include professional liability in your coverage. If you already have insurance, but didn’t get professional liability, don’t worry. You can simply add it to your existing Full Frame plan so you can get the protection you need as soon as you can.
This article is the second in a series dedicated to explaining the policies that constitute insurance for photographers. Check out the first article here and make sure to stay tuned for more information. For any additional insurance questions, you can contact Full Frame and speak with a licensed professional today.
