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Andrew Zuber Inner circle Los Angeles, CA 3292 Posts 
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I’m a professional performer but I don’t perform full time, though I’ve worked a number of different kinds of venues. That said, this is a new area to me.
I’m booked for two hours of strolling at a wedding reception that’s coming up, and the venue is asking all vendors to provide a COI. I’ve never been in a situation where I’ve needed to provide this, though I know it’s not uncommon. The venue is working with a company that offers a one-day policy to cover me for the event, which is about $130. This cuts into my paycheck for this gig, which I’m obviously not thrilled about and I wish I’d known this ahead of time. It’s not the fault of the coordinator or the couple, as the venue just let them know about this policy. I’m curious how others would handle the situation considering the cost; I assume I’ll just need to swallow the expense even though it’s frustrating. Also, if there are recommendations for companies I could look into that might be cheaper (I do card tricks, I’m not setting things on fire or working with broken glass) I would be very appreciative!
"I'm sorry - if you were right, I would agree with you." -Robin Williams, Awakenings
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Andrew Zuber Inner circle Los Angeles, CA 3292 Posts
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Additionally, the policy being offered is through a site called Event Helper, and this is for 180 guests. The cost for the policy for one day is actually $195, which seems exceptionally steep.
"I'm sorry - if you were right, I would agree with you." -Robin Williams, Awakenings
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TomBoleware Inner circle Hattiesburg, Ms 3817 Posts
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Andrew,
I’ve bought one day event insurance many times from different places online, it’s all overpriced and there’s not much you can do last minute, except pay it. I recent heard that State Farm Insurance can get one day event coverage for their exists customers, but I’m not sure they will for others. But if not now, maybe going forward you may want to check on the Insurance that the SAM or IBM has. I know some of the guys on here use that. I think it's a yearly fee something like $200 I believe. You really need it if you do many shows, and not just for the coverage it can also be a good selling point Good Luck with it Tom
"You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want." --Zig Ziglar
Blogspot: https://boleware.blogspot.com/ The Daycare Magician Book https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/amazekids/the-daycare-magician/ |
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smithart Special user Texas 944 Posts
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I checked at the IBM site and the pricing is based on income but starts at ~$230. So -- assuming you are an IBM member for about the price Event Helper is quoting, you get unlimited COIs. That mean you can spread the business expense over multiple customers.
I'm assuming you've already committed to a price, and that it is still worthwhile even with this added expense.
AKA Professor Memento
https://mementomysteries.com |
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Fedora Inner circle Arizona, usa 1014 Posts
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Hey Andrew, your in luck, I talked about this last year: https://www.themagiccafe.com/forums/view......forum=44
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Fedora Inner circle Arizona, usa 1014 Posts
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The company mentioned in that thread will sell you a policy for $25 dollars that will cover you for 6 hours.
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Fedora Inner circle Arizona, usa 1014 Posts
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Just took a look at event helpers policy.
That is by far one of the worst liability insurance offerings I have ever seen. It is the Frankenstein monster of every bad thing. It is way over priced. Uses local underwriters. Nothing special in coverage. And it even has a $1000 deductible. I literally urge you not to go with them. Literally anything is better. If you have any reservations about Thimble, the policy itself is almost identical to event help in terms of coverage. They just don't have a stated deductible. Also the aggregate is $2 million with event helper and $1 million at thimble. If you really need the extra million aggregate you can get it from thimble for an extra $5. I can't emphasize enough how ripped of they are trying to make you. |
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Andrew Zuber Inner circle Los Angeles, CA 3292 Posts
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Quote:
On Aug 5, 2025, Fedora wrote: This is fantastic, thank you so much! It's just what I was looking for. And I agree that this other company feels very overpriced considering what kind of material I'm doing.
"I'm sorry - if you were right, I would agree with you." -Robin Williams, Awakenings
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thomasR Inner circle 1292 Posts
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Specialty Insurance Agency is becoming a standard for Variety entertainers - they are great to work with and they have many articles that help explain performers insurance.
They offer yearly plans, and also "single event" plans which cover a single event of 10 days or less. |
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Mindpro Eternal Order 11172 Posts
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Yeah I believe it was Stephanie and Specialty Insurance that I recommended in the previously referenced thread as well.
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Fedora Inner circle Arizona, usa 1014 Posts
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Quote:
On Aug 8, 2025, thomasR wrote: It is popular. But the single event price is really quite high. It's only about half the annual amount for ten days. That ten day amount is even higher than what the company Andrew got referred to is priced at. I really find it hard to justify Specialty's short term plan. |
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Andrew Zuber Inner circle Los Angeles, CA 3292 Posts
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Just coming back to say thank you, Fedora, for the fantastic resource. The plan was easily customizable and I even got an email from them letting me know when it was about to go into effect and giving me the option to extend it for additional time if I needed to. Super simple and a great price. The venue was satisfied and I’ll certainly use them again if I need a temporary policy like this! I realize that often times you don’t really see insurance in action until you have to file a claim, but under the circumstances, Thimble was great.
"I'm sorry - if you were right, I would agree with you." -Robin Williams, Awakenings
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itsmagic Inner circle middle earth 1126 Posts
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I just checked out Thimble, recommended by Fedora, but it's $109 for 2 hours bday party at a park! Or $115 for 1.5 hours indoor show at a clubhouse. Super expensive
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Fedora Inner circle Arizona, usa 1014 Posts
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That doesn't seem right. I just checked and it's still $25. A couple of questions, are you located in the US? Middle Earth might be higher.
More importantly, make sure you checked the right boxes. You should mark general liability. Not BOP. Also the liability protection shouldn't be different depending on it being a park or a clubhouse. They shouldn't even ask for your address. Much less where the performance will be. You should hit business protection not special event, general liability not BOP, no employees, and turn off the protections besides general liability such as professional liability. That will get the correct price. I'm not sure what you clicked on to get those amounts, but it's clearly something strange as the shorter time costs more than the longer one. That shouldn't be possible. Clicking BOP instead of general liability is my best guess as to the error. Best of luck! |
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TomBoleware Inner circle Hattiesburg, Ms 3817 Posts
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Quote:
On Oct 2, 2025, Fedora wrote: Fedora, are you saying it's $25.00 for one event? And they don't even need to know where it is? That doesn't make sense. Tom
"You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want." --Zig Ziglar
Blogspot: https://boleware.blogspot.com/ The Daycare Magician Book https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/amazekids/the-daycare-magician/ |
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Fedora Inner circle Arizona, usa 1014 Posts
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It's because of the way liability insurance works. They only need to know if it's a place they have underwriters that cover. So you give them your zip code, and that is enough to get a quote. When you sign up for a thimble account to pay that quote they will ask for your business address. But it's irrelevant to the cost as it is established already. The event address also doesn't matter.
You can think of it sort of like auto insurance, it's covered anywhere not just a specific address. It's not for one event. It's for a certain amount of time. So you can get anywhere up to 6 hours or so with the base fee. And it increases from there. It's not much different than if you bought an annual policy. You don't have to tell them every event location. Because you're covered regardless. This is the same as an annual policy just for a few hours or a day instead of a year. Technically you could perform at multiple gigs in that time and be covered for each of them. |
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TomBoleware Inner circle Hattiesburg, Ms 3817 Posts
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Never thought of it that way. Thanks
Tom
"You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want." --Zig Ziglar
Blogspot: https://boleware.blogspot.com/ The Daycare Magician Book https://www.vanishingincmagic.com/amazekids/the-daycare-magician/ |
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danfreed Inner circle West Chester PA 1431 Posts
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One year of liability insurance for entertainers isn't expensive, and many policies include free additional insured coverage as needed. A lot of gigs require insurance or additional insured coverage, so even for part timers it makes sense to get annual coverage. You can get it from International Brotherhood of Magicians or World Clown Association among others.
Dan Freed
AKA The Amazing Spaghetti https://www.magiciandanfreed.com/birthday-party-magician-for-kids http://thecaricatureartist.com http://magiciandanfreed.com |
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Mindpro Eternal Order 11172 Posts
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I agree. Its silly not to.
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thomasR Inner circle 1292 Posts
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Quote:
On Oct 3, 2025, Fedora wrote: If you need to provide a Certificate that has the venues name and address the event address will indeed matter. But I'm not sure if that's what you are talking about here. |
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Posted: Aug 5, 2025 02:18 am 
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