New policies only. Cover on an equivalent basis to ours. Excludes policies with home emergency cover added. Qualifying criteria apply. .
No one day is the same when you trade from your stall or pop-up. Not only do you get to travel to a variety of locations and meet new people, you also have to take on different roles within your business. From production and distribution to sales and product replenishment - you've got a lot to manage. You need to know your insurance will cover you for your business activities.
At Direct Line for Business, we offer an insurance policy you can customise yourself. Using our simple online tool, you can select the areas of your business you want to insure, so you get all the cover you need without paying for the cover you don't.
If you just need public and products liability, as required by the market or fair organisers, you could get a policy today, with instant access to your public liability insurance certificate.
Whether you sell food, handmade jewellery, scarves or gifts, we can provide insurance that's just right for your business. If you decide to expand your business later, by selling your products online or in a shop, for example, you can amend your policy without having to pay any admin fees.
All your cover is contained within one policy, so you only have one renewal date to remember. It couldn't be easier.
When you start your online quote you will be asked to enter your trade. We cannot offer you a quote if you enter your trade as 'market trader', as this is too general a description. You will need to make sure to specify the type of products you sell, e.g. food and drink retail, arts and crafts retail, or clothing and accessories retail.
You can select any of the following cover options to create a policy that precisely fits your business needs. These covers are subject to policy conditions and limits.
Public liability insurance covers you if you cause injury to a member of the public or accidentally damage someone's property. An example of this could include a customer slipping on a wet floor in your shop or office and hurting themselves, or causing damage while carrying out buildings works on a client's house. You'll be held liable for the claim if you have not taken adequate precautions to prevent any accidents or damage occurring.
This insurance also covers you if a customer or member of the public becomes ill or suffers an injury because of a product you have supplied. For example, if the heel snaps off a shoe someone has bought from you, causing them to fall over, or if a cupcake you sell at an event makes someone sick.
If the people in question pursued legal action against you, public and product liability insurance would cover the costs you are liable to pay. We can offer cover from £1 million to £10 million. Plus, we can cover costs to help you defend the claim.
Employers' liability insurance is a legal requirement if you have employees. There are a couple of exceptions to this rule, which you can find out more about on our employers' liability page.
We'll cover you up to £10 million, as standard. This cover includes the legal and compensation costs you must pay if an employee gets injured or becomes ill because of the work they do for you.
If there is an insured event such as flood or fire at your work premises, buildings insurance will cover the costs of repairing the damage, helping you get back up and running.
Equipment breakdown cover (for items forming part of the building) is included as standard. This will cover the costs of replacing or repairing things like your broken boiler and fire/burglar alarms, as long as the damage is not due to wear and tear.
Contents and stock cover is for businesses that supply goods or rely on specific equipment to run their business.
A seamstress would not be able to work without a sewing machine, a web designer would not be able to code without a computer and you may not be able to run your business without your trusty tablet.
Other general items that you might rely on for your business, like your office furniture or your shop tills, are covered by insurance. So, if your business contents are damaged by an insured event, such as fire or theft, your business can continue as normal.
If you sell goods, you can also insure them against damage or theft, whether they're raw materials or the finished article.
Our different cover options allow you to insure your business stock and equipment at your premises and when you're out and about. Whether you work at home, at fairs, in shared workspaces or visit lots of clients, we've got you covered. And when you insure stock at your premises or home (excluding bed and breakfast and tradesperson premises), you'll also get an extra 25% of stock covered for two months of your choice as standard, ideal for your busiest periods.
If you experience a sudden and unexpected issue that causes damage to your home that makes it unsafe or uninhabitable, the home emergency 24-hour claims line is here to help. You'll have a certified contractor, such as a plumber, electrician, glazier, locksmith, or drainage engineer, at your home within four hours of registering your claim to secure the property or prevent further damage. You'll also have access to gas engineers, pest control services, and roofers. These services are excluded from the 4-hour response time. Extreme weather and remote locations may extend the response time.
There is a limit of up to £1,500, including VAT, per claim for call-out charges, labour costs, and materials for insured emergencies, such as plumbing, heating, or pest infestations.
You don't have to pay any excess. There's no limit on how often you can claim.
You can add home emergency to a Direct Line business policy for an additional premium, if you run your business from home and have home buildings insurance, home contents insurance, or business contents insurance on your policy. It's available only on new and renewal policies, and you can't add it mid-term.
Home emergency cover isn't currently available on policies that include commercial premises or tradesperson businesses.
Business interruption insurance offers cover if your workplace is unusable after an insured event such as a fire, theft or flood. Whether you run your business from home, an office, a shop, a client's location, or a shared workspace, business interruption insurance can help cover any loss of income until your business can operate at the same level as it previously did had the damage from the incident not occurred. If you need to temporarily relocate due to this damage, we may also pay for the relocation costs if it's economically viable.
If your main supplier or customer's premises get damaged due to an insured event and they can't trade, we'll cover any loss of turnover for your business. We can only do this once their insurer accepts the claim and manages the repairs to their premises. Similarly, if there's an incident, such as a fire, at a location where your business frequently trades, and you can't trade elsewhere, we'll cover the loss of turnover for the time the premises are unusable.
Business interruption will also cover you if key equipment that you use to run your business, like a laptop, is damaged or stolen, meaning you can't trade.
If you, an owner, partner, director, trustee, or other essential employee of your business die or become seriously disabled as a result of an injury caused by accident and violent means, and are unable to continue working, we'll cover the incurred costs, up to £25,000, to minimise any interruption to the business.
Theft of Takings covers cash or cheques stolen:
Maximum limits conditions and exclusions apply.
This covers the legal costs of providing specialist lawyers and taking action against many common legal problems, for instance disputes with suppliers or clients. Legal expenses cover can only be used if there is at least a 51% chance that the claim will succeed.
Personal accident cover provides payment if anyone in your business between the ages 16-75 is unable to work because they've been injured in an accident, whether in a business or personal capacity. Including temporary or permanent hearing loss and loss of speech for tradespeople.
We'll pay a lump sum of £50,000 if there is an accidental death, accidental loss of limbs or sight, or if someone in your business becomes permanently disabled following an accident.
If someone in your business is unable to work due to a temporary injury, then after 7 days we'll pay their normal net weekly earnings up to £500 for up to 104 weeks.
You can choose Personal Accident as an add-on once you've completed your quote.
If you have commercial premises, you can extend your cover, for an additional premium, to include property damage as a result of an Act of Terrorism. We'll cover you up to the maximum sum insured on your policy for buildings, contents, and business interruption (depending on which covers you have taken).
This includes:
If you choose business interruption cover on your policy, terrorism cover will also include any interruption to or interference with the business, due to damage to your premises resulting from an Act of Terrorism. It will also cover you if you're unable to access your premises as a result of an Act of Terrorism within one mile of your business.
Acts of Terrorism are defined as damage caused by someone acting on behalf of, or in connection with, any organisation which uses force or violence to overthrow or influence the UK government.
Terrorism cover is only available for properties located in England, Wales and Scotland.
Terrorism insurance is optional, so an additional premium will apply.
You can include Terrorism cover on your policy by calling us on 0345 301 5066 when you take out your policy or at renewal, as it cannot be added to your policy mid-term.
All the covers we offer are useful. However, for market traders, it is particularly important to have public and product liability. This is to ensure you're covered if your products cause harm to any customers, or if you injure someone or cause accidental damage to their property in the course of running your business. For example, if you accidentally bump into another stall and break someone's stock or a customer or a member of the public trips over an unattended box, your stallholder public liability insurance will pay for the damage or injury.
If your stock gets damaged or stolen at your home, business premises or at a market or fair, you would be left with nothing to sell. Contents and stock cover would pay for the costs of replacing the items so that you can get your business back up and running again.
When you run a pop-up or stall, you're dependent on venues to gain access to your customers. If a venue suddenly closes because of an insured event such as fire or flood, business interruption would cover both your loss of earnings for missed days trading and the cost of setting up elsewhere.
We only provide annual policies and therefore we don't provide stallholder insurance for one day events. The reason for this is that if someone is injured because of your product, you need to be covered for the day the damage occurred, not just the day of purchase. Our annual public and product liability insurance ensures that you'll be covered if you're faced with unexpected legal costs.
We can cover your business if your pop-up is:
If your business works differently to the options stated above, please enter your information on our online quote tool. You will be referred to one of our specialist business insurance advisors to discuss your particular set up.
If you operate any of the following types of stall, we will refer you to one of our specialist business advisors:
We do not cover pop-up restaurants.
If you do not comply with the manufacturer's instructions and local council guidelines when erecting and securing a temporary structure at a market, festival, fair or event, you will need to be referred to one of our specialist business advisors.
At Direct Line for Business we believe in the best health & safety practices, so consider it in your and the public's best interests to follow the guidelines provided when erecting structures like gazebos and stalls.
When you get a quote, we'll send you a personalised policy document that shows the cover you've chosen.
These can also be found when you log into your account.
Here you can find examples of our latest retail insurance documents, which show the main covers we offer, plus exclusions.
Our virtual assistant is ready to answer your questions.
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