Burning Man Liability Insurance

Post by **Elderberry** » Thu May 12, 2011 3:40 pm

I just got word of this on the Greeters Announce list. Thought I'd share it if anyone is looking for liability insurance for your theme camp, art car, etc.

http://www.heffins.com/small-commercial ... e-program/

Minxy · Post by **Minxy** » Thu May 12, 2011 4:43 pm

Yay Greeters!

Completely off topic, but if you're Greeting too, I wanna meet you!

Post by **Elderberry** » Thu May 12, 2011 5:13 pm

Minxy wrote:Yay Greeters!

Completely off topic, but if you're Greeting too, I wanna meet you!

We do sometimes volunteer for a greeter shift. Just depends how things go, because we also volunteer for ice camp, bus depot, and lamp lighters, not to mention having to schedule time for the meet-n-greet--that's a lot of scheduling for they playa. Oh and how could I forget, our two shifts at our camp serving root beer floats! But if you go to the MNG, I'll definitely see you there.

Do you know topless Deb?

Minxy · Post by **Minxy** » Thu May 12, 2011 5:25 pm

I wouldn't say I know her. I met her last year and chatted with her and her daughter a bit. Nice people.

Yes, I WILL make it to the MnG this year. Dammit.

peachandpapa · Post by **peachandpapa** » Fri May 13, 2011 10:48 am

Jkisha,
Thanks for the link. I have often wondered about trying to get liability for our art car. Haven't seen the quote yet, but nice to see that there is a playa friendly company out there to possibly serve us!

Post by **Elderberry** » Fri May 13, 2011 3:22 pm

I'd be interested in hearing the quote.

Post by **Sham** » Wed May 18, 2011 2:59 am

If you're looking for insurance for your art car, I can recommend Hagerty Insurance. http://www.hagerty.com/
They specialize in collectable and unique vehicles. My art car was severely damaged this past winter, and they were outstanding in dealing with the claim. Also, and most important, they look at the use of the vehicle and quote the insurance accordingly. I am now paying $75 per year for full coverage on the car, allowing me to keep it on the road while repairs are made. Regular insurance companies wanted over $1000 for the same coverage.

Abigail J · Post by **Abigail J** » Wed May 18, 2011 10:10 am

Insurance is retarded. I'm not hooking up with anyone who has insurance.

Post by **Sham** » Wed May 18, 2011 10:39 am

Abigail J wrote:Insurance is retarded. I'm not hooking up with anyone who has insurance.

Words to live by!

peachandpapa · Post by **peachandpapa** » Wed May 18, 2011 11:47 am

Maybe I spoke too soon on Heffins Ins....It has been almost a week and I have still not received a quote...

Dr. Pyro · Post by **Dr. Pyro** » Wed May 18, 2011 12:07 pm

Considering they get paid on commission, that is never a good sign.

Dustdevil · Post by **Dustdevil** » Wed May 18, 2011 6:12 pm

I too put in a quote a while back. The fact that they did not even acknowledge the submission makes me wonder about the company. Common business sense would dictate an letter stating that they received you inquirey. They are either over whelmed, flakes or frauds, in my opinion.

MyDearFriend · Post by **MyDearFriend** » Wed May 18, 2011 6:16 pm

Shambala wrote:
Abigail J wrote:Insurance is retarded. I'm not hooking up with anyone who has insurance.
Words to live by!

Yeah Sham, if we want to avoid AJ's cooties we should only hook up with people who have insurance.

*making a note*

Post by **Elderberry** » Wed May 18, 2011 6:23 pm

Abigail J wrote:Insurance is retarded. I'm not hooking up with anyone who has insurance.

It's only retarded until you have some drunken fool fall off your art car and die and their family decides to sue your entire camp and each member of the camp as individuals. AND THEY WIN.

True story, look it up.

Post by **Sham** » Thu May 19, 2011 2:26 am

Because You're Different?

Post by **Elderberry** » Thu May 19, 2011 7:46 am

Makes total sense to me. I think just owning a mutant vehicle qualifies a person as being different, which means your insurance needs are unique (different) as well.

Dustdevil · Post by **Dustdevil** » Thu May 19, 2011 8:28 am

I wrote to them and asked why they didn't reply to my inquirey. Below is the response. OK, I guess I can accept that and retry.
J.

Hi Jack,

We received your email. Unfortunately, we had a technical glitch occur that prevented us from receiving any submissions. This wasn't caught for a few days and we have tried everything we can to retrieve the submissions that were entered during that time, we have been unsuccessful.

If you can please re-enter your information at www.insuranceontheplaya.com we would be very appreciative. Once we receive your information we can turn around a quote to you within an hour.

Please accept our sincerest apologies for the inconvenience.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call me, Amy Vitarelli, or Ben Stern at ***-***-9996.

Thanks, Jack!

Post by **Elderberry** » Thu May 19, 2011 9:27 am

I can relate. Though I think I'd follow up with a phone call immediately after resubmitting the form

peachandpapa · Post by **peachandpapa** » Thu May 19, 2011 12:32 pm

Dustdevil,
Thanks for the heads-up! Just re-submitted and called to acknowledge that they received it. I'll let everyone know what transpires...

Dustdevil · Post by **Dustdevil** » Thu May 19, 2011 12:35 pm

I too just re submitted my application. I am more curious as to the cost than anything else.

peachandpapa · Post by **peachandpapa** » Thu May 19, 2011 2:11 pm

Just got the quote... for a "medium" art car, not street legal, seats 9, and no pyrotechnics = $853.00. Seems a bit steep for such a small art car... Going to check out Hagerty and see what they come up with. Keep you posted...

Post by **Sham** » Thu May 19, 2011 4:57 pm

peachandpapa wrote:Just got the quote... for a "medium" art car, not street legal, seats 9, and no pyrotechnics = $853.00. Seems a bit steep for such a small art car... Going to check out Hagerty and see what they come up with. Keep you posted...

I paid around $450 for a street legal insurance policy that has all the good limits for collision and liability. You can talk to a rep at Hagerty and explain the use and negotiate a bit.

Post by **Elderberry** » Thu May 19, 2011 5:48 pm

peachandpapa wrote:Just got the quote... for a "medium" art car, not street legal, seats 9, and no pyrotechnics = $853.00. Seems a bit steep for such a small art car... Going to check out Hagerty and see what they come up with. Keep you posted...

Is that just liability? Or is damage to the vehicle included too? And what were the limits of coverage dollar wise?

capjbadger · Post by **capjbadger** » Thu May 19, 2011 6:10 pm

jkisha wrote:
Abigail J wrote:Insurance is retarded. I'm not hooking up with anyone who has insurance.
It's only retarded until you have some drunken fool fall off your art car and die and their family decides to sue your entire camp and each member of the camp as individuals. AND THEY WIN.

True story, look it up.

WTF?!? I hadn't heard anything on that for a while...
So let me get this straight... The dumb bitch tried and failed to jump on a moving vehicle and got killed, and that's not HER fault?? You have got to be fucking kidding me...

Glad I built mine so you can't get on unless I let the ladder down (or you have a 7ft vetical jump...)

-Badger

capjbadger · Post by **capjbadger** » Thu May 19, 2011 6:13 pm

peachandpapa wrote:Just got the quote... for a "medium" art car, not street legal, seats 9, and no pyrotechnics = $853.00. Seems a bit steep for such a small art car... Going to check out Hagerty and see what they come up with. Keep you posted...

That's insane. I pay less than that for a vehicle that tops out at 160mph...
Do they know this thing is only going 5mph at best?

Kind of make me wonder what the rate would be for a bus...

-Badger

Dustdevil · Post by **Dustdevil** » Thu May 19, 2011 6:29 pm

Just got my quote. Theme Camp serving alcohol, 40' tall scaffolding, fire art and in operation from 8-20 thru 9-7..... 1M liablility coverage, $500 deductable. Premium is $770. Whether that is worth the investment is a tough decision. AND many of you who are home owners may not be aware of this, but your homeowners policy may very well cover you. Sounds far fetched, but I was an expert witness on a wrongful death case involving pyrotechnics and the defendant was covered by his homeowners insurance. It was NOT a commercial show he was doing so they took care of him.

Kinetik V · Post by **Kinetik V** » Thu May 19, 2011 6:30 pm

$853.00? Do they throw in some Vasoline or Astroglide with that? Sheesh! Someone's getting screwed.

Edit: I'm referring to the price for the insurance coverage...and nothing else.

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Thu May 19, 2011 6:32 pm

Please, don't call her a dumb bitch. You don't have to like her, and you can show your disapproval, but it was a horrible thing that sent out lots of waves through various communities, and to some of us the name calling is a turn of a knife.

Post by **mdmf007** » Thu May 19, 2011 11:29 pm

I found Heffernan insurance easy to deal with. i was skeptical at first, as there are lots of prank ads on eplaya, looked up their license and they were legit.

Filled out the form, and got a quote four days later. I believe it was around 1050.00 for our camp.

There are a couple of caveats, but nothing outlandish. We will probably be going with them as we rent our gen set and kitchen trailer. We have bought insurance through the vendor in the past and its ridiculously expensive. three times the cost of Heffernan, and all it covers is the kitchen and gen set.

I dropped a post on eplaya yesterday but just got a call from our vendor this evening that my facts were off a bit with the rates and caveats and asked if I could fix the errors.

Lampman's death sucks. Was she personally responsible for her death? - sure, its easy to play the hindsight game and I believe we all are culpable for our decisions. There is an accepted risk to attending BM, she knew this and paid the price. shit happens, and insurance is for the OS factor, the unforeseen, etc. Piece of mind is worth 1050 to me.

just my 2 cents.

MDMF

Post by **Sham** » Fri May 20, 2011 1:27 am

Are these insurance quotes that you're talking about based on the one week during the Burning Man event? Most insurance quotes are based on a 12 month cycle, so the quote MDMF got would really be $54,600 by comparison. This is really an outrageously high number if you look at it this way. My art car costs me about $8.65 per week for $300,000 worth of coverage, and it's covered by my homeowners umbrella as well.
My point is that maybe you should be getting a quote from an agency that is NOT Burning Man savvy to see what they want for this type of coverage.
Another illustration is, on commercial/retail property with about $5,000,000 worth of coverage costs about $4,000 per year or $77.00 per week.
A little homework here can save a shit-pot of money. I hope this info helps!