Liability Insurance for your Camp, Art, or Mutant Vehicle

[The Rod]

**I am not an attorney and this is not legal advice!**

Every year I see multiple posts and receive multiple messages regarding liability insurance for Burning Man.

It's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.. Compared to litigation it's pennies and when I drove a rickety death trap around I was grateful for the peace of mind.

There have been a few different companies providing Burning Man policies over the years and I've seen lots of people go on about different ways to get insurance and they almost all suck. If your policy is not explicitly written for Burning Man and related activities and risks then it is useless. Parade float insurance is not Burning Man insurance. Your regular auto policy is not Burning Man insurance. RV insurance is not Burning Man insurance. Your rentals/homeowner insurance is not Burning Man insurance.

If you bring a mutant vehicle, art installation or janky scaffolding in your camp and someone hurts themselves or dies you are liable. The Bmorg is protected by the back of the ticket, you are not. There are horror stories of entire camps spending years in court after a participant dies in an accident. Insurance is a layer of protection, if someone dies climbing your structure their kin will sue your insurance and not you.

So where do we get Burning Man insurance? From an awesome burner-run commercial insurance agency!

Crimson Business Insurance
https://www.crimsoninsurance.com/
888.405.7479
Call, leave a message for Ambere, and tell her you are looking for Burning Man insurance.

This post is not an ad, just a burner wanting to help other burners get their asses covered. Not sure if posting business contact info is allowed or not but I do have permission from Ambere to share this information.

Side note: Crimson will sell insurance for other festivals and events, ie: your jankety death trap of a structure you're bringing to your local regional. I also buy my GLI for my (risky and dangerous) business from Crimson and they beat all the competitors rates by huge margins and offered the same coverage.

**I am not an attorney and this post is not legal advice!**

[The Rod]

Bumping because its the time of year when people are planning projects and want to start thinking about liability insurance.

[raypp2]

Sadly Crimson told us that they have not been able to secure insurance for BM groups this year because their former underwriter no longer writes policies for BM. They are looking at other insurers but they have asked for proof of coverage on the master policy for Burning Man org this year. Please reply if you have any contacts that might have this information.

Without insurance, some vendors charge a premium. CES, for instance, charges an 18% premium without insurance.

[The Rod]

Anyone needing insurance for this years burn: Advise to reach (back) out to Ambere. She replied to my most recent inquiry. She said they had found a carrier contemplating offering coverage for Burnin Man 2022, sent a link to an application form and is hoping to start collecting quotes soon.

[The Rod]

update:

Have reached out to Ambere regarding insurance for 2023 event, this was her response:

For art cars I have an annual option that we have been quoting with.
Event carrier will not contemplate event coverage until we are within a 30-60 day window, so hard to say was short term options will be available at that time.
If you want me to quote the annual, let me know and i'll send the questionnaire.

I did reach out to her last year looking for liability insurance for a theme camp, she told me that at that time she was only able to get insurance for art cars and not camps/installations. I was told the quotes for art car insurance were coming in around $4500-7k

[Molotov]

I serve as "camp host" for a BRC work support camp (we don't have a formal "mayor") but just to be safe I carry a million dollar liability umbrella policy offered at a very reasonable price by the company that carries my RV, homeowners, and vehicle policies. I didn't purchase it because of Burning Man, but it's nice to have.

[Token]

I serve as "camp host" for a BRC work support camp (we don't have a formal "mayor") but just to be safe I carry a million dollar liability umbrella policy offered at a very reasonable price by the company that carries my RV, homeowners, and vehicle policies. I didn't purchase it because of Burning Man, but it's nice to have.

A whole million?

After the medical bills, what would I do with that? Down payment on a parking spot in SF?

Heck, I carry $5M on my farm in case someone tries to jump the gate and gets eaten by the dogs …

[The Rod]

an umbrella policy might cover you, but it likely will not cover your camp or anyone else in or affiliated with it

[Sham]

Moderator hat off.
Liability insurance to cover nearly every cause of loss would be expensive and difficult to get for a week.
I don't think there's an attorney alive who would take a case on contingency without knowing there are DEEP pockets to sue. With that being said, getting liability insurance is probably wise in our sue-crazy world. If someone does something careless and stupid, there must be someone else to blame.
Hat back on.