Bounce house rentals insurance checklist: what a bounce house rental company should carry

The bounce house rental company insurance checklist

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Bounce house rentals usually carry general liability, inland marine / equipment and commercial auto. Bounce house companies rent inflatables to backyards and parks, anchor them against wind that has lifted them into the news, and leave them with parents who supervise or do not. The venue and the permit office ask for proof of each. The checklist below says what every item does, who requires it and how to check it on the policies you already have.

Reviewed by Michael LaBarbera, Licensed property & casualty agent, Provident Financial Group · Reviewed Oct 12, 2026 Updated Oct 14, 2026

Who asks a bounce house rental company for what

Who	What they usually want to see
Event venues & caterers' clients	General liability naming the venue, and liquor liability where you pour
Cities, counties & permits	General liability, auto and workers' compensation at the limits in the permit or contract
Landlords & commercial leases	General liability with the landlord as additional insured, property coverage on tenant improvements and workers' compensation

Each of them wants a certificate, and most want it again at every renewal. A live certificate link from the wallet shows today's coverage to every holder and tells them when it changes.

How to check what you already have

General liability declarations page. Three liability numbers matter: each occurrence, general aggregate and the products–completed operations aggregate. Then the forms list: blanket additional insured, waiver of subrogation and primary and non-contributory wording satisfy every contract; scheduled forms satisfy one.
Equipment schedule. Owned items scheduled above the per-item threshold, a blanket limit for small tools, leased or rented equipment included, and the valuation (replacement cost or actual cash value).
Auto schedule. Every vehicle listed with the right garaging address and use; symbols that include hired and non-owned auto; physical damage with the lender as loss payee where the vehicle is financed.
Workers' compensation information page. Item 3.A must list every state you work in, item 4 must carry the right class codes, and the employers' liability limits should meet what contracts ask. Check that the estimated payroll is close to this year's.
Umbrella schedule of underlying insurance. Each primary policy listed with the limits the umbrella expects; a gap between the two is uninsured.
Special events coverage. Whether the annual policy already covers your events or each needs a separate policy, and the additional-insured wording venues ask for.
Hired and non-owned auto. Look for the symbols 8 and 9 or an endorsement by that name on the auto or general liability policy; without it, staff in their own cars are uninsured on company business.
Employment practices declarations. Limit and retention, third-party coverage for claims by customers, and whether wage-and-hour claims carry any defence sublimit.
Abuse and molestation. A separate limit, not a sublimit of general liability; whether it is occurrence or claims-made; and whether the organisation and the individual are both covered.
Participant accident. The medical limit per injury, the deductible, whether it pays primary or excess of the family's health plan, and the activities covered.

What usually goes wrong for bounce house rental companies

Inflatables excluded from a general liability policy that was never told what the business rents.
Units left unattended with no stake and sandbag record.
Amusement-device exclusions on a general liability policy that was never told what you rent.
Every venue wanting its own certificate with different wording, on a deadline.
Damage to the exact thing you are working on is excluded on most general liability forms; installation floaters and care, custody and control endorsements fill that hole.
A personal auto policy on a truck with the company name on the door.

What underwriters will ask a bounce house rental company

Number and type of units, anchoring and wind policy, whether attendants are provided, and the venues delivered to
Equipment types, whether staff supervise during use, and anchoring or safety practices
Attendance, alcohol, amusement devices and whether events are indoors or out
Residential versus commercial split of the work
Whether any work is done above three stories or below grade
Each vehicle, its garaging address, radius and who drives it

Have the answers in the wallet before the renewal and the quote request fills itself in; CoverMatch sends one application to every eligible carrier and lines the quotes up against what you have.

Renewal timing

Audits at year end compare payroll, receipts and subcontractor costs with the estimate, so keep the wallet's size figures and the subcontractor certificates current. Start comparing sixty days before expiration, and ask for the limits the next contract will need rather than the ones the last one did.

Questions people actually ask

Why do many carriers refuse inflatables?

Because wind lifts and injuries in units with too many children are frequent and severe. The carriers that write them want anchoring to the manufacturer's standard, wind-speed cut-offs, attendant rules and documented set-ups. Have those before quoting.

Does the park or school we deliver to need a certificate?

Nearly always, naming the park district or school as additional insured, and some require the inflatable company's attendant on site. Live certificates from the wallet are issued per park and per school.

Are inflatables and amusement devices covered under a normal general liability policy?

Often they are excluded unless the policy was written for them. Ask for the exclusions list; the carriers that specialise in event rentals write participant coverage in rather than out.

Why does every venue want a different certificate?

Because each has its own insurance exhibit: a limit, an additional insured, sometimes a waiver. Live certificates from the wallet are issued per holder with the endorsements they ask for, so a bounce house rental company stops rebuilding the same PDF for every booking.

Does general liability cover damage to a customer's property while I work on it?

It covers damage to the rest of their property, not usually the part in your hands. Many forms exclude property in your care, custody or control, so a bounce house rental company that handles valuable items or systems needs an endorsement or an installation floater. The policy explainer in the wallet flags the exclusion when it reads your policy.