Florists insurance checklist: what a florist should carry

The florist insurance checklist

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Florists usually carry business owner's policy, workers' compensation and commercial auto. Florists keep perishable stock in coolers, deliver arrangements in vans and staff cars every day, install flowers at weddings in venues that want a certificate, and take most orders online. Your landlord and the venue 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 florist for what

Who	What they usually want to see
Landlords & commercial leases	General liability with the landlord as additional insured, property coverage on tenant improvements and workers' compensation
Event venues & caterers' clients	General liability naming the venue, and liquor liability where you pour
Banks, lenders & SBA loans	Property or auto physical damage with the lender as loss payee, and liability proof at closing and every renewal

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

Business owner's policy declarations. Liability limits on the first page, then the property section: building (if you own), business personal property, business income and the named extras such as spoilage, equipment breakdown or employee dishonesty. Confirm the property values are current.
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.
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.
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.
Crime declarations. Employee theft, forgery, funds-transfer fraud and social engineering each have their own limit; third-party coverage if you work in clients' premises.
Cyber declarations. The headline limit matters less than the sublimits: social engineering, funds-transfer fraud, ransomware and business interruption, plus the regulatory coverage and the panel of breach vendors.
Property section. Limits for building, business personal property and tenant improvements against replacement cost, the coinsurance percentage, the deductible, and whether flood and earthquake are excluded (they usually are).
Business income. The limit or actual-loss-sustained wording, the waiting period, the period of restoration and whether extra expense is included.
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.
Employment practices declarations. Limit and retention, third-party coverage for claims by customers, and whether wage-and-hour claims carry any defence sublimit.

What usually goes wrong for florists

Delivery drivers in their own cars with no hired and non-owned auto.
A cooler failure before a holiday weekend with no spoilage coverage.
Tenant improvements insured by nobody, because the lease says one thing and the policy another.
Property values set when the doors opened and never raised.
Inventory at its holiday peak insured at its January value.
Assuming the delivery platform's policy covers your own drivers; it covers theirs.

What underwriters will ask a florist

Delivery method and volume, event work and venues, cooler stock value at peak, and online order share
Square footage, whether you own or lease, the building's age and sprinklers
Replacement cost of the equipment, fixtures and stock on site
Average and peak inventory values, and who handles cash and deposits
Who delivers, in whose vehicles, and whether any third-party platform is used
Attendance, alcohol, amusement devices and whether events are indoors or out

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

Workers' compensation is audited on actual payroll and liability on sales, so a busy year ends with a bill unless the estimates were kept honest; pay-as-you-go billing through your payroll company removes most of that. Renewal autopilot starts the comparison sixty days out, prefilled from the wallet.

Questions people actually ask

Our delivery drivers use their own cars. What covers them?

Their personal policies first, which may exclude delivery, and your hired and non-owned auto for the business. Valentine's week is when a florist's auto claims happen; HNOA is the line to have before it.

Is spoiled stock covered?

Only with spoilage coverage added to the package, at a limit that matches the cooler before a holiday. Standard property forms exclude it, and a florist's largest inventory is always the day before the busiest day.

Doesn't my landlord's insurance cover my florist?

It covers the building. The lease almost always makes you responsible for your own improvements, equipment and stock, for injuries inside your space, and for naming the landlord as additional insured on your liability policy. Read the insurance clause; the contract checker in the wallet will pull it out for you.

Is employee theft covered under my property policy?

No; property policies exclude dishonest acts by employees. A crime policy covers employee theft, forgery and funds-transfer fraud, and it is inexpensive for a florist compared with the losses it answers.

Do delivery platforms insure the orders my own staff deliver?

No. A platform's coverage follows its own drivers while they are on its app. Your employees in their own cars need hired and non-owned auto on your policy, and your own vehicles need commercial auto.