Does Your Gas Station Need Liquor Liability Insurance?

Every industry faces its own unique risks. Gas stations as an entity are unique, as they face multiple types of risks. Accidents concerning gasoline is an obvious concern, but one overlooked danger is liquor. The majority of gas stations sell alcoholic beverages. While your gas station doesn’t directly serve alcohol to guests, it can still face liability issues when it comes to customers purchasing alcohol.

What Does Liquor Liability Insurance Cover?

Liquor liability insurance is perhaps most well known in restaurants and bars. This insurance covers incidents involving acts that a customer commits after purchasing alcohol. Say a customer comes in late at night to purchase a twelve pack of beer. The customer looks a little glassy-eyed, but the clerk chalks it up to exhaustion since it’s so late. After finishing the purchase, the customer decides to drink a few outside while they pump their gas, out of view from the clerk. Then the customer packs up, drives away, and causes a wreck resulting in multiple injuries to passengers in another vehicle. The responsibility for those injuries may come back to your gas station for serving the customer and allowing them to drink on the premises.

Liquor liability insurance steps in to guard the business from heavy financial loss in cases such as these. It can provide compensation for:

• Third-party bodily injury
• Third-party property damage
• Legal expenses on behalf of the business, including attorney’s fees, court costs and settlements
• Assault and battery claims and injuries

Another example would be if an intoxicated customer purchases alcohol from the gas station, leaves, and starts a fight with another customer outside. Any injury or damage the original customer causes could reflect back on the gas station. One important exception to be aware of is incidents involving underage drinking. Liquor liability insurance will not cover your business if you or your employees serve alcohols to minors.

How Much Liquor Liability Insurance Does a Gas Station Need?

The amount of liquor liability you should purchase depends on your business. Consider the size of your business, your location and the amount of liquor your gas station will serve. If you live in an area with a high rate of DUIs or DWIs, you may want to consider carrying larger amounts of liquor liability insurance. If you’re in doubt about the coverage you need, make sure to speak with an insurance agent.

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