oaky.. maybe this will clear it up... when they speak of vendor.. it could also include a customer that would purchase a candle.... 6 Reasons Why The Occurrence Policy Is Superior To The Less Expensive Claims-Made Policy Your current or future contract with a vendor may require an occurrence policy in order to do business. Simply put, the occurrence policy provides better protection for your vendors. If you were to go out of business or discontinue a product, your vendor wants to be protected by your policy (ex: legal defense and payments for settlements or judgments) if there are any past injuries involving your products that could result in a future lawsuit. An expired claims-made policy is not going to respond to these past injuries, unless you have purchased the "extended reporting period option". It is easier to change carriers at renewal. Claims-made policyholders may find it impossible to change insurance carriers once an actual claim has brought your risk potential to the attention of insurance underwriters. Even if you can get a quote from another insurance carrier, it will be difficult to negotiate the proper "retroactive date" (see definition in another section) to change to a new claims-made insurance carrier or "nose coverage" to change to a new occurrence carrier. You are better protected if you can no longer afford insurance and have to go "bare" while continuing to operate. With the occurrence policy, at least you know your past policy(ies) will respond to any injuries that occurred while such policy(ies) were in effect. On the other hand, the claims-made policy (or a renewal of such policy) has to be in effect or current at both the time of the injury AND the filing of the claim in order to respond. If you have discontinued a hazardous product line, any past injuries involving your products are covered by the insurance policy that was in force at the time of the injury; whereas; with a claims made policy, the policy (or a renewal of such policy) must be in force both at the time of the injury AND when the claim is filed. If you go out of business and shut down operations, again, you have some comfort of knowing any past injuries involving your products are covered by the insurance policy that was in force at the time of the injury; whereas; with a claims made policy, the policy (or a renewal of such policy) must be in force both at the time of the injury AND when the claim is filed. It is better if you sell your company. The new buyer is more likely to accept liabilities of your past products in the marketplace; whereas with a claims-made policy you are more likely to have to purchase the "extended reporting period" on your claims-made policy and be responsible for all liabilities for at least two more years.It is important to note, that many hazardous products with a long product life may be impossible to insure with an occurrence policy. I believe this is because an insurance carrier can better cut their losses by non-renewing a claims-made policy versus an occurrence policy. Remember the two conditions that must be met in order for a claims-made policy to provide coverage – 1) the policy must be in force when the bodily or property damage occurs AND 2) the policy or a renewal of the policy must still be in force when the claim is made. With an occurrence policy only the first condition must be met so the insurance carrier could still be paying for past injuries even if they non-renewed your policy.