Moon Insurance Managers, Inc. · TDI license #5595

Bounce House and Inflatable Rental Insurance in Texas

Texas treats a blower-inflated bounce house as an amusement ride. For a business that rents them out, that one fact decides what the policy has to be, who inspects the units, what gets filed with the state, and what has to be stuck to each unit before it leaves the warehouse.

This page is for that business — the operator with units on the calendar all year. If you are hiring one bounce house for a single party or event, your side of it is on the special event insurance page. Rides that do not inflate, and the rest of the amusement and recreation businesses, are sorted on the amusement and recreation insurance page.

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One business, three questions

What insurance a bounce house business needs

The short answer: a liability policy in the shape Texas sets for inflatables, cover for the units themselves, and auto cover for whatever carries them to the booking. The liability policy is the one the law requires before a unit goes out. The other two are decided by what you own and how you move it.

There is no single bounce house policy to buy. There is an assembly, and it is worth naming because a school, a park or an HOA usually asks for evidence of the liability half while the other two are left for you to notice.

The rides Liability, in the shape the state sets: Somebody hurt bouncing, sliding or climbing is the claim the whole business is built around, and it is the one half of the assembly Texas law writes the minimum for. The policy also has to do things an ordinary liability policy is never asked to do: carry an inspection by the insurer and schedule each unit by serial number.
The units themselves Property that travels: Inflatables, blowers, anchoring gear and generators are equipment that spends its life in a warehouse, on a trailer and staked out on somebody else’s grass. How a form treats a unit in storage, in transit and set up is a question to read, not assume, and the liability policy does not answer it.
The truck and trailer Getting the units there: Delivery and pickup are an auto question before they are anything else. Who owns the vehicle, what it tows and who drives it decide that half, and it is quoted on its own.

Two more come up as the business grows. A paid setup crew raises the workers’ compensation decision, covered further down. And a contract that asks for a higher limit than the liability policy carries is a limits question, which an umbrella policy is one way to answer. How a form treats owned equipment is on the commercial property page.

Before the first booking

Starting a bounce house business

Many of the inquiries this page gets come from businesses that have not opened yet: one unit, sometimes a few, often with the owner doing the deliveries. The law does not scale down for them. One unit needs the same policy, inspection and filing as a fleet, and all of it happens before the unit operates. In order:

The unit’s details. Make, model and serial number, and whether a blower keeps it up. An inflatable water slide on a continuous blower is an amusement ride like any other unit; the 2023 waterslide carve-out does not reach it.
The policy. At least $1,000,000 per occurrence, combined single limit, with the unit scheduled on it by name and serial number. Ask before you buy whether the insurer performs or contracts the annual inspection.
The inspection. By the insurer or a person the insurer has contracted with, on Form AR-100, valid for one year.
The filing. The policy itself, not a certificate, with the inspection certificate and the $40 fee to TDI. Allow 10 days for review.
The sticker. Form AR-101 goes on the unit where riders can see it. Then the calendar opens.

A second unit bought later is a change endorsement, its own inspection and its own fee before it goes out. Two things do not stand in for the policy at any size. Forming an LLC changes who owns the business, not what § 2151.1012 asks of whoever operates the ride. And a waiver the customer signs is not one of the things TDI asks to see filed.

Say at the first conversation that the business is new. With no claims history, the facts in the cost list further down are what a quote rests on, so have them ready even if most of the answers are “one unit, staffed, weekends”.

Sources: Tex. Occ. Code §§ 2151.002, .101, .1012; TDI — 28 TAC § 5.9004 (Order 2024-8909); TDI — amusement ride requirements. Verified 26 October 2026.

The state rule first

Texas treats an inflatable as an amusement ride

Occupations Code chapter 2151 defines an amusement ride broadly, and TDI, which administers it, lists “continuous air-flow inflatable rides or devices (bounce houses, inflatable slides)” among them. A rental unit has no fixed location, so it is a Class B ride. The 2023 carve-out for short vinyl waterslides does not reach an inflatable water slide kept up by a continuous blower: the statute excludes only a slide that is not mechanically inflated that way.

For an inflatable, the insurance minimum is its own section, and it is specific. Under § 2151.1012 a person may not operate one without a policy currently in effect for at least $1,000,000 per occurrence, combined single limit, written by a Texas-authorized insurer or a surplus lines insurer, insuring the owner or operator against liability arising from its use. The section asks for a combined single limit, so a split-limit policy does not match its wording, whatever the two halves add up to.

Operating without meeting the chapter’s requirements is a Class B misdemeanor, and each day is a separate offense. TDI’s own report says the agency does not have authority to fine; the penalty is criminal.

Sources: Tex. Occ. Code ch. 2151 (§§ 2151.002, .1012, .153); TDI — amusement ride FAQ. Verified 28 September 2026.

Three steps, in TDI’s order

Insurance, an inspection, the fee — then the sticker

TDI describes the process as three steps, and every one of them happens before the unit operates.

The policy. The $1,000,000 combined single limit, with each ride scheduled on it by name and serial number.
The inspection. At least once a year, by the insurer or a person the insurer has contracted with — not by TDI. The inspector completes one Form AR-100 per ride, with a photograph taken at inspection, signed by a representative of the insurer and valid for one year.
The fee. $40 per ride, per year, filed with TDI along with the inspection certificate and the policy. TDI asks for 10 days to review before the ride operates.

When the filing is approved, TDI issues Form AR-101, the compliance sticker. It goes on a major component of the unit where riders can see it, and it is valid for one year from the date of inspection. Renewal is filed at least 10 working days before the current filing expires, with no lapse in coverage between them.

Two consequences worth planning around. A unit bought mid-season needs a change endorsement adding it to the policy, its own inspection certificate and its fee before it goes out — the rule gives 10 days to file them. And after any injury or death involving equipment failure, structural failure or operator error, that ride is closed until it has been reinspected and a new certificate filed. Injuries that need medical treatment beyond first aid are reported to TDI quarterly, and a lawsuit over a ride counts as a reportable event in its own right.

Sources: Tex. Occ. Code ch. 2151 (§§ 2151.052, .101, .103, .1022); TDI — 28 TAC §§ 5.9003, 5.9004, 5.9007 (Order 2024-8909); TDI — amusement ride requirements; TDI — amusement ride forms. Verified 28 September 2026.

The detail most operators learn late

TDI wants the policy, not a certificate

The first filing with TDI has to be the policy itself, or a certified true copy of it, complete with its forms and endorsements. The rule says in as many words that certificates of insurance will not be acceptable for this purpose. A renewal certificate is accepted at renewal; the first filing is not where it goes.

It is the state applying the same rule this site applies everywhere: a certificate is evidence, not coverage. A certificate reports what a policy said on the day it was issued. It cannot schedule a unit, carry an inspection or change a limit, and TDI will not read it as if it could.

Which turns into three questions to put to any policy before you buy it, rather than after the first booking: will it be issued as a full policy you can file, will it schedule every unit by serial number, and does the insurer perform or contract the annual inspection? A liability policy that cannot do all three is not the one this business files.

Source: TDI — 28 TAC § 5.9004(b)(4)–(5), (d)(2) (Order 2024-8909). Verified 28 September 2026.

What venues ask you for

Why schools, parks and HOAs want paperwork

They are entitled to it. The operator has to give a copy of the inspection certificate and the policy to each sponsor, lessor, landowner or other person responsible for the ride being offered to the public. TDI can ask any of those people whether the required insurance is in effect, and they have 15 days to answer. TDI also publishes a monthly list of current compliance stickers, so a careful venue can check your unit against it. A law enforcement officer who asks to see the certificate and policy is owed them immediately, and can stop the ride from operating if they are not produced.

Many will also ask to be named as an additional insured. That is an endorsement to the policy, and it is the endorsement — not the certificate of insurance that lists it — that gives the venue any rights. Whether it responds to a particular claim is decided by its own wording and the facts. Send the venue’s exact clause rather than a summary of it; a school district’s standard language and an HOA’s one-paragraph request are rarely the same endorsement.

Already insured with us and need proof for a booking? Use the certificate of insurance request. The request records; the agency issues.

Source: Tex. Occ. Code ch. 2151 (§§ 2151.053, .101(a)(5), .152, .1525). Verified 28 September 2026.

The split that changes the quote

Staffed, or dropped off

A staffed rental keeps somebody from your business with the unit while it runs — watching the number of riders, the weather and the blower. A drop-off rental is delivered, set up and anchored by your crew, then left with the customer until pickup. Underwriting treats those as different operations, and a submission that does not say which one you run, or what share of bookings is each, is a submission that gets priced on a guess.

Setup and anchoring are your crew’s work either way, which is why the questions about who sets up, who takes down and what instructions the customer is given come early. Who counts as the operator once a unit has been dropped off and left is a question for TDI, not for this page.

TDI’s rules also attach duties to a mobile amusement ride, which the statute defines as one “designed or adapted to be moved from one location to another and is not fixed at a single location”. Whether those duties reach a party-rental operator is TDI’s to say: its amusement ride unit is on 512-676-6750 and at Amusements@tdi.texas.gov.

Sources: Tex. Occ. Code § 2151.002; TDI — amusement ride FAQ. Verified 28 September 2026.

Delivery and pickup

Getting the units there is its own question

The truck that carries the units, and the trailer behind it, are auto. The inflatable policy is written around the ride; it is not what answers for a collision on the way to a booking. A truck the business owns is one answer, an employee’s pickup used for deliveries is another, and a trailer is scheduled property that rides on whatever is towing it. Say which of those you use at the first conversation.

How a commercial vehicle is classified and rated is the commercial auto page’s subject. The liability form underneath the inflatable policy — what it covers and what it excludes — is explained on the general liability page.

A setup crew lifting, staking and hauling in the heat is also a staff question. Workers’ compensation is optional for most private employers in Texas, and that decision has its own page.

Have these ready

What moves the cost of bounce house insurance

There is no honest price on a page like this one, because the price follows the operation. These are the facts that move it, and they are also the facts to have in front of you for the first conversation:

How many units, and what they are — bounce houses, combos, dry slides, water slides, obstacle courses. Every one is scheduled by serial number.
Staffed or dropped off — whether somebody from your business stays with the unit while it runs.
Where they go — schools, churches, parks, HOA common areas, festivals, private parties — and roughly how many bookings a year.
The limit — the state minimum, or whatever higher figure a school district or venue contract has already asked you for.
Additional insureds — which venues, HOAs or organizers want to be named, and the exact wording they sent.
Claims and incidents — anything that has already happened, including anything reported to TDI.
What the units are worth — the replacement value of the inflatables, blowers, anchoring gear and generators. It sets the property half.
How the units are set up — grass, concrete or indoors, staked or weighted, and what the business does when the wind picks up.
The vehicles — the delivery truck, the trailer, who drives them and how far from base you deliver. Quoted separately, and it moves the total.
The people — how many set up and take down, and whether they are paid.

The $40 per ride that goes to TDI each year is a state filing fee. It is not part of the premium and it does not change with the policy.

National comparison sites publish average premiums for bounce house businesses. Those are modeled estimates for an ordinary liability policy, not quotes for a Texas policy that has to schedule every unit by serial number and carry the insurer’s inspection, so this page does not repeat them. A start-up with no claims history is quoted on the list above and nothing else.

No obligation

Tell us what the units are and where they go

Moon Insurance is an independent agency on FM 1959 in southeast Houston. Send the unit list with serial numbers, whether you staff or drop off, and any venue’s insurance clause with the inquiry, and the first call can start from the requirement rather than from guesswork. The phone is fastest: (281) 484-8320, or use the form below.

Monday to Thursday, 9:00 to 5:00; Friday, 9:00 to 4:00. Our Houston office is at 360 FM 1959, Houston, TX 77034.

Bounce house insurance questions

What insurance do you need for a bounce house business?

Three things, in Texas. A liability policy of at least $1,000,000 per occurrence, combined single limit, that schedules each unit and carries the insurer’s annual inspection; the law requires it before a unit operates. Cover for the units themselves, which the liability policy does not answer. And auto cover for the truck and trailer. A paid crew raises the workers’ compensation decision, which is optional for most private employers in Texas, and a contract asking for a higher limit can call for an umbrella.

Do I need insurance to rent out bounce houses in Texas?

Yes. Texas treats a blower-inflated bounce house, combo or inflatable slide as an amusement ride, and Occupations Code § 2151.1012 says a person may not operate one without a combined single limit liability policy of at least $1,000,000 per occurrence. The unit also has to be inspected at least once a year by the insurer or its contractor, and the policy and inspection certificate filed with TDI, before it goes out.

How much liability insurance does a bounce house business need?

The statutory floor is $1,000,000 per occurrence, combined single limit, from a Texas-authorized or surplus lines insurer. A split-limit policy does not match that wording. A school district, city park or venue contract can ask for more, and when it does, the contract sets the number you need, not the statute.

How much does bounce house insurance cost?

There is no honest single figure, because the price follows the operation: how many units are scheduled and what kind, what they are worth, whether they are staffed or dropped off, where they go and how often, the limit and the additional insureds the contracts demand, any claim history, and the delivery vehicles, which are quoted separately. TDI’s $40 per ride is a state filing fee, not a premium.

I am starting with one bounce house. Do I need all of this?

Yes. One unit needs the same policy, inspection and filing as a fleet: the $1,000,000 combined single limit policy with the unit scheduled by serial number, the insurer’s inspection, the filing and $40 fee to TDI, then the sticker — all before the first booking. Forming an LLC or having customers sign a waiver does not change that. Whether a given market takes a single-unit start-up is answered on a submission, not on this page.

Does an inflatable water slide count?

If a blower keeps it up, yes. The 2023 carve-out for short vinyl waterslides covers only a slide that is not mechanically inflated using a continuous airflow device, so a blower-inflated water slide is an amusement ride, and it goes through the same policy, inspection and filing as a bounce house.

Can I send TDI a certificate of insurance?

Not for the first filing. TDI’s rule asks for the policy itself, or a certified true copy with its forms and endorsements, and says certificates of insurance will not be acceptable for that purpose. The policy has to schedule each ride by name and serial number. A renewal certificate is acceptable at renewal.

Who inspects my inflatables — TDI?

No. TDI says in its own FAQ that it does not inspect rides. The law requires the inspection to be done by the insurer or by a person the insurer has contracted with, at least once a year, on Form AR-100 — one per ride. TDI reviews the filing and issues the compliance sticker.

I am renting one bounce house for a party. Is this page for me?

Probably not. It is written for the business that owns and rents the units. A host hiring one for a single date has a different question — their own event liability and what their venue is asking for — and the special event page answers it. A host can ask to see the unit’s TDI compliance sticker, and TDI publishes a list of current stickers.

From the library