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.

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One business, three questions

What is actually being insured

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.

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.
The vehicles — the delivery truck, the trailer, and who drives them. 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.

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

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, 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.

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