Securing liability insurance for your salon is extremely important to the long-term health of your business. Just like you take out policies on your car, home, or even your pets, liability insurance helps you prepare for the unexpected and protect you, your salon, and your net worth from certain risks.
Liability insurance is a policy that protects you against claims of injury or damage to life or property. What that means is, if someone is injured in your salon, whether by something you did or something that happened to them in your place of business, your insurance will cover the cost of those damages.
Whether someone slips and falls on the sidewalk outside your front door or experiences a reaction to a product you used, liability insurance covers costs you’re legally on the hook to pay as a business owner. Without insurance, you have to pay 100 percent of those fees out of pocket. Those fees can quickly spiral out of control, and without insurance, can turn a small accident into a going out of business sale.
Like any insurance plan, liability insurance charges a monthly premium in exchange for coverage during a claim. When you have liability insurance, if an incident occurs in your business or during an appointment, you can file a claim with your insurance provider to see if they’ll cover your liability in the incident.
There are several different types of liability insurance you can purchase that cover different aspects of your business.
A professional liability policy protects you from any claims that can be brought as a result of your services. If a client experiences an injury to themselves or their property while you rendered services, this policy will help protect you against those claims. For example, if a client develops an infection after getting nicked by a scissor and decides to sue, your policy has you covered.
Whether you’re a cosmetologist, esthetician, or any other beauty professional, you’re going to use a wide variety of products to do your job. If a client experiences some form of injury as a result of a product you used, like an adverse reaction to a shampoo or developing a rash during a color treatment, they can sue to hold you liable for damages. A product liability policy will cover any damages incurred by products used in your salon.
General liability insurance is just that – it covers you for general incidents that might occur in your place of business. If someone slips and falls on a patch of ice, bumps their knee on a chair, or takes a spill on a yet-to-be-swept pile of hair, general liability has you covered. General liability can also protect against stolen or lost goods.
There are many different insurance providers you can choose from, from general liability providers like the Allstates of the world, to specialty salon insurance providers like Elite Beauty Society. Evaluating an insurance provider can be tough: the language isn’t easy to understand, the numbers aren’t always clear, and even just the thought of things going wrong in your business can be scary.
The first step is to read their policies thoroughly to understand what they cover, and more importantly, what they don’t. Some policies pay out based on occurrences, meaning you can file a claim even after your policy expired so long as the incident took place while you were covered. Others only allow you to file claims when your policy is active.
When thinking about insurance, you should try to think about how you’d like to be protected. Remember, you’re paying insurance premiums in exchange for protection against large, expensive claims made against yourself or your business. Here are a few questions you should ask when evaluating different providers:
GlossGenius partners with Elite Beauty Society to offer discounted rates to salon owners and beauty entrepreneurs to get them the coverage they need – from people who understand how your industry works. They offer full protection for more than 350 beauty and wellness modalities, as well as professional business support and member benefits.
No credit card required.
