Anyone who owns or runs a hairdressers or beauty salon, will know the importance of a quality salon insurance policy. You will of course never expect to have a claim, that is the whole point of the cover, it is for the unexpected event.

If you have been running a salon for a number of years, the chances are you will have had a broken window. Not everyone of course, but as far as salons are concerned, in our experience, this is the biggest source (in number) of claims.

The value of each claim is of course limited to the cost of the replacement glass and any emergency call out costs. Increasingly, insurers are starting to apply overall limits to the sum insured for glass. You really do have to work out a rough idea of the replacement cost for all of the glass, front and back, at your property. Whilst a small back window may only be a few hundred pounds, your main shop front windows could cost thousands of pounds each to repair.

So, if your policy has a limit of a few thousand pounds and you have more than one ”large” window, you really need to get your limits checked. Some of the better, longer established business insurance companies, do have cover that is unlimited. This is a bit like final salary pension schemes though, they are disappearing fast.

One of the major risks facing beauty salons is for injury caused to customers. If a customer visits and slips over on something that was spilled on the floor, this will fall under the public liability.

If however a customer is having a hair cut or a beauty treatment and is injured, this will be excluded under public liability. What happens is, that most business insurance companies that cover salons, will have a separate section to allow you to “buy back” this treatment cover.

The limits for this cover do not usually mirror the standard liability covers and are restricted to say, £50,000 or £100,000 any one claim. It does not normally add in a huge amount to the premium, standard costs for treatment cover are around £35 per operative per year.

The part that needs to be checked, very carefully, is what treatments are actually covered. For example, we have just provided a quote for a brand new salon that is using various machines to provide IPL, laser and other treatments. None of them are invasive, but they are “heavier” treatments than standard hairdressing, manicures and other beauty treatments.

We quoted a figure, which the customer said was over 50% more than the nearest alternative. We had a range of cheaper quotes, but they were only for restricted treatments. We asked the potential customer to double check whether the alternative included IPL and laser. He checked the salon insurance quote he had got online and, as you have guessed, it did not provide him with the cover he needed. There was no legal obligation on him to take out the cover, but thankfully common sense ruled and he decided to take out the correct cover to protect him.

With the continued rise of no win, no fee solicitors it does not take much for a member of the public top make a claim. They can effectively do this for no cost at all. The solicitor will take up to 35% of any claims settlement. When we are talking £15,000 for someone who alleges their scalp has been injured during a standard hair cut, you can see why it is beneficial to take out this cover. Without it, your business could suffer financially.