Under nearly all types of business insurance policy, you will get a variety of covers usually included in a “package” policy. A package is simply a single document that includes different types of cover, whether this is for liabilities, property, stock, buildings, money or something else.

One of the main types of liability is public, your responsibility as a business or an individual to members of the public that you may cause injury, illness, disease or damage to.

Under most salon insurance policies, whether for hairdressers, barbers or beauticians, you will usually have cover for the treatment risk. A standard public liability policy wording will usually have, in the depths of the wording, an exclusion relating to the treatment, and the associated risks, of customers.

Under a salon policy, this cover is brought back in, by means of a specific endorsement. This will be heading something along the lines of hairdressers treatment indemnity or treatment extension. The limit of indemnity is normally lower than that provided under the public liability insurance.

You should make sure of two things. Firstly, that you have a suitable amount of cover. If a hairdresser burns someones scalp and they then choose to go to a no win, no fee solicitor, with the solicitors fees and costs for pain and suffering, you could quite easily be looking at the thick end of £50,000.

Secondly, makes sure that your insurer is fully aware of all types of treatment that you undertake. Hairdressing and beauty is fine, but as soon as you start to get involved with invasive treatments, such as vein removal or injections, such as Botox, make sure that your insurance company is providing you the cover for every type of treatment you may undertake.

It is common knowledge, in the industry, that you need to have suitable salon insurance, including liability cover. You can have as many disclaimers as you want on the walls and members of the public can sign documents devolving liability. But, if you are negligent, you will face a claim.

Negligence is quite strict, in that the onus on you is to disprove it, rather than someone making a claim having to prove it.

So what happens when you are face with a claim for injury from an employee? All standard business insurance policies will include certain sections of cover, usually liability cover is available.

One of these types, is employers liability insurance. Whilst we have said that negligence is up to you to disprove, EL cover is even stricter. The government does not want to have to face a welfare bill for people injured at work. For this reason, they enforce cover for employees, and boy is it strict.

You have to be extremely lucky to be faced with a claim that you can repudiate, when it has been proven that you are negligent. If you don’t have a policy, or don’t have this within your existing cover and you do have employees, then you really are taking a huge risk.

If you are looking for a salon insurance quote, you will, at some point, wonder exactly which provider you should go to. If we take a trip down memory lane, you used to only be able to find a quote after consulting a local business directory (usually coloured yellow). 

There were a few local companies that you would approach to see if they could quote, but there were not really any other options. Nowadays, you will probably receive a handful of flyer’s every year, have more directories than you can shake a stick at and also, the internet.

You are therefore faced with so much choice, it is untrue. So why, when you are faced with this much choice, should you get you business insurance from us?

This is a good question and the answer covers many points.

Firstly, whatever any of the insurers say, in 2010 insurance is sold primarily on price. We have a good selection of providers who are able to give market leading prices, compared to others. We are confident that we can offer any salon a competitive premium compared to other providers.

Secondly, the level of cover. We don’t cut corners on your protection. Even within our market leading prices, we will include treatment cover, legal expenses and accidental damage on your contents and equipment.

Thirdly, the service. Phone us at 9 am and and you can have a quote by quarter past and your policy documents 10 minutes later.

And lastly, everyone’s shop window, claims. If you have a claim, we are there for you every step of the way. Whilst insurers do not try to wriggle out of claims, they do sometimes need pushing a bit to make sure settlements are made as soon as possible.

These four reasons are why you should speak to us before going any further.

The traditional sun tanning salon has moved a long way in the past five years. Gone are the rickety beds that only offer UV tube tanning, most will now offer safer alternatives. But, with the cost of the equipment, there is still a requirement for quality salon insurance.

We receive enquiries from salons that offer all types and ranges of beauty treatments. A new, standing tan machine can you set you back around £10,000. When you think of a shop with up to a dozen machines, the replacement costs can be considerable. Even the spray tanning booths, whilst they are just simple structures, can cost many thousands of pounds.

If you have invested money in purchasing these, or you have them leased, then you will need to have a suitable business insurance policy in place that covers damage to these. You do need to watch out though, many insurers nowadays are offering quotes at a standard level of cover, which does not include accidental damage. The broker, or company quoting, will need to include this cover and some are neglecting to do so, in order to give the cheapest quote.

Here at businessinsure, we always quote AD cover, it only adds 2 or 3% to a premium but it really is essential cover in the modern day and age.

If you have a policy in force at the moment, you need to speak to your broker or provider to see what level of cover you have. If there is no accidental damage cover, our advice is that you get this added as soon as possible.

Something dropped onto a sun bed can cost a lot to repair or leaked tanning solutions can destroy the electronics. This is all related to accidental damage and you really should have this cover in force.

Most business insurance policies are quite lengthy documents, which can take even a trained eye a long time to read and understand the effects of the different terms, conditions, warranties and excesses.

When you buy a house, you will normally appoint a solicitor to undertake this process for you. As part of their role, they will source and read through a number of legal documents which apply specifically to your house purchase. If there are any problems or queries it is up to the solicitor to identify these and if necessary get them amended or make you aware of the consequences.

When you are looking at your insurance protection, things are slightly different. You will not, in most cases, pay an expert to undertake a review of your policy wording. Additionally, unlike a house purchase, you will actually receive the documentation yourself and can review it (if you really want to).

To save you having to do this though, there is a much easier way of doing things. Take for example, salon insurance. You will more than likely have employees and will therefore have a legal requirement for cover. Usually this will be purchased in the form of a packaged policy. When you get your policy, it can be 60 or 70 pages long. Deep within the wording there will be certain terms about the type of intruder security that you must have at the premises.

All policies will have a condition that states the minimum security that is required. If you do not have this security in place, after a loss, your claim will not be paid. But how do you know whether the locks you have are correct or the roller shutters are of the right type.

Looking at your wording can be a bit mind-numbing and do you really have the time? The answer is, in all likelihood, no. What you do need to do is deal through a broker. The broker is there to answer all your questions. What type of alarm do you need? They will answer this for you. What British Standard do you need on your locks? They will know.

Don’t assume your policy will always pay out, get a broker to review it for you and, the good news is, they will do this for nothing.

Under a standard salon insurance policy, you will be covered for a range of “standard” perils or types of cover. These will include business contents (including stock), buildings, money, business interruption and liabilities.

Most business insurance companies that offer this cover, will have the option of extending the public liability insurance to cover injuries caused to customers receive hairdressing or beauty treatments. Usually, your public liability is at a limit of £1,000,000 or £2,000,000. The treatment extension you get under the policy will be for a lower limit any one loss, such as £50,000 or £100,000. Usually the claims do not exceed £10,000 and most of the cost of the claim is usually swallowed up with solicitors fees.

But, what happens if you are doing treatments are clients premises, say for a wedding or a special function?

Your standard policy would not cover you, unless you specify to the insurers what you are doing, ie working at clients premises.

The risks are slightly higher, because you can potentially damage third party property and you are also not using all of the equipment you have at the salon, when at someones house.

It shouldn’t cost a lot more for the additional cover, maybe an extra £50, but it is worth having it mentioned on your policy so you have the correct protection.

When looking for any form of business insurance, there are certain steps or processes that you will need to go through before getting a quote. When looking for cover for your car or house, it is easy to give the information the insurers need as you use your car regularly and live in your house.

However, when getting cover for your business, things are slightly different, particularly if it is a new venture. If you are one of the thousands of people who decide every year to start their own hairdressing, barbers or beauty business each year, some of the information the insurers need will be at best, a “guestimate”.

For salon insurance, the major business assets, such as contents, flooring and even the buildings will form part of your policy. But, you also need to give consideration to the stock insurance. Gone are the days when a hairdressers simply had a few pounds worth of shampoo and hair cream on their shelves. Nowadays, even the shampoo and hair products can cost hundreds of pounds and that is before you consider items such as straighteners.

There is some good news, you may receive stock from a supplier on a promotional basis, they are obviously looking for you to sell their products and may, as part of the deal, agree to insure the stock themselves. But, in most cases, you are responsible for the stock that is sitting on your shelves. As a result, you need to make sure that you have a suitable sum insured.

Break in’s to salons do happen and the theft attractive, easy to move contents, are the ones that are taken. Money is obviously the first on the list, but the boxed up electric items and stock are second on the theft list. Speak to a business insurance broker to make sure that you get the best possible price for the widest cover in the market.