What Insurance Your Montreal Hair Salon Needs
You never want any of your clients to have a bad hair day. Your job is to make people look their best when they leave your hair salon.
No matter how skilled you are as a hair stylist, there’s always the possibility that clients won’t be satisfied with their look, a hair product gets spattered on their clothes, they have an allergic reaction to a product, or they slip and fall on your hair salon’s premises. You need hair salon insurance to protect your business.
Where is your hairdressing salon located?
Whether you’re in Montreal, or anywhere in the rest of Quebec, Western Financial Group’s business experts will help get you a customized hair salon insurance package to meet your needs.
How will a hair salon insurance package protect my business?
It will protect you from the potential risks associated with your hair salon’s daily operations.
Without insurance, you would have to cover these costs out of your own pocket. Can you take on that kind of financial risk?
A hair salon insurance package can help protect you from these 3 common claims:
- A client at your hair salon slips and falls on a wet floor and fractures her wrist. Your salon gets sued for bodily injury damages. Your commercial general liability insurance, also known as slip and fall insurance, can help cover the injured client’s medical treatment, your legal fees, and a court-ordered financial settlement.
- A client complains that the non-ammonia hair colour you used on her hair has given her an itchy scalp and her hair is coming out. Your professional liability insurance may cover any medical expenses and liability damages.
- Your hair salon has had a break-in and thieves have stolen beauty supplies and ransacked the place. Your commercial property insurance may cover the cost to replace the stolen products and the necessary repairs to your salon.
As a hair salon owner, here’s an insurance check list:
- Do you have the best business insurance rate for your hair salon?
Do you have the right amount for your deductible and regularly review it to make sure it’s the right amount for your business?
- Is your number of employees up to date?
- Do you know the value of equipment at your salon and is it properly insured?
- Have you thought about the consequences of your hair salon being forced to close down temporarily due to a flood or fire?
What type of insurance is needed for a hair salon?
Professional Liability Insurance: It’s also called errors and omissions (E&O) insurance.
Professional liability insurance coverage helps protect you and your employees from allegations of misconduct, negligence, or failure to deliver a service your hair salon provides as advertised.
It’s designed to cover your legal fees and any financial judgments against you in court.
Commercial General Liability (CGL) Insurance: This type of insurance is also called “slip and fall” insurance. It protects you against day-to-day risks while running your business.
CGL insurance can protect hair salon owners against claims of third-party bodily injury or property damage that occurs at your business. For example, if an injured client sues you for damages, it also helps cover your legal expenses and any financial settlement ordered by the court.
It’s important to note that without commercial liability insurance, you would be responsible for paying any liability costs out of your own pocket.
Your CGL policy also can help protect you from libel, slander, and false advertising allegations.
How much CGL insurance do I need?
It’s not uncommon that a hair salon would carry $2 million in CGL coverage, depending on its size and services.
The size of your hair salon, number of employees, and claims history will be factors in how much CGL insurance you need.
Of note: A mobile hairdresser, who works in different salons, may want to ensure coverage under a separate hairdresser insurance policy. You may not be covered under the policy of the salon where you are working temporarily.
Product liability insurance: It protects you against claims alleging that a product used during a hair treatment or sold to a client caused bodily injury, such as hair failing out or a chemical burn. Damages ordinarily covered by product liability are usually the result of a design, manufacturing, or marketing defect, such as an incorrect label or a lack of safety warnings.
Commercial Property Insurance: It protects your hairdressing business and its contents from insured risks that can happen, such as fire, theft, flood, or vandalism.
If vandals smash a store window, commercial property damage could cover the costs of replacing the window and cover any damage or vandalism inside your business.
Commercial property insurance typically includes flood insurance, but what if there’s a heavy rain and the sewers back up and your business is flooded?
You should consider adding sewer backup or overland flood coverage extensions, which standard business insurance policies typically do not cover.
Business Interruption Insurance: If there is an insured loss at your hairdressing business that’s severe enough to prevent it from being open, the expenses associated with getting your business running again will be covered.
This type of policy usually covers vandalism, fire, wind, flooding, and other risks (make sure to understand what your policy covers). Your policy will help compensate you for lost income and expenses that you will need to continue paying even while you are unable to work.
Cyber Insurance: If your hair salon processes debit and credit card transactions, online or in person, you need cyber insurance. Your system could be vulnerable to cyberthieves.
You may also be liable for damages to third parties whose information has been stolen and you may have to pay for notification expenses to inform customers affected by a breach.
Commercial Auto Insurance: If you have a business car that you use for your hair salon business, it won’t be covered by your personal car insurance policy. You will need commercial coverage as part of your insurance package.
Pollution Liability Insurance: Your hair salon business may use products that could be harmful to the environment or people. This type of insurance protects your business from third-party bodily injury and property damage claims and environmental liabilities associated with exposure to those products.
How much is insurance for a hair salon?
That depends on factors such as the size of your salon, how many employees, location, and any past claims.
What do I do if my hair salon has an insurance claim?
- Contact your broker immediately after any business-related mishap. Waiting to file a claim can confuse insurers about the severity of the damages to your business.
- Know your policy so that when you contact your broker you are familiar with what will be covered or not.
- Document the damage. Take photos right away and write down what happened.
- Do not throw away damaged goods after taking photos. Keep the physical evidence so that your adjustor can see it.
- Do not invite lawsuits. Don’t say anything that could be used against you, especially if you aren’t sure what happened.
- Be honest about what your damaged property is worth. Damaged commercial property is generally valued according to its actual cash value or replacement value.
Western Insurance has licensed BUSINESS INSURANCE EXPERTS to get your hair salon the right insurance package customized to its needs. Our experts are available now to help you navigate the business insurance journey to protect your hair salon business.
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