Rant Discussion Question Insurance from Hartford

I have them too... that's crazy they did that. Do you have photos of vehicles on your website?

 

We had The Hartford for personal vehicle insurance for a long time and they were great right up until my wife knocked mirrors with another vehicle. 300% increase in our rates. Switched to another carrier and got a cheaper rate than we started with.

 

We're being audited very soon by Hartford as well; we do do wraps and pictures are all over the website and shop. We have had them for maybe 20 years, never once filed a claim, and this is our 3rd time being audited. Anyone have any suggestions for workmans comp companies?

 

Was there a reason why doing vehicle wraps would disqualify you from insurance?

 

Perhaps, they didn't acknowledge doing vehicles of any sort..... to be a home-based operation. Are you on business insurance or home-owners insurance ?? Do you have a business license or permits to operate in your home ??

 

Quite honestly, I've never heard of homeowners insurance covering business insurance. Do you have a business license to work from your home is what I was referring to. Being licensed and having a license, permit and mercantile privilege is generally a different animal. Perhaps, you have an unhappy neighbor who doesn't like you and reported you.

 

I still can't figure out what difference it makes to insurance whether you do wraps or not. Have you asked them? Or is the whole issue that of having other people's vehicles on your premises? In that case, they have been fooled into believing everything stuck on a vehicle is called a wrap, confusing you and all of us in the process.

 

I think you're onto something. As more and more people use the words digital, wraps and wide-format kinda wrong, the various entities are picking up on buzz words and collectively giving everyone the same deal. Sorta like you're gonna hafta pay the big bucks if you wanna compete with the big guys.

 

I haven't heard of that either. In fact, who I am with makes no bones about it as to Home Owner's policy doesn't cover business. But just because I'm not aware of it happening, doesn't mean that it isn't the case.

I can see that affecting the business license more then insurance. Around here, to get a home occupation permit, no signage outside, period. How many customers you have (or their vehicles) is usually at most 1 at a time. But all of that affects the city/county/home occupation permits here, more so then insurance. Or at least the business license would have also been affected as well.

I'm inclined to think of something like this. Although, having been audited before, one would think that the sticking point would be more apparent at this point in time.

 

It appears that the rise of vehicle wrapping and tinting shops and probably numerous cases of claims against them has led to the creation of a new category of insurance for sign shops, even though we have traditionally lettered vehicles for many decades and there has been no problem with excess liability for the insurance companies to cover. This is probably compounded by the fact that wrap shops are concentrated in relatively unsafe urban areas, cater to people who drive the most theft-desirable and expensive cars, and as far as I can tell tend to be operated by younger, perhaps less savory and upright individuals. It's hard to find information about this on the web, but I found two places which allude to this, one a UK based company, and this one: https://www.cglobalins.com/industries/sign-industry-insurance/#axzz5iukpqqYE

 

Luckily I don't have any vehicle graphic photos on my site.. I really shy away from doing that stuff and focus more on installing signs.

 

I used Hartford for about 20 years, can't remember why I dumped them, something stupid. I use Michigan Millers now.

$1061.98 a year

 

We are a store-front business, and I believe the vehicles are covered under a separate "garage-keeper" insurance policy. It's possible that they don't offer that option for home-based businesses.