Shop Insurance

[grafixemporium]

We are looking at expanding our coverage at the shop and I'm just curious what kind of policies some of you have and what you are typically paying in premiums each month. You don't have to get into details... just ballparks. I'm shopping around outside of our current agent trying to see what else is out there. I realize policies will vary depending on the value of your property and equipment. I more interested in what kind of general liability you carry? Also, I'm interested in those of you with installation facilities for vehicles and those of you who keep customer vehicles overnight. Do you carry a shop keepers policy?

 

[Mikeifg]

I carry 1 million general liability for 330 a year.

 

[Pat Whatley]

$500,000 general liability, $100,000 coverage on shop contents. $610 per year.

 

[Mosh]

$3 mil liability, $200K shop contents, 4 vehicles full coverage = $1,500 a year.

 

[32bantum]

within a few $$ of Pat.

 

[Gino]

What's insurance ?? We sell signs. We don't need insurance.



2 Million liability, I think it's $500,000 for our contents and up to $100,000 per vehicle in our shop with a cap of I believe of no more than four vehicles at once.

Some of the vehicles we get in here cost way more than that coverage, but I was told our insurance is somehow taken out of the picture and the individual's insurance will take over at a point. That's mumbo jumbo and I don't know how that stuff works.

Comes to around $4,000 a year. We also can not under any circumstances leave anyone's property outside to be picked up later.

 

[Just Another Sign Guy]

all i will say about insurance is find an agent who understands your business. many have no idea what a sign shop does or how to insure you properly and they try to find an area to 'fit' you in to their predefined options.

if a claim arises and they look into your operation and find that you do not fit the criteria or definitions that the agent simply put you under because he was too lazy to understand your business or you did not ask the pertinent questions because it may cost you more money they will find a way to deny your coverage and/or claim.

i can not tell you how many sign shops that i have seen that have not been properly insured or worse yet i can not tell you how many sign shops i have encountered that proudly brag about how they misrepresented what their company does to save on their annual premium.

find a good agent who will make the time to understand your business and what your insurance needs are.

 

[Pat Whatley]

all i will say about insurance is find an agent who understands your business.

Dan's right. My first policy was almost double what we paid the next year because we were insured against cutting off fingers and hands with our plotters. The agent had no idea what the equipment we used was, he just heard cutter and assumed big saws instead of tiny little blades.

 

[grafixemporium]

I'll have to pull out the quote I just got and post some of the specifics... but it was a quoted through an agent (other than my regular agent) who quoted it through a company who deals specifically with insuring print companies. Right off the bat I thought this was probably a little to $pecialized for my ta$te. They have coverage included in the quote if we have equipment failure, injury, etc. I'm not sure we need all that.

We currently have a million dollar liability policy and coverage on the equipment for fire, theft, etc. We have nothing to protect the vehicles in our possession. To date, our customers sign a waiver that says we are not responsible for damage due to fire, theft, acts of God, etc. and that they should be sure their personal auto insurance will protect them from such instances. I have absolutely no idea if this document would hold up in court, but it made me feel better at the time. Now I'm wondering if we should pull the trigger on shop keepers policy.

The quote was simar to what Gino's is... 100k per car up to 4 cars, 1 million liability, etc and came out to like 220-something a month. I have no basis for comparison so I thought I'd see what some other wrap shops are doing. Thanks for the info ya'll!

 

[threeputt]

Also, please be sure to tell your agent that you sometimes park cars in the shop overnite. (assuming you do)

Having client's cars (say you don't finish the wrap by days end) in there overnite makes you a "garage keeper". So your insurance will be a bit higher.

Don't find out the hard way. Ask about this. If a client's car catches fire and the whole place goes up, you'll want to know you were covered.

You don't want to be denied because you didn't discuss this "little detail".

 

[Gino]

Be sure to ask your agent what happens if a customer asks you to leave a car outside after hours, that he's gonna pick it up after work.

We are not allowed to do that. That's a different kind of insurance and was very expensive.




Also... ask about business interruption insurance. Wait til you find out what that's all about. I think everyone should have that whether you're in your kitchen making signs or have a walloping 50,000 square foot shop.

This has happened to us three times. We weren't covered the first time and found out the hard way. Ever think what happens if you're robbed or have a fire ??

Okay, it goes like this.... you figure out you've been robbed, call the police and then it becomes a crime scene for a few hours or a few days. Regardless, you can't do work while they're there doing their job and God forbid if you look at them cross-ways. You can't produce or fabricate a thing. You're stuck. No money coming in and you can't use your equipment. We had detectives doing the finger print scene for almost three days. Also, all of the files and artwork that were/was destroyed by the thieves and the cops...... someone has to recreate them. While you're out buying and shopping for new stuff.... or worse yet, relocating while they're restoring your building.... there comes a point when nothing is coming in other than an insurance check, and that won't cover all of your down time..... or what they call 'Business Interruption'. Hopefully you'll never need it, but if you do.... you will thank whomever told you to get it and the cost of it. It pays for itself after using it once. I believe you can put a cost limit on it to.... so if you want to use for small things you can or wait for a big ticket item. Either way, we have the big ticket method because we feel we can absorb a few days of down time, but not much over that. Some things you can plan for..... but robbery, fire and other catastrophes will get you everytime.

Check it out.

 

[grafixemporium]

Threeputt, I think we're talking about the same thing. What I referred to as a "shop keepers" policy is what I meant to call a "garage keeper". That is included in the quote I received. The cars that we keep inside overnight are covered. I'll have to ask about leaving cars outside. When we complete a wrap, it usually goes directly to the parking lot in front of the store... sometimes for a few hours... sometimes for a day or so until the customer comes to pick it up. Of course, we lock it up in the warehouse at night, but catastrophes, theft and vandalism can happen during the day too. I guess I need to ask about that too.

Gino, good points on the business interruption policy. The agent mentioned it briefly but I just kinda blew it off... I'll have to weigh the cost and see if it's worthwhile.