Insurance for Beauty Professionals, Simplified
Liability Insurance can be a lifesaver for a beauty and bodywork professional if an unexpected accident or lawsuit strikes. It can also make your business more credible or help you meet requirements to open the door to new opportunities. But understanding the ins and outs can be a daunting task. Frankly, it’s downright confusing for most beauty professionals. This resource is here to help you navigate the world of liability insurance so you can make an informed decision and feel confident that you’re choosing the right coverage for your beauty business.
What is liability insurance and what does it cover?
What is liability insurance and what does it cover?
Think of General Liability Insurance as a safety net for your beauty or bodywork business. It shields you from any wrongs that could cause harm to someone’s body, property, or reputation.
Say a customer gets hurt in your salon, and they sue you. The insurance covers their medical bills and legal fees. We’ve seen several beauty professionals face lawsuits from customers tripping over chairs. It sounds silly, but it happens.
It also pays for any damage you cause to your client’s property. For instance, you may perform a haircut at a client’s house. If you have an accident while on the job, you’d be covered.
Professional Liability Insurance (aka Errors and Omissions, or E&O) can protect you if you’re accused of not doing your job well, making a mistake, or causing harm or damage to a client.
For example, say you do a bride’s hair and she hates it, or you’re a cosmetologist and your makeup advice caused a client to have an allergic reaction. This insurance can help pay for any penalties or fines and legal fees.
It can also help if you break a contract, mislead someone, or do something wrong while on the job. It’s important to have this kind of insurance to protect yourself and your clients.
Products & Completed Operations coverage is like a shield for the products you sell and the services you provide. Most salons will sell products as a part of their service. If someone gets hurt or something gets damaged because of your products or services, even after you’ve finished your work or sold your product, this coverage can help cover the costs of legal action taken against you, or other compensation that you become responsible for.
For instance, a few days after dying a client’s hair, they notice a burning sensation on their scalp. This coverage protects you if they come to you for compensation.
Personal & Advertising Injury coverage helps protect your business’s good name. It’s like a rainy day fund when someone accuses you of doing something wrong like lying about a competitor or using someone else’s stuff without permission. If you get accused of these things, you might end up in court, but this insurance can help cover the costs.
You might be competing with another salon for business and in your advertising, you make some claims. You would be protected if that competitor came after you with allegations.
Damage to Premises Rented to You Coverage can protect your business from the cost of damage caused to a rented location, like a spa or salon space. If you accidentally damage a rented space, it can help cover the cost of repairs.
This coverage is designed for short-term rentals, typically lasting a few days. It should be seen as a supplement to, not a replacement for, comprehensive property insurance. If you’re renting a space for seven or more consecutive days, this policy only covers damage from fires.
Medical Expense Limit helps if someone gets hurt on your property or due to your business operations. This coverage only pays for medical expenses, not other costs like lost wages or pain. It’s important to have because it can help you avoid paying medical bills from your own pocket. This applies even if you’re not legally responsible for the injury.
Types of Claims from Beauty and Bodywork Professionals
We get it, accidents happen. Some people get insurance because it’s required for their job. But the other benefit is it helps small businesses defend themselves from those accidents. Here are some claims beauty and bodywork professionals like yourself protected themselves from with the right coverage.
All policies have conditions, limitations, and exclusions, please read the policy for exact verbiage. Claim scenario circumstances vary in nature and similar claims do not guarantee coverage. You could be held liable for any damage done to your client. Make sure that you are aware of any allergies that your clients may have beforehand, and always work with precautions and care.
We get it, accidents happen. Some people get insurance because it’s required for their job. But the other benefit is it helps small businesses defend themselves from those accidents. Here are some claims beauty and bodywork professionals like yourself protected themselves from with the right coverage.
All policies have conditions, limitations, and exclusions, please read the policy for exact verbiage. Claim scenario circumstances vary in nature and similar claims do not guarantee coverage. You could be held liable for any damage done to your client. Make sure that you are aware of any allergies that your clients may have beforehand, and always work with precautions and care.
Additional (Optional) Coverage
You often have the ability to customize your coverage. That’s where additional coverage comes in. These optional coverages let you add to your coverage to cover additional things your base policy doesn’t cover.
Tools & Supplies
Tools & Supplies coverage (Inland Marine Insurance) protects your business equipment. This insurance is made for things that move around, like massage/manicure tables, massage/barber/pedicure chairs, hair/nail dryers, lotion/gel/stone warmers, etc.
If any of that stuff gets damaged, lost, or stolen, Inland Marine coverage pays for fixing or replacing it. It does not cover anything permanent like buildings or lighting installations.
If you work out of your house, you may think your Homeowner or Renter’s Insurance covers your gear. But those coverages are intended for personal property. They either exclude business property or offer low limits. To protect your business property, you need Tools & Supplies coverage.
At BBI, we offer multiple coverage tiers for your tools and supplies starting at just $2/month.
Additional Insureds
Additional Insureds are like extra people or organizations that are covered by your insurance policy. This could include things like a venue, property owner, or event planner. It’s not for friends, business partners, other beauticians, or yourself.
For example, let’s say you’re renting a building and someone gets hurt leaving. They could sue both you and the building owner. If the owner is listed as an additional insured on your policy, your insurance can help cover the costs for both you and the owner.
Cyber Liability
As beauty and bodywork businesses rely more on technology, they face more risks of cyber attacks. Cyber Liability Insurance protects you from losses caused by these attacks, such as data breaches or ransom payments. This insurance covers costs like legal fees and credit monitoring services for customers affected by the attack.
Most beauty and bodywork professionals take some sort of payment online through Stripe, Venmo, PayPal, etc. That means you are storing customer information. If someone ever got ahold of that data, you’d need to have Cyber Liability to be protected.
Endorsements
Endorsements are like add-ons to your insurance policy. They can help cover risks that your standard policy doesn’t. They can also change your coverage to fit your business better.
BBI offers the following endorsements to give your beauty and bodywork business the protection it needs:
- Cupping Endorsement: If you offer dry cupping services.
- Microcurrent Endorsement: If you offer microcurrent services.
- Fitness Trainer Endorsement: If you include some form of fitness training such as yoga, dance, or personal training.
- Salon and Spa Owner: If you want to cover employees and independent contractors.
Common Questions/Confusions
Why Do I Need Insurance?
Think of it like Russian nesting dolls. A building or property owner has insurance in case something happens there. But their insurance doesn’t cover the business occupying the space. So the business owner gets insurance to cover their business. That insurance doesn’t guarantee protection for all employees and contractors. That generally comes from extra coverage. They all build into one another. Each party has to insure themselves because one insurance company or policy won’t blanket cover every single person.
What Do You Mean by Coverage Limits?
Coverage Limits are the most your insurance will pay for a specific kind of problem. If the claim costs more than the limit, you have to pay the rest yourself.
Explain the Difference Between Premiums and Deductibles
When you buy insurance, you pay for protection from certain risks. This protection is called coverage, and you pay for it with a premium. It’s like paying to have the insurance company ready to help you when you need it. Deductibles are the money you agree to pay first before your insurance coverage starts.
For example, if you have a $500 deductible on your car insurance and there’s $2,000 of damage from an accident, you pay the first $500, and your insurance covers the other $1,500.
What are Exclusions?
Insurance Speak: Exclusions are types of losses or business activities that are specifically not covered by an insurance policy.
Simplified: Your insurance policy won’t cover everything. Exclusions are things that your policy specifically says it won’t cover. For example, if your policy excludes micro-blading, then it won’t pay out if your client is hurt by micro-blading.
What’s the Difference Between Aggregate and Occurrence Limits?
Imagine you have a General Liability policy for your salon. This policy helps protect you in case you get sued for things like property damage or bodily injury caused by your business activities.
Your policy might have Aggregate coverage and Occurrence coverage limits for bodily injury claims. The Aggregate limit is like a total limit for all bodily injury claims that happen during the policy period. The Occurrence limit is like a limit for each individual bodily injury claim.
Let’s say your policy has an Aggregate limit of $1 million and an Occurrence limit of $500,000 for bodily injury claims. If one person sues you, the insurance company pays up to $500,000 under the Occurrence limit. If you have multiple claims, they’ll pay up to a total of $1 million under the Aggregate limit.
How Beauty and Bodywork Insurance Simplifies Getting Insurance
Great coverage for low fees: Specifically tailoring our top-rated insurance coverages for beauty and bodywork professionals allows us to keep your coverages high and costs low. Plus with the option for monthly payments, our insurance is even more affordable.
The proof is in the people:
Fast, seamless coverage
We’ve revolutionized how you get Beauty and Bodywork Liability Insurance. Simply answer a few questions related to your business and the coverage you need, and get you a quote and instant coverage with a certificate of insurance in 10 minutes or less. If you don’t need the coverage to start today, you can purchase it up to 90 days before your coverage starts.
Online coverage management makes things a breeze
We think your insurance should be as flexible as your business. That’s why we’ve focused on making it easy to manage everything online. Once you purchase your policy, you’ll get access to a personalized dashboard where you can add endorsements, additional insureds, or Tools and Supplies coverage at any time.
If you ever need to cancel your policy, you can do it from your dashboard without needing to speak with a rep. But, if you need help, a rep will walk you through the process.
Claims made easy
We know you’d rather not have to file a claim. But, if you have to, you can easily file your claim online in just a few minutes through your online dashboard by simply filling out the online form with your contact information and details about the incident.
After you’ve submitted a claim, you’ll receive an email with your claim number and the Claims Adjuster’s contact information — while our team receives a copy of the loss notice.
From there, within 24–48 business hours, our team will reach out by email or phone to gather any additional information needed in order to continue with the claim. The claim then gets reviewed by the carrier, and if it’s approved, we settle the claim!
We work hard to get claims paid out as quickly as possible, this usually just depends on when the claimant is able to provide us with the information needed. If a claim is not covered, you’ll receive a letter explaining why it was not covered.
Chris Graham and his team are always ready to help answer your questions. Sweater and sunglasses not always included.
We Don’t Have Sales Agents, We Have Service Agents
Our certified agents are only here to answer all of your questions so you can make the best decision for your business. Think of them as a nice candle – there to help you relax when times get stressful.
Available Monday through Friday, from 6 AM to 6 PM MST, our best-in-class support is ready to answer your questions over the phone or chat.
of customers are “very likely” to recommend BBI after working with our best-of-class agents.
About BBI
Insurance: it’s a necessity in the fabric of our modern lives. With it, we protect our financial assets, the businesses we’ve worked to build, and we rest easy at night with peace of mind knowing we are safe from potential financial ruin. Understanding this need for insurance, BBI decided to challenge the traditional methods of finding coverage. The clunky, outdated way of getting a policy through an agent took time and money away from the people who needed it the most. So in 2012, we automated the process in favor of beauty professionals.
The #1 Insurance Provider for Beauty Professionals
years of Experience
Businesses Trust BBI
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We are proud to now serve tens of thousands of small businesses each year. Our insurance is reliable and flexible, meeting the needs of beauty professionals everywhere—including yours.
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