Business Insurance?

kimi1101

I am opening up a hair salon soon and tried an online comparison site for business insurance. At the end of it, it said they would call me rather than giving me an online quote. So they called me and it all sounded really good, so they said they'd send me a list of quotes I had been given. I've now got the letter and there is no quotes on it, but in the small print it says I have to pay a fee for them finding me a quote. I remembered that they said Aviva was the best quote for me so I looked on their site and it said they only sell insurance through brokers. Am I going to have to pay for a broker or is there any sites that anyone knows of that I can use for comparison? I just don't wanna have to pay extra that what I'm going to get charged for the insurance!!

Thank you, Kimberley

dacouch

Try popping along to a local broker (Not Swintons), they can find you a quote from an Insurer that combines good cover / claims service and price. A broker is normally paid a commission by the Insurer they place the business from so you can get quotes from them at no cost to yourself (You will often pick up good advice from them as well on reducing the chances of a claim etc).

Alternatively have a look at any hair dressing / beauty salon owners association websites as they often have an Insurer or broker that offers good cover / prices to their members.

I personally would not recommend you buy your first business insurance on line or from a comparison site as you will not fully understand what covers you need and what you have bought.

Insurance for hair salons is surprisingly cheap, make sure the quotes you receive include "Treatment Risks" this is basically cover if say the hair dye you use reacts and causes problems for your customer.

Also try and avoid having sun beds as they really push the price up (Spray tans are normally not too mush of a problem)

dacouch

P.S Good luck with the business and if you need any free impartial advice on setting up and running your business pop into your local business link or use their website (They are paid by the government to help new and existing businesses) http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/home?domain=www.businesslink.gov.uk&target=http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/ (Your local business link will normally know of a local broker they can recommend)

kimi1101

Thank you. I got a quote from this broker that was £385...Didn't know if that was expensive or not. Do you know how I would find a locally based broker?

dacouch

Being a local business I would suggest you have a quick look around your local area, this keeps the money in your town and also means if you ever have any problems eg need to make a claim you can pop into their office and deal with it in person which can be handy.

Alternatively you can use this tool (It will not show all brokers in your area though) http://www.biba.org.uk/ConsumerHome.aspx

£385 is about the right stamp for a Hair Dressers, it sounds like an Aviva or Fortis price.

I find a lot of Hair Dressers don't insure for the full amount, bear in mind any alterations you make to the building will often need to be included in your cover. A decent local broker should be able to advise you on this