mccawbird Posted June 22, 2012 Report Share Posted June 22, 2012 Just curious if there are any woodworkers from Canada out there who have any suggestions about insurance... I've just recieved a quote and it's crazy expensive ($2000.00), given I only expect to do maybe a few thousand in sales each year... just interested in some of your thoughts... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CessnaPilotBarry Posted June 22, 2012 Report Share Posted June 22, 2012 What are you insuring? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grain Guy Posted June 23, 2012 Report Share Posted June 23, 2012 I live in the states, but at least this will give you something to compare to. The Liability policy on my business is about $750 a year. My policy also covers $75,000 in business assets. Work mans comp. is another policy I carry because I do work for some contractors and install built-ins. If you do not have work mans comp. they will take it out of your pay based on your invoice. If a contractor pays work mans comp on you, your invoices should be itemized so that they only pay on installation. If not, they will figure 50% of the invoice is material and 50% labor. Work mans comp. only cost 3% of my employees gross pay. If I didn't have employees it would cost around $500 a year just to carry a policy. Also, just to share a little lesson I learned a while back. Before I started my business, I had a nice little shop set up in my garage. Went out one morning and everything is GONE. @$%^%^&&*(! Long story short. My home owners policy did not cover the loss of my tools, only my garage door that got destroyed. ($500 deductible, $500 to fix) Any time you have a collection that creeps up in value, you have to pull a policy on that collection. Its like having a stamp or coin collection. Peace out man. I hope there is some good info in there somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwacker Posted June 26, 2012 Report Share Posted June 26, 2012 Real business insurance is expensive. A 1.5m policy with two vehicle coverage cost me about 12k a year. Don Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grain Guy Posted July 2, 2012 Report Share Posted July 2, 2012 Excuse me. I have a "real" business. And those are my "real" premiums that cover my "real" employees and my "real" assets and liabilities. Peace Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mlehikoinen Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 Use a broker. in fact, use 3 brokers to secure the best quotes possible. i had one broker quote me $2000 per year for $2M liability, my shop, equipment etc with no employees and no car. The best came in at $900 for the same coverage. not all brokers have access to the same underwriters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CessnaPilotBarry Posted July 11, 2012 Report Share Posted July 11, 2012 Use a broker. in fact, use 3 brokers to secure the best quotes possible. i had one broker quote me $2000 per year for $2M liability, my shop, equipment etc with no employees and no car. The best came in at $900 for the same coverage. This comes right back to "what are you insuring?"... Remember, insurance is a product that covers losses resulting from unexpected events. It's sole purpose is to make you or other injured parties financially "whole" after the event. Before you can compare factors like price, "whole" needs to be defined. If you don't have a lot of equipment, no employees, no business vehicle, rent (or little equity in) your living quarters, and have a relatively low annual profit from woodworking, you need one version of coverage. If this is your second or retirement career, and you have a nice, paid-for home, or two, other sources of income, savings, dedicated business vehicles, others use your expensive shop, possibly with leased or leveraged tools, your needs are completely different. A good local agent can set you up with coverage that fits YOUR situation, for a reasonable price. Keep in mind, coverage may change in the future, as you grow, slow down, or change focus, depending on what your business means to you. I don't have anything to do with the insurance industry, except as a customer. I'm not trying to sell you anything. I've known folks over the years who "didn't want their insurer to know" certain things because the premium might go up, had a loss, and were basically screwed. In one case, the improper use voided the entire coverage the guy thought he had. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Snyder Posted September 22, 2012 Report Share Posted September 22, 2012 Get multiple quotes and make sure the agent knows what he's doing. I learned the hard way that not all insurance agents know what their talking about. Several years ago I owned a repair shop. One of my customers was an insurance salesman. He quoted me a price for liability insurance. The price was reasonable so I went with it since I needed it at the time. Three years later another insurance salesman who specialized in repair shop insurance offered to compare policies. Thats when I found the policy that my customer sold me basiclly covered nothing! When I asked him about this he said nobody writes insurance like I need. Thank god I never had to use it. There are two morals here. 1) Don't deal with your customers as they will soon be ex customers. 2) Find an agent that specializes in the type of business you are running regardless of what it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.