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Business insurance ?

M

Mike Schwing

Joined
May 4, 2004
Messages
76
Likes
3
Location
Baltimore
Website
www.schwingwoodworks.com
Hello all,

If I recall correctly, AAW not too long ago introduced an insurance program for individual turners' businesses. I scoured the website, even entered the term "insurance" in the search window, but still came up empty on the topic.

Was I dreaming? If not, would someone please help point me in the right direction? Much appreciated.
 
Hi Mike,

Don't know if you were dreaming but there really is an insurance program.

http://www.woodturner.org/community/pop/insurance_info.html

You can navigate to it on the Proffessional outreach page.
go to community, POP then on the right is the Insurance.
Once ther you will find a downloadable application.

We got coverage from this program and they seem extremely competitive.
Rates will vary by state and county. In our case I followed up with a phone call after a month. I was told that they were having a problem getting a local underwriter for part of florida. While I was on the phone they told me our county was not in the problem area and I was given an "unoficial" quote over the phone which was followed by the written quote within a few days.

I think a phone call would be worthwhil if you don't hear something in a few weeks.

happy turning,
Al
 
business insurance

After reading this thread a few months ago I decided to ask my insurance agent (house and car) for a rate-may have been a bad move!!! 😱 They quoted $1000 🙁 , and then told me that there now was a record of my having a small (tiny) wood working business and would expect me to show them a copy of my policy for woodworking to give me my regular home owners ins!!!. :mad: As I remember the thread before was that if you sold one piece, then you are a professional, and need this kind of insurance if problems occur. My rate from the AAW recomm. company (RLI Insur co out of IL) was $406-which I took. Gretch
 
Gretch said:
:mad: As I remember the thread before was that if you sold one piece, then you are a professional, and need this kind of insurance if problems occur.
Click to expand...
Not neccesarily true. The IRS is really the one that will decide. You can claim it as income, but as a hobby and not a business. You can't write off and depreciate your tools, but that may get you out of the insurance company pickle.
 
Gretch said:
After reading this thread a few months ago I decided to ask my insurance agent (house and car) for a rate-may have been a bad move!!! 😱 They quoted $1000 🙁 , and then told me that there now was a record of my having a small (tiny) wood working business and would expect me to show them a copy of my policy for woodworking to give me my regular home owners ins!!!. :mad: As I remember the thread before was that if you sold one piece, then you are a professional, and need this kind of insurance if problems occur. My rate from the AAW recomm. company (RLI Insur co out of IL) was $406-which I took. Gretch
Click to expand...
Hi,
You should try shopping for insurance online wherein you can compare rates and choose whick one would be affordable to you. I checked on the net found it to be easier to go online when shopping for insurance. The place I went to is www.insurancepaylite.com they were able to give a quote that was acceptable to me in the speediest time.
 
Mike,

While you are at it, check with a local accountant or attorney who specializes in small home based businesses. They should be able to advise you as to what is needed in the way of State or County Business Licenses, and how best to set up the business from an accounting standpoint to protect your personal assets and also make the best use of tax regulations. Keeping the setup legal and separating your personal and business assets are as important as the insurance. They all work together to safeguard you and your family.

Gads....sounded like a salesman. Gag. Sorry about that. My office partners wife has several small home businesses and was able to save a significant amount on taxes by working through a good accountant, and has also separated her business liabilities from her personal stuff so something tragic happening in one of the businesses is not likely to endanger her personal assets or her husbands.

Dave
 
Gretch said:
After reading this thread a few months ago I decided to ask my insurance agent (house and car) for a rate-may have been a bad move!!! 😱 They quoted $1000 🙁 , and then told me that there now was a record of my having a small (tiny) wood working business and would expect me to show them a copy of my policy for woodworking to give me my regular home owners ins!!!. :mad: As I remember the thread before was that if you sold one piece, then you are a professional, and need this kind of insurance if problems occur. My rate from the AAW recomm. company (RLI Insur co out of IL) was $406-which I took. Gretch
Click to expand...


you have to be very careful what you say to your agent and even more careful what you get a quote on. I had a question whether I should file a claim on something and let them pay for it or fix it myself. With a $250 deductable plus what ever they raise my rates to vs an $1800 do it myself project. I chose to do it myself (got some new tools out of it) but low and behold when the policy renewed the record of the information was in my file and they raised the rates for 5 years just as much as if I had filed the damned claim, not only did I spend $1800 on repairs there was an extra $600 in premiums every year on my combined property coverage.
 
For What?

I'm curious what y'all are seeking to insure against.

Products liability in case a bowl explodes or some arcane compound or exotic wood you use allegedly makes someone sick?

Personal injury for visitors to your shop were you run a retail sales operation?

Personal injury coverage for students who visit your shop for turning lessons?

Special coverage for your woodworking machinery not covered by your homeowner's policy?

Special coverage for your house because you're running a manufacturing facility in your basement with attendent volumes of flammable and/or explosive compounds stored on-site?

Ditto for hazmat/toxic waste issues?

Generalized "business insurance" covers a whole lot of things, most of which won't apply to you, and you don't need or want to pay for.

Remember that insurance is nothing more than spreading the risk of economic harm out over a lot of people with each paying a share of the anticipated loss based upon an assessment of how likely each of them are to actually have a covered loss. Once you identify yourself as a greater risk (with unusual activity, a damage claim, or a speeding ticket) the basic concept kicks in to increase your cost down the road. That's the way the "system" works. People tend to think that insurance companies either mint new money somehow or only use their alleged huge profits to pay claims; they don't. They use other people's premiums to do that. So when you have a loss and get paid on your claim, you're actually being paid by me and all the other policy holders who have contributed to the pool. But that leaves less money in the pot to pay my claim if I have one next year. If our roles were reversed, you would be justified in expecting me to then pay more back into the pool to make sure that there would be enough to cover you.

No, I don't work for the insurance industry or have any connection to it, other than being a policyowner of course. And yes, I've made a claim or two over the years, and yes, my premiums went up for a while afterwards.
 
Mark Mandell said:
I'm curious what y'all are seeking to insure against.
Click to expand...
I have an attached shop (garage) that I run a business out of (woodturning and sandpaper).
If anything happens in the shop, fire, theft, injury, it is most likely that the homeowners insurance will not cover it. In addition, should someone even throw a bowl I made at someone else, they can sue you (I have seen it happen. I worked at a place that made the tennis ball saver and someone lost a match, threw it at their partner and the partner sued the company).
 
Steve Worcester said:
I have an attached shop (garage) that I run a business out of (woodturning and sandpaper).
If anything happens in the shop, fire, theft, injury, it is most likely that the homeowners insurance will not cover it. In addition, should someone even throw a bowl I made at someone else, they can sue you (I have seen it happen. I worked at a place that made the tennis ball saver and someone lost a match, threw it at their partner and the partner sued the company).
Click to expand...

Steve,

If my clients ask me if they can be sued for something, my stock answer is that "anybody can sue anybody for anything." That said, just because some fool is able to dig up some alleged graduate of a correspondence law school to file a case hoping to tag an insurance policy in a settlement, doesn't mean that you have any actual liability. News of The Wierd always has stories of off-the-wall law suits where the idiot plaintiff and her brain-dead attorney get poured out on some outlandish claim. In those instances, the insurance company either wipes the floor with them or pays a token amount instead of incurring the cost of litigation; it's a zero-sum game.

But this is not a Mickey-D coffee situation. The person knew the coffee was hot, of course, but not so hot that it had the ability to inflict burns if spilled which would have made the stuff undrinkable anyway.

BTW did that tennis "victim" actually get any money out of your former employer? I'd like to read the decision on that one. 😀

M
 
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