Last updated on May 29, 2024.
Opening the doors of your dream salon or spa is an exciting career milestone. But with your opening comes an overwhelming checklist of tasks—you just want to get to wowing your clients already! To get 100 percent ready for business, you need to choose the right salon and spa insurance.
If you’re wondering “What’s actually covered by salon and spa insurance?” and “How much will this insurance cost me?” you’re in the right place. Here, we’ll give you the need-to-know basics of salon and spa insurance, so you can understand what coverage to buy to protect your business.
Insuring your salon or spa doesn’t have to be confusing. Read on to become an expert (at least, an informed buyer!) and get back to running your haven of self-care with confidence.
Why Do You Need Salon and Spa Insurance?
You probably already know you need salon and spa insurance. As a quick reminder, though, insurance is essential for covering you financially in case you get hit with a third-party claim.
Like a last-minute client popping up, the unexpected can take you off guard.
Examples of possible salon insurance claims include:
- Client injury or illness
- Unsatisfied clients
- Client property damage
- Damage to your leased space
- Accidents like slip-and-falls
- Stolen movable equipment
- Advertising mistakes
Can you pay for mishaps like these out of pocket? Salon and spa insurance keeps you protected so you can operate your business with peace of mind.
Spa and Salon Insurance Coverage Types
Let’s talk coverage. Not just any insurance will do. If you’re looking to protect your spa or salon properly, these are the main insurance types you need:
General Liability Insurance
Professional Liability Insurance
Professional liability insurance is coverage for incidents that happen because of the services you offer. If you make a mistake, give a recommendation that backfires, or even if a client claims you or your technician didn’t perform well enough, this type of insurance has got you covered.
Picture this: a client comes in for a spa facial. You apply a kaolin clay mask to their face, but their sensitive skin reacts poorly to the ingredients. They blame you and consider taking legal action. Professional liability insurance to the rescue!
Products and Completed Operations Coverage
Products and completed operations coverage is two-part protection for the products you use and the services you provide if things go wrong once a client leaves your salon.
Imagine a client at your salon receives a full set of acrylic nails. Days later, they experience a painful allergic reaction to the glue used during application. In this scenario, products and completed operations coverage could help cover you for the product used (the glue) and the completed operation (the acrylic nail application).
Personal and Advertising Injury Coverage
Personal and advertising injury coverage protects your spa or salon’s reputation in case you’re accused of libel, slander, false advertising, or stealing intellectual property.
If you ever make a mistake while advertising a promotion at your salon, or if a competitor claims that your new logo looks too similar to theirs, personal and advertising injury coverage would step in to save you.
Fire Legal Liability Coverage
Fire legal liability coverage protects you when the space you’re renting is damaged by accidental fire caused by your business operations.
Fire happens. A faulty towel warmer here, a misplaced curling iron there—things can get heated fast. Fire legal liability coverage keeps you from paying hefty repair fees in unexpected situations like these.
At Beauty & Bodywork Insurance (BBI), we make it easy to protect your spa or salon by combining general and professional liability insurance, products and completed operations, personal and ad injury, and fire legal liability coverage into one affordable policy.
This blanket policy insures each of your business’ stations and the employees working them.
That’s right—just one smart policy and anyone who works in your space is covered. Like we said, easy!
In addition to these three key insurance types, you may consider additional spa and salon coverages such as:
- Tools and supplies coverage: Also known as Inland Marine, it covers you if your tools, inventory, or other equipment are stolen or damaged. You can add this to your BBI policy while applying or through your dashboard.
- Cyber liability insurance: If you conduct transactions or store customer data online, you could be vulnerable to a data breach. Adding cyber liability to your BBI policy can help you cover the costs if you get hacked.
- Product liability insurance: This covers the products your business uses during services in case they cause injury or damage.
- Commercial auto insurance: This covers damages to your work vehicle in case of an accident.
- Commercial crime insurance: This covers losses from illegal activities such as theft.
- Workers’ compensation insurance: This covers your employees in the case of an accident or injury on the worksite. Note that this and other types of insurance (i.e., unemployment and disability) are required by law for all businesses with employees.
- Commercial property insurance: This covers your business’s physical assets such as the building, equipment, windows, etc.
While our policy and optional add-ons don’t cover all of these, our partners at Insurance Canopy can help fill the gap. If you’re unsure what type of spa or salon insurance coverage you need, contact us at Beauty & Bodywork Insurance today, and we’ll get you sorted.
Factors Affecting Salon and Spa Insurance Costs
As you shop for salon and spa insurance, you’ll notice that prices vary from company to company.
Here are some factors that impact the cost of salon and spa insurance:
- Location of your business
- Whether your space is leased or owned
- Building type (i.e., freestanding or attached)
- Number of employees
- Services provided
- Claims history
Depending on these factors, you should generally plan to spend between $350-$800 per month to insure your salon.
If you have a large team or if your business offers a wide variety of services, you can expect a higher insurance premium due to the increased risk. As the owner, you can consider renting your space to independent contractors and requiring them to carry their own liability insurance and list you as an additional insured.
Or, if you’d prefer a hassle-free route to protecting your salon or spa, pay only for the number of stations you want to insure with a BBI policy. Rather than quoting you based on factors like location or revenue, our pricing is transparent and tiered by number of stations.
Our spa and salon base policy starts at $349 a year, or $31.08 a month.
What’s Covered in Salon and Spa Insurance
Now that you understand some of the factors that impact the cost of salon and spa insurance, you can start to review what’s in a policy.
When deciding on your spa and salon insurance coverage, start by assessing risks for your business. You need to determine what might happen, based on where you’re located and the nature of your business to know what policy to purchase.
A good rule of thumb when purchasing insurance is to get it for anything you cannot financially cover yourself. And as your business grows, so does your liability. So you will need to reassess your policy each year and make sure your coverage is still adequate.
When looking for spa and salon insurance coverage, here are some things to note in each policy to determine what’s covered in salon and spa insurance.
Business Practice Coverage
When shopping for a policy, the first thing to look for is the services covered within the policy. BBI’s salon and spa insurance, for example, covers many types of businesses such as:
- Day spas
- Hair salons
- Salon suites
- Barbershops
- Beauty salons
- Franchises and chains
- Nail salons and studios
This is a non-exhaustive list of who qualifies for beauty and bodywork insurance. So it’s important to see if your specific business and services are covered under the policy.
Type of Professional
- Freelancers or contractors who work in your space
- Employees hired by you
- Students or interns working with you
Spa and Salon Coverage Limits
The next thing to understand is coverage limits—the dollar figure that your insurance provider will pay out to cover eligible items under the policy.
Your salon coverage limits are typically very large numbers and have a few different meanings. Here are some definitions to note:
- Policy term: This is how long you are covered for; typically you have to renew your insurance after the policy term runs out.
- Aggregate limit: Total amount of money your insurance company will pay out to you within the policy term.
- Occurrence limit: The amount that is payable for one single claim.
- Deductible: The amount you pay out-of-pocket when submitting a claim to insurance. If you have a higher deductible, your monthly premiums are lower because you are taking on more financial obligations for the claim.
So, for example, BBI’s salon and spa insurance plans start at $349 a year and include a $3 million general and professional liability aggregate limit.
This policy has a $2 million occurrence limit, so that is the maximum amount the carrier will pay for a single claim. If you have additional claims, they will be covered up to the $3 million mark, the aggregate limit.
What Salon and Spa Insurance Is Right for Me?
Carefully consider your options as you choose the right insurance for you. Shopping for salon and spa coverage can certainly feel overwhelming, so if you need a little help, BBI is here for you. Our customer service team is made up of licensed insurance agents—real humans!—who can help you from quote to claim.
Our comprehensive coverage is top-rated, so you know you’re in great hands. We make insurance easy, affordable, and tailored specifically for your industry.
If you’re ready to protect your salon or spa business, start your quote today, and get back to doing what you love—helping your clients look and feel their very best.
