Dog Grooming Business Insurance Guide
Being a dog groomer is exciting, rewarding, and a very physical job. It’s also a pricey business to set up from scratch. A standard starter pack is going to run over £1100, and you still haven’t started advertising. Insurance is a must-have for any dog groomer for the equipment investment alone.
There are four areas you need insurance to cover, although you may only need two or three to start with: contents, buildings, van, and public liability.
Public liability insurance is the first must-have dog grooming insurance. It doesn’t matter whether you’re renting a fancy shop front, own your own building, or if you work out of a mini shed in your back garden. You need public liability insurance above anything else, and you will need the right level of cover.
As soon as you open your business, you need to make sure you’re prepared for the owners that can trip and slip on their way into and out of your shop.
From the doorstep to a stray clump of fur that somehow escaped the broom, if there is anything that can be a slip hazard, a customer can and will find it.
And if you’re working from home, remember that from the moment that customer enters your front gate you can be held liable for any injuries. Of course you’ll make sure everything is neat and tidy anyway, but accidents can and do happen.
It’ll also cover you with the dogs.
Remember, you’re going to be working with living animals that will wiggle, wag, squirm, occasionally lunge and snap, and wiggle some more.
Let’s face it, some pups are born wigglers no matter how careful you are and how quickly you get the restraints in place.
You’ll get to know your regular escape artists and Snarly Sues, but the rule about working with animals is that they can always surprise you.
The more the dog moves on the table, the higher the chance of injury to somebody’s bundle of fluff. If it happens during a really delicate moment like shaving or scissoring pads, you can end up with an injured dog and a visit to the vet.
Good public liability insurance covers you for vet fees, injuries to owners while in your shop, and potential legal issues.
Contents Insurance covers you for damage to stock, burglary and the theft of equipment.
If you’ve invested thousands into your business, you need to protect it.
The good quality kit is pricey. It’s worth the long-term investment, but make sure you protect it with decent insurance. You can always shop around and compare contents insurance deals.
Remember: lost or damaged items - you can’t work without your tools, so you’re going to lose money until you get anything taken or damaged replaced.
Everybody has felt the pain of having their favourite clippers disappear. You might not claim for a single pair of clippers if you can afford to eat the cost. Having your shop broken into and large equipment is taken can wipe you out.
Somebody loading up your finishing dryer alone can set you back anywhere between £400 to £700, depending on the brand and model you have. If you’ve invested in high-end models and have more than one on-site, that’s a lot of money that just got dumped into the back of a truck.
Adding contents and stock cover to your insurance policy gives you cover for anything from riots to earthquakes, depending on the policy.
A good policy will cover you for any damage and breakage caused during the break-in.
Building Insurance will cover you for your grooming salon. It covers the cost of repairs to the physical structure of a property, so damage to the floors, walls, or roof. So, buildings and contents insurance is very important.
This can be caused by anything from a lightning strike to a fire. It’s worth having when your premises can be affected by neighbours and other tenants, as well as the weather.
In the UK a huge number of high street shops have tenanted flats above them. An upstairs flat with a broken pipe could flood out your shop and cost a small fortune to fix while the floor gets lifted and replaced.
Any damaged electrical equipment will need replacing. Stock will need to be discarded due to water damage.
If you have to move to temporary premises or a mobile grooming station until it’s fixed, you’ll need to factor in the cost of potential lost business and extra rent fees during this time as well.
A good building insurance policy will cover you from the roof to the floors and any fitted or permanent fixtures.
Van Insurance is essential if you’ve opted for mobile grooming instead of a salon or working from home, or as an expansion to your business.
Mobile dog grooming is a fast-growing sector.
As an alternative to working from the salon or home, mobility and independence have made it an attractive alternative option for people.
There’s a growing number of companies specialising in modifying existing vans, or building removable chassis for mobile groomers.
You’ll need specialist van insurance if you’ve gone the mobile grooming route. Most standard van insurance won’t cover the modifications you’ll need in the van to get your grooming business set up.
You still need all the same equipment you’d need for a home-based shop or high street store but downsized to one dog at a time. These vans are specially insulated and adjusted to handle the weight of the equipment, water, and deal with the electrical hook-ups.
Think of it as the four-wheeled equivalent to building insurance. Additionally, you can cover yourself for a loss of license under the Boarding Establishment Act.
Insurance is one of those things that we all need and hope we never actually have to use.
Get the right option for your business, so you can relax and concentrate on the important things: how to stop Mrs B’s Yorkie from trying to eat the shampoo again.
By Shannah @ Pet Business Insurance
