Salon Insurance

Beauty salons and spas face all kinds of risks on a daily basis, just like other types of businesses. If you’re a beauty professional or a salon or spa owner, your clients depend on you to help them look and feel their best. But no matter how careful you may be, accidents happen. A customer could file a lawsuit against you, costing you hundreds of thousands of dollars, an employee could get injured at work, or your valuable inventory could get stolen. Your business could face a devastating financial loss without the right salon insurance.

Fortunately, you can protect your assets, savings, and revenue with the right beauty salon insurance, hair salon insurance, or nail salon insurance. Independent insurance agents can help you find the right coverage for your business. But first, here's a closer look at salon business insurance.

What Is Salon Insurance?

Salon insurance is a special form of business insurance focusing on the unique risks faced by different types of salons, including hair, beauty, and nail salons. Policies can also be customized to cover barbershops, spas, estheticians, and more. This coverage can protect salon or spa owners, customers, and employees. 

Your insurance policy accounts for common hazards, ranging from fire damage to legal issues. Small business insurance for salons combines several necessary coverages in one convenient package. An independent insurance agent can help you find the right kind of salon liability insurance or beauty insurance for professionals. 

Why Is Salon Insurance Necessary?

Most hair salons and spas in the U.S. are one-shop businesses, or small, local chains. Their small size makes them more vulnerable to financial losses due to fires, storms, break-ins, or lawsuits. All it takes is for a fire to destroy your property or a bad bleach job to ruin your salon business if you don’t have the right insurance policy.

Salon and spa insurance can protect your business against many potential financial losses. A comprehensive policy will include protection for your business's property, hair salon workers' comp insurance to protect your employees, liability coverage to protect you from lawsuit expenses, and other types of key coverage. An independent insurance agent can help you find the right salon and spa insurance policy.

Who Needs Salon Insurance?

Any professional who provides some type of beauty service to the public might need this coverage. Salon insurance policies can be formatted to fit many different businesses in the beauty industry. These policies can be written for the following businesses and professionals:

If you own one of these businesses or work in any of these professions, you'll find the coverage you need in a salon insurance policy. If you're a freelancer, independent contractor, or run a mobile spa, work with an independent insurance agent to find a customized independent contractor salon insurance policy or mobile salon insurance policy. 

Top Liability Risks for Salons

Salon and spa owners face numerous liability risks on a daily basis. Just a few risks you need to consider when building your insurance policy include the following:

Hired beauty contractors

The hair stylists, manicurists, and massage therapists who rent space in your salon may not be covered by your general liability insurance policy if they cause bodily injury or property damage to one of your clients. Stylists can face lawsuits over something as small as a bad haircut, and these suits can be just as financially destructive as a bodily injury claim, like a chemical burn or an allergic reaction.

Consider requiring all of your beauty contractors to carry professional liability insurance. This can provide financial protection for both the contractor and, in turn, the salon to protect against litigation stemming from accidents from your services. It can reimburse businesses for third-party claims of professional errors and omissions made by your company.

Selling beauty products

If there’s a problem with a product you sell, like a manufacturing flaw or a chemical imbalance in a hair care product, you could be partially liable for any illness or injury your customer suffers. A faulty product suit can affect all parts of the distribution network, from the manufacturer all the way down to the seller.

If you carry personal care products on your shelves, like shampoos, oils, nail lacquers, soaps, massagers, and so on, you can likely benefit from product liability insurance. Product liability provides financial protection for your salon if one of your products causes injury to your customers. That way, you don't have to pay for a manufacturer's mistake.

Customers and guests on the premises

Customers, delivery workers, guests, and other third parties could potentially suffer bodily injury or personal property damage on your business's premises. This can happen due to slips on a wet floor, trips over products left out, and many other possible incidents. Your general liability insurance can reimburse your business for third-party claims of personal property damage or bodily injury.

What Does Salon Insurance Cover?

Salon insurance is designed to cover many aspects of your business, including commercial property and liability. If you’re like the majority of salon owners, your small business is your livelihood. Whether you’re just getting started or beginning to expand to new locations, you need the right salon business insurance to keep your investment secure. Look for the following types of coverage in your policy:

• General liability insurance: This covers third-party claims of bodily injury or personal property damage.
• Professional liability insurance: This covers third-party claims of professional errors, mistakes, negligence, or oversights that resulted in some type of harm, such as a bad hair dye that caused scalp burns.
• Commercial property insurance: This covers property you keep at your salon or spa, such as computers, counters, chairs, tanning beds, styling equipment, product inventory, and your building. It can reimburse you for property damage, theft, vandalism, or destruction due to fires and other covered disasters.
• Workers' compensation insurance: This can cover an employee's medical bills, a portion of lost income, and rehabilitation expenses if they get injured or ill due to the work environment or job duties. Workers' comp for hair salons and spas also exempts your business from employee lawsuits for covered incidents.
• Cyber liability insurance: This coverage protects your salon or spa if its computer system gets compromised, and customers' or staff’s sensitive data is stolen or sold following a data breach or cyberattack. Coverage protects against financial and legal ramifications following a breach of your network.
• Product recall insurance: This coverage reimburses you for fees relating to a bad batch of dyes or other products you sell that get recalled. Coverage can also reimburse you for public relations fees related to the recall to help protect your business’s reputation.
• Business interruption insurance: This coverage reimburses you for lost wages and revenue if your business must temporarily shut down due to a covered disaster like a severe fire.
• Commercial umbrella insurance: If your salon, spa, hairdresser, or barber business is especially large, turns over a lot of business, and is at risk of especially costly lawsuits, you may want excess liability protection. Umbrella policies can extend the liability coverage limits provided by your underlying policy in increments of $1 million and are highly affordable.
• Business owners policy (BOP) insurance: This combines general liability, commercial property, and business interruption coverage into one convenient policy for small businesses.

An independent insurance agent can help review your specific coverage needs and ensure you are equipped with all the policies necessary to adequately cover your salon.

Additional Salon Insurance Coverages to Consider

Your salon insurance policy may not yet be complete. Depending on the types of services you provide, you may need some or all of the following types of coverage:

• Drain and sewer backup coverage: This coverage can pay for the cost of water damage to your walls and floors if your drains become clogged with hair or debris.
• Fire legal liability: If you’re sued over a fire that starts inside your salon or spa and causes damage to others or their property, this can cover your legal fees, including settlements or judgments. 
• Equipment breakdown coverage: If your salon depends on equipment like tanning beds, computers, and other machines for revenue, this coverage can help you repair these items after covered disasters.
• Inland marine coverage: This provides financial protection for equipment that’s in transit or storage from incidents of theft, vandalism, damage, or other loss. If your employees perform esthetician services, hair care, or spa services in outside locations, like weddings and private homes, inland marine coverage protects you from equipment loss on the go.

Your independent insurance agent can help recommend any coverage add-ons you may need to include in your salon insurance policy.

Special Coverage for Your Home-Based Salon Business

If you provide hair beautifying or other salon or spa services out of your home, you could be exposing yourself to a number of additional risks. If you depend on your homeowners insurance to cover your in-home salon business, your finances and home could be at risk. 

If a client accidentally slips on your front steps and suffers an injury after a haircut, your homeowners insurance may not protect you from any resulting lawsuits. Usually, you can purchase home-based business insurance as an inexpensive rider to your homeowners policy or as a separate policy. Your in-home business policy would cover:

• Business inventory
• General liability for slips, falls, and other accidents on-site
• Damage or loss to your business property and equipment

Ask your independent insurance agent about adding an endorsement to your home insurance policy if you offer any salon or spa services at your home.

Salon Insurance Exclusions

While salon insurance provides a lot of important coverage for your business, it also comes with specific exclusions. Some of the most common coverage exclusions are as follows:

*If your business is located in a state that’s prone to flooding, you’re likely to want to purchase a separate flood insurance policy. You might even be required to have it by your business’s mortgage lender. Your independent insurance agent can provide you with more information about finding coverage.

How Much Does Salon Insurance Cost?

Many businesses pay between $35-$100 per month, or $420-$1,200 per year, for salon insurance. However, the cost of your policy can vary based on several factors, such as the following:

• Location
• Business size and revenue
• Number of employees
• Annual payroll
• Services offered
• Claims history
• Coverage limits

The insurance provider you choose to underwrite your coverage will also impact your policy's rates. Your independent insurance agent can help provide exact figures and quotes for your area and help you find affordable salon insurance near you.

The Benefits of Salon Insurance

Having salon insurance offers financial protection against lawsuits that may be filed against your business for various claims. These policies also provide financial security in case of unexpected accidents. Also, salon insurance can help your business establish trust with prospective clients and build your credibility. 

In some instances, a mortgage lender actually requires salon insurance. You might also be required to provide proof of insurance when leasing a space for your mobile salon. An independent insurance agent can provide you with more examples of the importance of salon insurance.

Things to Keep in Mind When Shopping for Salon Insurance

Before meeting with an independent insurance agent to discuss your salon insurance options, it's helpful to keep these points in mind:

• The value of your business's structure
• The value of your business's inventory and products
• The value of any upgrades you've made to your business
• How prone your specific area is to certain natural disasters, like hurricanes
• Your specific products and their risk level to the public
• The size of your company's team

Considering these factors beforehand can help streamline the process of shopping for the right salon insurance policy and getting your business properly insured. An independent insurance agent can also help you find a policy from the top salon insurance companies that offer coverage in your area and compare salon insurance quotes to find an affordable policy.

Save on Business Insurance

Our independent agents shop around to find you the best coverage.

Request a quote

Here's How an Independent Insurance Agent Can Help

When it's time to get your salon equipped with the proper coverage, you'll want to work with a trusted expert. Independent insurance agents can help you find the best salon insurance by shopping and comparing policy options and quotes from several providers. And down the road, your agent will still be there to update your coverage as your business evolves and can even file business insurance claims for you.

FAQs About Salon Insurance