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Do mobile hairdressers need insurance ?
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We are trying here to give you an answer that can't be a straight one. Wether you need business Insurance or not as a mobile hairdresser is not really up to us, or any other advisor. It will mostly depends on your very own ability to accept and tolerate risks. Therefore the type of small business you are running is not a decisive criteria.
Let's try to enlighten your decision :
1. What are the different types of small business insurances and what are the coverages
General liability insurance : it is the most common business insurance, it protects your business from liability claims from stakeholders, like accidents resulting in injuries, advertising claims, damages to someone else’s property caused by your activity.
Professional liability insurance : it covers the damages caused by errors or omissions made by you or other employees in their professional services.
Commercial property insurance : this one covers damages to your business’ equipment and property.
Business income insurance : it helps cover the loss of income due to outside circumstances.
Workers’ compensation insurance : it covers your employer and compensates them if they suffer a work-related injury or illness. It can also provide benefits to a deceased workers’ family.
There are others insurances, like Commercial umbrella insurance, but at some point your focus is to run and develop a business not making sure has the most comprehensive coverage in the US.
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2. What are the types of risks in your industry : mobile hairdressing ?
This may probably be the most important question : what can possibly go wrong when you do hair at client's homes?
Issues can occur with your clients. According to our experience, we listed the following possibilities :
- You break something in your client's house inside (or outside when parking for instance
- Your client is not happy with the way you cut and styled their hair
- Your clients hair color is a fail and we mean "really fail"; the difference from the above (your client just being unhappy) is that you can not really make it up, you may just have to wait for the hair to regrow. Or you may have to for another full color which can lead to hair damage.
- You hurt /injure your client (with a pair of scissors for example or a hot tool)
- You damage to their home, like a fire or a flooding
This list may differ if you have employees, which would carry different risks.
3. What might be the most relevant insurances in our opinion
You should probably get a General Liability Insurance, like a minimal coverage. You don't want to be uninsured and you wouldn't like the feeling of it. So even if the covered risks are limited, somehow you buy a peace of mind a minimum coverage. Read and check carefully the coverage though, you want to make sure the basics are really covered.
The Professional liability insurance is a different animal in our opinion. The risk exists obviously, but the "liability value" of a haircut is low ($20, $50, $100 …). Probably the worst that can happen is an epic fail of a coloration (as mentioned above), and honestly it has happened to a lot of hairdressers in the history of hair salons, and it has been a fixable issue in 99% of cases. Therefore we wouldn't recommend to subscribe a Professional liability insurance.
Having a mobile business, you obviously don't need to cover any store or building, and the value of different items in your equipment are pretty low, so no Commercial property insurance. Just make sure your car is decently covered by you personal insurance
As for other supplementary insurances, obviously it is up to you, but unless you are in a very specific situation needing one of these, most of the time you won't need them.
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