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©1997-2005 Betty Chypre, All Rights Reserved
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~ Do Frogs Need Insurance?~ No but you do, by heck! ©1997-2005
Betty Chypre .
I
found out that many of you are uninsured. Tsk, tsk. Some
of you have insurance, - but you probably pay too much for it! How much
is too much? Well, Les Mor’s agent in New Jersey wants $500 a
year. That’s too much! (By the way, Les was our cover artist
for the JUNE '2000 publication, - and will join us on our website
shortly.) Picture this: You take a special
order, and
your customer calls to let you know she will pick it up on her way home
from work. The snow is melting, and you’re busy
boxing her order. You hear the car stop, but no one knocks on
the door, so finally you look out the window and see her lying at the
bottom of your stairs .
Thank goodness you’re insured, right? (Yes!) Your home-owner’s insurance will cover her
hospitalization, -right? (Wrong.)
She ’s
there on business, - (yours.) Your home-owner’s insurance
usually does not cover business-related injuries. You
need business insurance coverage.
How about the little monsters who are playing tag in and out
of your booth? One falls into the corner of your table
and injures his eye. ($$$$$! – Yup.) That’s why you
need business liability insurance. I just finished researching
home-based business insurance; this is a specialty field
which most underwriters don't provide; they supply
business insurance to store-fronts, which is more costly.
Business personal property , also known as
inventory and tools is also covered by this underwriter in their
business insurance policy. When you return to your van and find the
lock’s broken and several boxes of your
inventory stolen, - you’re covered under business personal
property insurance .
Many people think their home-owner’s insurance
covers them, because their business is ‘only a part-time
affair, not really a business.’ Actually, as soon as you sell
something, you are ‘in business’ from
every standpoint, including sales tax and liability reasons.
A studio coverage rider is available on some
homeowner’s policies at an additional cost. Sometimes it
worth it, but you’ll have to find out what kind of coverage
it provides, and under what conditions. Asking “What
if . . .?” questions is a good way to research a
policy, -and always look for confirmation in writingto
confirm what you are told. Questions like: “ What if
there’s a fire and my tools and inventory are
damaged?” “What if someone falls on my steps
and gets hurt?” “What
if my display falls and injures someone?” etc .
A homeowner’s policy, even with a studio rider,
will not follow you to shows, nor provide coverage for product stolen
from your vehicle.
If there’s a liability claim, your assets (bank
account, car, salary, other income, first-born male child, etc. ) can
be attached if you can't pay the claim.
High winds can lift canopies, weights and all, and throw them
across a field. I remember my friend Norma telling me about a
show in which a tornado swept down through the middle of the show area
and lifted tents and canopies and threw a heavy butcher’s
block table almost 50 feet. The adjoining area was untouched.
Since this happened at two a.m. there were no spectator
injuries, just product and display damage. Bad news, but since there
was no damage to nearby vehicles, and no personal-injuries, I bet the
exhibitors breathed a sigh of relief and got over it,- fast!
Uninsured craftsmen were on the phone tracking down liability
insurance the following Monday morning. It takes just a single incident
to prove the importance of liability insurance coverage.
Business
insurance companies usually cover retail stores. Craftsmen
are much lower risk. We don’t fit in the same high
risk-category, but if a company carries only one type of policy from
only one company,- and their
policies are not geared to micro-businesses like ours, the fees will be
more expensive than a policy that is geared to your low-risk needs.
Insurance policies underwritten by RLI are a good starting
point for research. They are one of the few underwriters who specialize
in insuring home-based businesses, not
storefront retail businesses. Their policies are available from John
Carriero & Son, Inc. (800) 777-1344 - as for Debbie.
Their policies are reasonably priced.
Although the Base Policy cost varies from about $225 - $280
for craftsmen, (including coverage for those selling most comestibles
such as jams, jellies, etc.) for that price you can get $300,000
liability coverage and $5,000 business personal property coverage. The
range in price will depend on your geographical location.
For an additional $60 (+/-) you can get a million
dollars’ liability coverage, and increase your personal
property coverage at the same time. You can also buy coverage
in-between those amounts for less than $60.
Musicians, clowns and entertainers are at the high-end of the
scale for basic coverage, - probably close to $300, with an additional
$60 for million-dollar coverage policy. Why would anyone have less than
a million dollars coverage? Lawsuit-happy people think in terms of
telephone numbers, - and so must you. Protect yourself. (Compared to
most business insurance policies, - you can save $150-200 a year, and
get very good coverage, indeed. Read on,
little buddy.)
I called Debbie at John Carriero Company, (1-800-777-1344.)
They are managing agents which means
you can deal with them directly. If you prefer, they can give you
contact information for someone in your own area, but the prices they
quote you for coverage will not necessarily be the price another agent
will charge for the same policy. It pays to do your research.The fee may vary even for the same policy,
underwritten by R.L.I. depending on the agent and your geographic
location.
The above company is licensed to provide coverage in
Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maine, New Jersey, New Hampshire,
New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, - and several other
states.
Don’t tell me a tale of woe, next time we meet. I
want to see happy faces. Tell me you saved money and got good insurance
coverage! Tell me you love me. Ooops, here comes Betty, - better not!
She doesn’t want to hear about me, she wants praise for the
publication, for the layout, for her silly paper-shuffling, for . . .
Hiya Babe. Didja
bring me the dark chocolate you promised me for Valentine’s
Day? Whaat? You forgot, -again? Listen,
you’ve got the worst case of C.R.S.* I've ever
seen. Why don’t you take Gingko? Man, - I’m going
back into hibernation. Without chocolate, life is boring. Leave my
next assignment on my voicemail. I am too through
. See you on the Queen’s birthday, - or before the next lunar
eclipse, -whichever comes
first. Yours
truly,
ElJay .C.
The World’s First Webdancing Frogä |
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Hiya Gang! (I really
wanted to say “Yo Dude!” - but my editor is so
conservative, she’d probably drop her mouse.)
I popped up out of hibernation in time to do research for
this column. If I waited for Betty to wake me up, -it would be the
dog-days of August. She
hates
it when I do a spiffy research job and she has to give me column space
. 