reduce the insurance

[vik]

my ins.agent told me that he could reduce my insurance through smart tan, so I called them and the only way to reduce the Insurance is the membership that cost 315$, is it the only way? I think he didn't offer me the less expensive way. what else can reduce the insurence?

[Tanning Queen]

Getting certifications reduce insurance. Also having an alarm and stuff like that will help, in most cases.

[blondjuls]

^ Yep, get certified by Smart Tan. Cost like $40 or something. You get a slight discount on insurance. Besides it's just a good thing to do anyway.

[W8INLINE]

I found sleeping with my broker when her husband is out of town works best

[vik]

smart tan told me that only the membership would help me with the insurance not the basic certificate that cost only 70$.

[blondjuls]

Your insurance company decides how and why they discount your premium...not Smart Tan.

Unless Smart Tan was saying they would refund money you pay on your insurance if you buy membership..? Perhaps you should approach it with Smart Tan this way and be sure to get it in writting.

[Din]

The Salon certificate/membership is what gives you your $300-$500 discount on your insurance

Alarm system with 24hour monitoring

Surveillance/Camera video monitoring also helps

That's about it.....don't expect it to be any cheaper.....approx $2000/year give or take a few hundred depending on how many beds, liability coverage etc....

[vik]

thanks for the help

[RonnieT.]

Just reading through this and wanted to leave a comment that will help some newbie's out.

When insuring your salon, remeber that "business personal property" includes everything between the demising walls. Tanning rooms, doors, electrical for your beds, wall switches, cosmetic lighting etc. It is not just your equipment and computer system.

The "building" is usually covered under your monthly lease or in the NNN somewhere. The contents including anything needed to operate your business is what the tenant covers under their business personal property. Even though you cannot take the doors, walls, lighting etc. with you...it is still considered business personal property.

After having a fire next door to one of my stores back in 2002 and losing everything inside....I learned. The landlord helped me out of that one...now I know better.

So if in doubt, ask your insurance agent this...If I had a fire would you put my business back just that way it is now...walls, doors, decor, equipment, electrical service, HVAC...everything. You will probably find that your content coverage of replacing your equipemt and furniture of about 150K should be more like 300k.

Just because I have been through it....and it sucked.

RonnieT.
myspace.com/racetan

[SunTanning.com]

This advice is very helpful but please keep in mind every policy is different with every company and every state has different rules. Just call up your agent and ask if you have any questions. I'm a licensed insurance agent in Florida. Also, agents are only licensed for there state, so, be careful when taking online advice.

I'm very new here but reading around this forum is very very helpful. I like it alot

[rickmattoon]

Tanning certification through American Tanning Institute qualifies you for insurance certification discounts. To date, nearly 80% of those taking our online certification course at www.TanningProgram.com use there ATI certification for various insurance savings.

With ATI, one person can be certified for as little as $35 or you can certify your entire staff for only $195 and keep certifying new employees for up to one year with our Unlimited Salon Package. No costly membership is required!

When requesting the Certification Discount from your insurance carrier, please attach a copy of your American Tanning Institute Certificate to your application.

The following was posted a few weeks ago on our American Tanning Institute forum here at TanToday:

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[tkilleen]

Just to add to this post - I am an insurance agent to this industry (GLS Underwriters) and most insurance providers to this industry offer a discount on your insurance for certification training from any of the organizations providing this training. We (and I suspect the other companies as well) do not make a distinction between whether you are a member or not. The Basic certification of any of these groups is sufficient for the credit.

Regarding the "business personal property" (contents value) issue, it is very important to value your salon at "Full Replacement Cost Value". Check with your agent to see if your property coverage is based on Replacement Cost or Actual Cash Value. I am not aware of any companies providing ACV in this industry but you would not want that anyways. Also, ask about your Business Interruption (Business Income) coverage and how much you have and for what length of time. This is very important coverage in that it compensates you the lost income if your business is shut down due to a "covered" loss. For Ronnie T's situation below, this coverage would be critical to ongoing expenses and cash flow for the time he was 'out of business'.

BTW, we are licensed in 46 states!

Hope this helps.

[RonnieT.]

I also had Business Interruption Coverage...what complicated things a bit was the fact that that store was only about 4 months old...so showing pervious history was hard...but we made it.

RonnieT.
myspace/racetan