What do you pay for insurance

Clean County

New Member
I have insurance that just covers a one man operation. This is what my insurance consist of: limits of liability any one occurrence $500,000/ any one person/orig $500,000/ any one person $5000/ any one fire or explosion $100,000/ general aggregate $1,000,000/prod/comp ops aggregate $500,000. For all of this I pay $940 a year. Is this a good deal? To me it seems like a rip but hey thats N.Y. for you everything is expensive. If any body can recommend a better insurance company let me know. E-mail me if possible. My insurance co. is nationwide insurance. Thanks-John-

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High Pressure

New Member
That's interesting that you're insured by Nationwide in NY. They insured me for one year and then when renewal time came around I was told the underwriter would not renew it. I found out they actually insured me for painting the first year and then they noticed I wasn't under the right category. Was told they don't insure power washing under any circumstances --- too risky of a business!

Anyway, this lead to a big headache and about 50 phone calls to other insurance companies and received the same runaround from all of them. Thought I was going to have to quit the business without any insurance. Finally went to the well known power washing insurance agent sponsored on the OTHER board and got a decent rate with no runaround.

Just be thankful you got insured in NY (as long as it's for the correct scope of work).

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Tony Ward

New Member
John,

That's not a bad deal. I pay a little more for my liability, worker's comp., and some equipment iinsurance.

Tony

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Scott Stone

New Member
That is what I pay per month on fleet washing. I have garage keepers and 2 million liability on three trucks. My commercial Auto insurance and umbrella policy are also on the same bill. I am insured by Farmers truck insurance group. If you tow a trailer, or have vehicle mounte equipment you ned to have commercial auto insurance. If not and you are in an accident you will be in deep do-do.
rolleyes.gif


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Any statement that I make about equipment, processes or your hair color is my own personal opinion. I usually base it on personal experience. If you disagree with me you are free to reply on both the BBS and by e-mail. If I am totally off base please explain why on the BBS so that we may all know why;)
Bus. Phone 480-834-3434
Cell Phone 602-509-9741
 

High Pressure

New Member
Scott,

You mentioned about needing insurance for a trailer. Can you please explain this more.

I currently have commercial auto insurance for my van that has the equipment mounted inside. I am thinking about towing another machine on a trailer. Do I need extra insurance for the trailer? How much does that cost about?

Also, do I need to register the trailer?

All these things seems mighty expensive! I'm not sure if it's worth it. Maybe I'll just buy a portable and throw it in the van.

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Jon

New Member
John,

Your questions below are simple to answer, from what I understand almost all states require you register a trailer and I think NY does to. Simply call your Department of Motor Vehicles and ask them.

"Also, do I need to register the trailer?"

Now what would be more expensive, loosing everything you own do to an accident and being sued or being insured and protected?

If you feel it is to expensive and not worth it you are taking a very big risk. Is the reason for this trailer just to carry another piece of equipment? Do you have enough room in the van to safely carry it there? You need to consider many factors before you add more weight and equipment in your van.

"All these things seems mighty expensive! I'm not sure if it's worth it. Maybe I'll just buy a portable and throw it in the van."



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Beep beep, the OPC Roadrunner coming through.

Jon Fleischer
Oasis Pressure Cleaning
(909) 792-2247
Fax (909) 792-5633
 

Scott Stone

New Member
You usually don't need insurance for a trailer. If you are using the trailer for commercial purposes you need to have commercial insurance on your vehicle. You can get away with personal insurance if the equipment is not hard mounted to the trailer. (bolted Down) Personally I would not try it. As soon as you do something will go awry and you will have a mess trying to get your insurance to cover it. So the trailer does need the insurance except for loss prevention and the truck does for liability reasons.


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Any statement that I make about equipment, processes or your hair color is my own personal opinion. I usually base it on personal experience. If you disagree with me you are free to reply on both the BBS and by e-mail. If I am totally off base please explain why on the BBS so that we may all know why;)
Bus. Phone 480-834-3434
Cell Phone 602-509-9741
 

Paul

New Member
John,

When I was insurance shopping, I sat down and wrote out 2 pieces of paper. One had a list of my equipment, liability needs/requirements, vehicle descriptions and all the other pertinant details regarding that type of info. The other page was a somewhat detailed summary of what I did as far as power washing decks, houses, flat work, etc.... I described the operation how all my equipment was set up the whole works. After that, I started calling insurance companies to get their fax numbers. I then wrote out a cover letter that was somewhat generic so that I could fax it to each company. I told them I was accepting bids/quotes for insurance coverage and that the requirements were attached and if they needed further info to please call.

I got back about 12 quotes and from there was able to compare everything and make my selection. I didn't do it like this the first time I went looking but it made it so easy the 2nd time. I'm sure if you try it you'll get bids ranging from anywhere from $600 up to $3500.00. Different ins. companies underwrite and code this industry differently therefore you will get a wide spectrum of bids.

Good luck......Paul


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Oldtimer

New Member
Hey Guys I have a friend who is in the insurance business, and has also had experience as a contract cleaner, he can probably advise you on coverage, he tells me he has some great insurance packages available for contract cleaners, he is located in Sacramento California if you would like his name and phone number send me an e-mail.
Mark@easycleansystems.com
AKA Oldttimer


[This message has been edited by Oldtimer (edited October 25, 2000).]
 

rvagnoni

New Member
A word of advice for you new guys. Make sure your carrier has "care, custody & control" included in your policy. This covers you if you damage the customers property. Some carriers have a differant name for it also.

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Rick - Deck Care Plus
 

Mike Hughes

New Member
Good advice, Rick......I too have Care, Custody and control insurance. Without it, your insurance doesnt cover what you are actually working on.

Let's say you're washing a house and you only have general liability insurance......if you damage the siding, you are not covered. But, if you somehow start a fire and the house burns down, you are covered.

To me, it is more likely that you will screw up what you are actually working on.......so, if you don't have the coverage, you might want to look into it.

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Mike Hughes
Everclear
Souderton, PA
 

Dave Olson

New Member
Just got our quarterly bill. $2308

Wow, I thought I was paying too much until I read some of the other posts. This equals a monthly cost of $769. This charge is for all of the following coverage’s:

-Commercial Package that includes Inland Marine, and Liability coverage of $2,000,000 General Aggregate, 1 million each occurrence. This includes Completed Operations and Garage Keepers coverage.
-Business Auto- Full coverage for 6 trucks 4 2-1/2 tons, 2 Suburbans, $250 deductable collision.
-Worker Compensation – Statutory for Illinois $100,000 each accident, $100,000, Disease, $500,000 Disease policy limit.

We have been covered by this company (Country Mutual Insurance) for about 16 years. Also we have only had one claim in that time (hit a deer with my Suburban)!

Guess I should not complain so much to my agent
smile.gif


Dave Olson


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Tidy Powerwash Service, Inc. P.O. Box 781, Catlin, Illinois 61817 Phone 217-427-5557, Fax 217-427-2632 We are a commercial cleaning contractor serving East-Central Illinois and West Central Indiana since 1984. http://www.tps-inc.com/preswash.htm
 

WasherMan

New Member
Everything is proportional to the size of operation, history, and degree of exposure. Last month we paid $4700 for workers comp (and that's with a 70% ex-mod); after a down payment and finance of premium, our auto policy of $2 million with a $4 million umbrella for 31 vehicles is $49,000 +/- per year with $1,000 deductible; and our general liability of $6 million, including floater, office insurance, etc., is approximately $22,000 per year.

washerman

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