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a friend who teaches yoga and I are planning on opening a fitness studio. We would be a partnership and co-own the studio (well, co-sign the lease I suppose) and what I'm being told is that since we'll have no employees, only ourselves, we should each get professional liability insurance and that's all we need in that matter.
I'm having problems finding something for myself. My friend has special yoga insurance stuff but I am not sure where I should look. My insurance agency (USAA) doesn't offer liability for dance/fitness instructors.
So, I guess I have three questions:
1) Where do you have your insurance (if you have a studio or teach somewhere)?
2) what is the average price for liability insurance? (aka is this going to make me go broke)
3) Would I still need general liability for the business if Sarah and I both have liability on ourselves and we are the only ones who will be teaching/owning at the studio?
Thanks so much!
I'm having problems finding something for myself. My friend has special yoga insurance stuff but I am not sure where I should look. My insurance agency (USAA) doesn't offer liability for dance/fitness instructors.
So, I guess I have three questions:
1) Where do you have your insurance (if you have a studio or teach somewhere)?
2) what is the average price for liability insurance? (aka is this going to make me go broke)
3) Would I still need general liability for the business if Sarah and I both have liability on ourselves and we are the only ones who will be teaching/owning at the studio?
Thanks so much!
posted by:
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Missouri
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Re: Liability Insurance??
Mon, June 25, 2007 - 4:06 PMI don't have a studio yet, but this is what I do- I have my home owner's policy with State Farm, so if I am teaching primarily at home, under 40 students total, it's about $150/year and covers me for minor gigs outside my home. For $350 I can teach as much as I want, where ever I want and be covered. I imagine you will want insurance for the studio itself as well, and for that you'd just have to talk to an agent, but hopefully this gives you a starting point.
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Re: Liability Insurance??
Mon, June 25, 2007 - 5:17 PMI have general liability insurance through myfitnessinsurance.com (through Venbrooke). It's about $160 per year and travels with me wherever I go. I know a couple of other dancers who carry this insurance and have been pretty happy with it. Shira might have some links or more information on her website (www.shira.net).
Good luck!
~Kaytee
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Re: Liability Insurance??
Mon, June 25, 2007 - 8:00 PMWe have a smallish dance studio (800 sq ft) and we use Venbrook (myfitnessinsurance.com) as well. Our property managers/owners require us to have general liability insurance for the studio and they approved of what Venbrook offered. It's very reasonably priced and covers general liability for the space as well as professional liability for teachers (you can add more teachers to the policy if needed). I checked out other mainstream insurance providers and they were priced very high by comparison.
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Re: Liability Insurance??
Mon, June 25, 2007 - 8:28 PMWondering if anyone uses the insurance that's offered through AFAA for group fitness instructors? I don't have a studio (NYC is way too expensive to have your own space) and I teach at gyms but also at rent by the hour dance studios...does anyone have an opinion on if a dance specific insurance is better? I like the idea of having something that would cover me on gigs since I often get asked to do a show plus a class and in a situation that arose this very weekend the ladies at the party didn't want to remove their very high heeled shoes (ack!). The Afaa plan is about $250 per year...it's all pretty inexpensive with a montly breakdown, so paying $50 bucks more a year for something more worthwhile..uh is more worthwhile I guess :-)
Something I found out recently is that even if the dance studio or gym you're at is covered, you might not be covered if something happens in your class. Which is not good at all.
Thanks for this thread, it's a really important topic.
Mimi -
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Re: Liability Insurance??
Mon, June 25, 2007 - 9:59 PMthanks to everyone who has replied to my post!
myfitnessinsurance.com is the best i've looked at so far I think. I'm wondering just how much it is for insurance that covers both the studio (small) and myself. Would I just add myself and then the studio as another insured? so $195 per year?
www.myfitnessinsurance.com/gene...s.htm
I wasn't sure if the studio would really be covered that way. in the FAQ it states: 3) AN ADDITIONAL INSURED RECEIVES THE BENEFIT OF BEING DEFENDED AND INDEMNIFIED IN THE EVENT THEY ARE SUED DUE TO YOUR NEGLIGENCE ON THEIR PREMISES.
sooo... if something totally NOT my fault happens (ie. water line breaks and ruins all our stuff in the studio) or something of that nature... then what would happen?
I highly doubt anything will happen to the building... do you guys think it's necessary to insure it in that way? or just protect myself from getting sued? -
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Re: Liability Insurance??
Mon, June 25, 2007 - 10:14 PMto be more clear:
If I insure the building it's more against natural disasters... but I'm renting so really it shouldn't be charged to me to fix it anyway if a water line should break and mess up the flooring...right? I don't think it's very likely either way so I'm debating on whether its worth worrying about.
I shouldn't need to insure the building to protect myself since I'll have professional liability on myself... and My friend will have it on herself as well. We are the owners of the studio and the only people who will work there, so they can't really sue the business on our behalf... they would sue either me or sarah.
... on a side note, my husband just mention that someone could sue me for tripping outside my studio on the sidewalk. Seriously...what has the world come to? It'd be nice if no one had to worry about these things =o) -
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Re: Liability Insurance??
Tue, June 26, 2007 - 3:06 AMYour lease will specify what you need to cover, and you need to make sure you have that negotiated ahead of time and that you are very clear as to who is responsible for what. Your landlord is almost surely not going to cover the contents of your studio (mirrors, costumes, dance floor, business interruption insurance).
It is not unusual for people who rent an entire building to be responsible for 1)paying insurance to repair damage to the building and 2)being required to pay rent while damaged building is being rebuilt. Please please please consult a professional before signing any commercial leases. There is some legal protection for residential tenants because the assumption is that the tenants are not lawyers and need some protection, but in the commercial lease field both sides are assumed to be professional and yes you do need to worry about these things. worry worry worry, research research research.
Venbrook got back in the saddle (after a flakey new year, switching underwriters and computer systems) so my daughter got her liability insurance from them, good as long as teaching space is less than 1000 sq ft.
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Re: Liability Insurance??
Tue, June 26, 2007 - 6:07 AMThe general liability Venbrook offer covers you if someone get injures while on the premises that is not necessarily related to the physical activity of the classes - i.e, you don't realize there's glass on the floor and someone cuts their foot badly, a light fixture falls on someone's head, someone slips and falls on a banana peel sort of thing. Those things could happen to anyone walking in the studio whether they are taking a class or not. The teaching liability covers you if someone hurts themselves while taking your class -messes up their back doing a layback and then tries to sue you. If you get the basic policy under your name that will cover the studio general liability AND your personal teaching liability so you don't have to add yourself again as an insured teacher. You can then add other teachers onto the policy as needed for that $35 fee.
Give Venbrook a call to sort out the details and your questions, they are very responsive and I haven't had much problem getting them on the phone.
Definitely check the lease carefully for what you will be responsible for and what they require for insurance. -
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Re: Liability Insurance??
Tue, June 26, 2007 - 6:08 AMbah typos! need coffee...
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Re: Liability Insurance??
Mon, June 25, 2007 - 11:11 PMI went to State Farm and got a general liability for myself that covers me, wherever I teach. They would have preferred to write for a location, so you shouldn't have any problem with that.
