Taking good care of a day care project is a remarkable test for a few reasons. Complying with the legal factors of the business and meeting other state requirements is just one. Hiring, teaching, and retaining the ideal and experienced employees is anther crucial issue. Finally, taking everyday decisions about different organizational tasks, including decisions about insurance, is another challenge. Insuring a day care business is among the most problematic jobs that face managers of day care centers, and insurance consultants as well. As an example of that challenge is clear when we learn that some insurance providers will even reject to insure a strip mall, just based on the mere fact that a day care in leasing in that strip mall!
Day care centers can be placed in to two main types, one that offers daily care for young children and the other type is the one that gives day care for old people. While the customers have varying ages and shapes, they all have specific things in common- They all are incapable of caring for themselves, and they need another person care for them because of their mental or physical incapacity. There are lots of limits and guidelines overseeing the practices of these day care centers and many issues related to their insurability.
Standard Insurance Coverages for Day Care Ventures
Regardless if the day care is a nursery for little kids or a day care for adults, certain coverages that day care business need are similar ones needed by other ventures. These coverages include:
Property Coverage: This incorporates building coverage (if owned), business property, office fixture, computers, outside business signs, etc.
Commercial General Liability: Includes bodily injury and property damage coverages for premises, advertising injury, and product liability. Sexual molestation insurance coverage is excluded in the business liability section. Because of the nature of the business that incorporates taking care of incompetent people, insurance companies like to stress this exclusion and the ways to include it in the policy, if so wanted.
Workers Compensation: Workers comp is a vital coverage for all businesses. It covers employees and staff against any work related accident. This coverage is mandatory by law.
Business Auto Insurance: Day care businesses may need this coverage in the scenario they have an auto that is used in the course of business activities (utility truck, van or autobus).
Unique Insurance Coverage Necessary For Day Care Centers
As laid out earlier, an important coverage that might be necessary for day care businesses is sexual molestation. A few insurance providers provide limited coverage as a rider to the policy, for an additional premium. Normally limits on this coverage is kept low provided by the insurance company. Remember that sexual molestation is a crime, not an accident!
Sexual molestation coverage is obtainable at lower limits such as $35,000 or $75,000. Not many insurance companies that like to offer more than $300,000 in liability for sexual molestation coverage.
Information Influencing Day Care Insurance Premiums
Insurance providers seek information from and about day care businesses applying for insurance. This information will affect their insurance rate and entitlement. This information includes:
Location Description of the Business: Companies charge different rates based on ZIP codes because ZIP codes is correlated to the probability and frequencies of the happening of losses and claims.
Business Owner Experience: Some insurance companies look at older businesses better than recently established ones. Other companies my simply disqualify certain new venture day care centers from insurance.
Numbers of Attendants; Full Time, and Part Time Staff: Each company looks differently at the ratios of professional people compared with attendants.
Certain companies will refuse day care centers if these centers do not keep certain ratios.
Services Provided: Some day care facilities offer more than non medical care such as counseling, medical care, services for challenged children, public transpiration, sport activities such as swimming and gymnastics. If so, all activities have to be disclosed to the insurer.
Hiring Practices: Insurers want to know if the facility has any specific employment policies including criminal background checks. Some companies will not offer any change to include sexual molestation coverage if the facility does not have adequate proof to exclude from hiring people with conviction of sex crimes.
Getting day care insurance can be a simple task if you have all the appropriate information. However, presenting not enough or false information to your insurance consultant can produce painful results later.