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Commercial Shop Rental Insurance

Houdini

Titanium
Joined
Nov 28, 2017
Just a quick question, what type of Insurance policy are you shop owners getting when you rent a commercial space.
I just rented my first 1200sq.ft. mini shop.
landlord said I needed insurance, contract description looks like "commercial property insurance"
but I thought "commercial general liability" policy was what is usually needed?

I got a quote for General Liability for a machine shop, $4,000 a year, OUCH! WTF?
Any input is appreciated.
 
I would shop around a while before getting sticker shock over it. They can be all over the place in my experience. It might help to ask around to similar shops in your area as well to find out who they use, since chances are whoever is selling you the policy has no idea what it is you are doing when you try to tell them.
 
I would shop around a while before getting sticker shock over it. They can be all over the place in my experience. It might help to ask around to similar shops in your area as well to find out who they use, since chances are whoever is selling you the policy has no idea what it is you are doing when you try to tell them.

Most of the time, the landlord wants to see that you have premises liability insurance. They want you to have $1-2M in coverage for things like setting the building on fire, a slip and fall, etc. This does not have to cover finished products or other stuff you might want to insure at some point.

For a shop that size (I have no idea what you do) this could be as little as $350-1200/year if bare-bones and the agent understands what your industry does. It could be a lot more from a different company that is less familiar with that business or doesn't really want small accounts. Shop around and be prepared to quickly explain what you do to a person of average intelligence. An independent agent is often good for this, as they can have you fill out one set of questions for multiple quotes.

One problem with small businesses is that you can be hard to classify. Maybe you do electronics repair, welding and CAM programming and they can't decide how to classify you. Something like "R&D lab" might fit and they can often go by your gross sales to get an idea of how big you actually are.
 
Berkshire Hathaway now offers small business insurance, might want to check with them (online per the commercial).

Sentry is an industry leader in commercial insurance, try to find their regional rep, see if he/she can help you out.
 
Just a quick question, what type of Insurance policy are you shop owners getting when you rent a commercial space.
I just rented my first 1200sq.ft. mini shop.
landlord said I needed insurance, contract description looks like "commercial property insurance"
but I thought "commercial general liability" policy was what is usually needed?

I got a quote for General Liability for a machine shop, $4,000 a year, OUCH! WTF?
Any input is appreciated.

Pretty much everybody in our complex uses AIS, my current premium is $805/year. The carrier is Tapco.
 
Just a quick question, what type of Insurance policy are you shop owners getting when you rent a commercial space.
I just rented my first 1200sq.ft. mini shop.
landlord said I needed insurance, contract description looks like "commercial property insurance"
but I thought "commercial general liability" policy was what is usually needed?

I got a quote for General Liability for a machine shop, $4,000 a year, OUCH! WTF?
Any input is appreciated.

Sometimes it's about what type of product your involved with. Over the years my premiums have increased along with the number of "exclusions". Machine a piece of metal who's final form has a relationship to firearms and it's possible you will pay more. Does not have to be a serialized part, most any part can increase insurance cost.

Import product or components or produce firearm related and you might experience issues. (this increases with documentation required for ITAR or ATF Form 6 filings)

Import of parts now seems to garner an interest from insurers.

So even is you play around with describing your business and "other" or "sporting goods" it seems that year after year the insurance becomes more complex and more expensive.

There are those on PM who have greater experience in this area than I do. In addition to PM would suggest posing your question over at www.snugbus.com
 
Just a quick question, what type of Insurance policy are you shop owners getting when you rent a commercial space.
I just rented my first 1200sq.ft. mini shop.
landlord said I needed insurance, contract description looks like "commercial property insurance"
but I thought "commercial general liability" policy was what is usually needed?

I got a quote for General Liability for a machine shop, $4,000 a year, OUCH! WTF?
Any input is appreciated.
You'll need to see different companies before selecting one, I have recently got a quote from one company and price was less then $1k
 
Just a quick question, what type of Insurance policy are you shop owners getting when you rent a commercial space.
I just rented my first 1200sq.ft. mini shop.
landlord said I needed insurance, contract description looks like "commercial property insurance"
but I thought "commercial general liability" policy was what is usually needed?

I got a quote for General Liability for a machine shop, $4,000 a year, OUCH! WTF?
Any input is appreciated.
I'd definitely make a few phone calls. I've obtained excellent insurance for about $200/month. Liability, slip/fall, and building/property.
Call a few local shops and see who they deal with. Some insurance companies have NO CLUE what a machine shop is.
 








 
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