Personal trainer insurance

Liability insurance for personal trainers

You know how you tell your clients the pain is only temporary? Well, when you’re facing a legal claim, the pain is anything but. The stress can shoot up your cortisol levels and the cost will strain your pocket. It could have lasting effects.

Luckily there’s personal trainer insurance. It protects you from the cost of claims, whether they’re for accidental damage, misconduct, or as a result of your professional training. Even if there are no grounds.

Think of it like a boxing pad: there to shield you from nasty knocks.

• Who needs personal trainers’ insurance?

  You might train out of a public gym, your home set-up or online. Wherever you run your training sessions, there’s always a risk of something going wrong. Whether it’s accidental or not.

  And in your line of work, even when you get the results the client asked for, sometimes they’re still not satisfied.

  For example, after twice weekly workouts for a year a client meets his goal to lose ten inches from his waist. He then fails to finish a marathon his family came to watch. Red-faced, he slaps you with a claim saying you didn’t train him properly.

  You know you delivered what he asked for. But with your reputation on the line, you’ll still have to prove it. Trouble is, that’s going to cost you. Without the right insurance, you’ll have to find the money to pay for your legal defense. Plus compensation, if the case doesn’t go your way.

  Personal trainers’ insurance can take care of this for you. If a client claims you did something wrong – even if was an accident, or the claim is groundless – your policy can cover your legal bills and compensation too.

  Liability insurance for personal trainers is a whole lot of peace of mind. Once you’ve got this, think how good you’ll feel. Then you can get back to telling your clients the same.

• Why do personal trainers need professional liability insurance?

  General liability insurance doesn’t cover claims arising from your personal training. And because you charge for your advice and service, you can be sued even if you did nothing wrong.

  Yeah, it sucks. But not if you have professional liability insurance (or errors and omissions, as it’s also called).

  As long as you have a valid trainer’s license or certificate, it covers you, your employee, intern, or volunteer, for claims of:

  • Bodily injury caused by your training
  • Negligence – making a mistake, giving the wrong advice or failing to deliver what you promise
  • Libel or slander
  • Sexual misconduct and abuse.

  And can pay your legal costs, plus compensation, if it’s due. Even if a claim is groundless.

  But that’s not all a professional liability policy covers. If you accidentally lose sensitive client data (it happens) it can pay up to $25,000 towards an HIPAA fine. And up to $5,000 if you should ever find yourself facing disciplinary action.

  What’s more, you can make your coverage retroactive, so it covers claims made by clients you trained in the past too. (As long as you’ve had continuous cover previously.) When you buy your policy, just agree the date you want your policy to go back to.

• Why do personal trainers need general liability insurance?

  Because accidents happen, no matter how careful you are.

  Imagine you leave a client unattended while you go answer the door. You return to find he’s tripped over a piece of equipment and injured his hip, needing hospital treatment.

  Or you’re training a client in their home and accidentally knock your protein shake all over their laptop. Or a long-standing client claims you were overheard saying something unkind about her to one of the other gym staff.

  You could be looking at more than a red-faced client.

  Any one of these scenarios could end in a claim. Legal fees, court costs – compensation if you’re found at fault… they all add up. Without the right insurance you’ll have to pay for this yourself. And as these costs come in at around 5 or 6 figures, that could be a serious stretch. It could even cause your business to collapse.

  General liability insurance for personal trainers covers you and anyone you employ (including temporary staff and volunteers) for:

  • Accidental damage caused to someone or their property, including fire damage at premises you rent
  • The cost of medical treatment, legal defense fees, and compensation if it’s due, regardless of fault
  • Claims made worldwide - as long as they’re registered in the US or a US territory.

  You can also get up to $250 a day to help with extra expenses and loss of earnings while a claim’s being settled. Because legal claims don’t just cost you money, they take up your time. They can even cost you a client or two.

  If you take your own equipment with you to training sessions, either to a clients’ or the gym you work out of, add business personal property coverage to your general liability policy. It protects your portables for loss, damage or theft.

  And if you need general liability insurance and want to protect your business equipment and property you rent or own, you might want to look at buying a business owner’s policy. It comes with general liability and property insurance as standard, plus a range of optional add-ons if you need them. What’s more, it often works out cheaper than buying the policies separately.

• How much does personal trainer insurance cost?

  Our policies are designed with small business and start-ups in mind. So there’ll be a price to suit your pocket even if you’re a solo outfit.

  Policy prices vary from business to business. The price you’ll pay for your coverage will depend on things like:

  • the size of your business
  • its location
  • the limits you choose.

  Choosing a higher deductible (the amount you’ll contribute towards the cost if there’s a claim) will reduce your premium. Just be sure you can actually afford to pay that amount if it comes to it.

  Whatever the cost, there’s a package to suit your particular business needs. And payment options, too. Pay annually, in one lump sum, or spread the cost with monthly payments – the choice is yours.

  As for the amount of cover you need, it’s always best to over-estimate. Think worst-case scenario. Then pick a figure you can sensibly afford.

What other kinds of insurance do personal trainers need?