Snow removal insurance

• What kinds of insurance does a snow removal business need?

  Given the nature of the job, general liability (GL) is a must-have insurance for snow removal businesses. It covers you if you accidentally damage someone’s property or injure them. And it protects you and your employees from slander and libel suits.

  How about your snow removal tools? You can’t work without them. So you’ll want to protect them with business personal property (BPP) insurance, which you can buy as a bolt-on to GL. This covers your tools and equipment for loss, theft, or damage, both on-site and in transit.

  One more thing. If you have employees, you should check whether you need workers’ compensation for them. It’s mandatory in most states as it covers the cost of employee workplace illness and injury claims. Which when you’re working with powerful snow blowers and corrosive ice melts, could amount to a lot.

• Who needs snow removal insurance?

  Snow removal insurance is for anyone who owns or operates a snow removal business. You need it no matter the size or scale of your business – whether you command a whole fleet of snow plow trucks or it’s just you and a shovel.

  If you’re a landscaping or lawncare contractor who occasionally removes snow, you can buy landscaping insurance and have snow blowing and removal added on. You should check with your insurer all your activities are covered.

• What does snow removal general liability insurance cover?

  Snow removal GL covers you for:

  • Bodily injury – a pile of slush you’ve scooped off a driveway melts and slides onto the sidewalk. A passerby falls on the slippery surface and breaks their wrist. They claim against you for injury and ask that you cover their medical bills.
  • Property damage – you hit ice while shoveling snow, causing a large chunk to fly up in the air and smash through your client’s window. They demand you pay for the repairs.
  • Personal injury – you make some not-so-nice remarks about a client over lunch with your colleagues. Your client gets to hear about it and sues you for slander.

  Property or vehicle damage resulting from a collision while driving a snow plow truck is not covered by this insurance. For that, you’ll need commercial auto insurance.

• How much does snow removal insurance cost?

  Costs may vary depending on what insurance you buy, what coverage options you choose, and the size of your business.

  Don’t forget, how you pay for your insurance is up to you. You can cover it all in one go or split up your payments. Just call us if you’d like to talk it through.

• What other kinds of insurance do I need for snow removal?

  Anyone work for you? Employment practices liability insurance protects you from the cost of claims brought for unfair dismissal, sexual harassment, discrimination and more.

  And most states require you to have workers’ compensation insurance even if you only have one employee. It’s good to have. It protects your business from the cost of workplace injury claims — which can be crippling.

  You might not think you need cyber liability insurance. But one-man bands and small snow removal businesses are just as likely to be targeted by cybercriminals as big corporates. Size doesn’t matter to hackers. They just go for the easiest targets. And without tough cyber defenses, that’s you.

  So if you store sensitive client data, step up your cyber security. And protect your cashflow with a cyber liability policy. Because it’s not the attack that’ll wipe you out, it’s the huge cost of recovering from one. Cyber liability insurance can take care of these costs, so your snow removal business survives.

  Every snow removal business is unique, we get that. So we can build an insurance package to suit your particular needs. In minutes.

What other kinds of insurance do landscapers need?