chester

Is tanning liability insurance necessary? I have been in business for 12 years and have only had two people ask for money to pay for damages that supposedly resulted from a burn at my salon.

I'm not even convinced that my salon burned them. I've had many customers tell me that they tanned at another salon in the same day that they tried to tan at mine. Of course, I turned them away. But how many others attempted to do this? If someone claims that they were burned, how do you know that they didn't visit another salon immediatley after tanning at mine?

Anyway, the first person dropped her claim after I told her to come to the salon with any evidence that she visited a doctor or missed work due to the burns.

The second person came to my salon and provided me proof of doctor's visits and lost time at work. He showed me his burns and his skin was literally peeling off like a snake. Made me kind of suspicious because I have never seen anyone get that burned with only one tanning visit, even with a 20 minute visit with lilly white skin. Anyway, I paid the guy. He was only asking for $400 and agreed to sign a notorized waiver not to sue me for any more damages. I figured it was cheaper to pay him directly rather than file a claim with the insurance company and have my rates raised.

To get to the point, I have paid over $40,000 in tanning insurance and have not made a claim yet and they keep raising my rates. I could have paid for a lot of medical bills, etc. directly and still have been financially far ahead. I find that most people are willing to take money to pay for damages directly rather than have to hire a lawyer and wait for years before they receive any money. I actually considered dropping my tanning liability insurance and only carrying regular liability insurance to cover any slips, falls, etc. I figure that if someone gets burned, I'll just pay them directly if they are willing to provide me with some evidence that they tanned at my salon and provide proof of a burn with a doctor's report. If they still want to go to court to sue me for a million dollars, I'll just give them the keys to the front door if they win. I'm incorporated so they can't sue me personally.

Neon Beach

I guess it depends on how much of a gambler you are.

ramcat

Florida required proof of insurance.

sbtan

Profesional liability is a policy to protect you against damages caused by your recomendations, if you recomend a tan time that burns someone you are liable for that burn. What you can never be sure of if a person who burns upon your recomendation was at another salon or outside baking all day. They need to prove it happened at yor salon and if you can show that when you recomend a tan that it should not burn someone. I was told I really did not need it but try to find someone to write the commercial liability without it, as stated inaother post lower your PL to the minimum they will write, $300,000.