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admin — Wed, 27 Feb 2019 06:44:07 +0000

Business admin Wed, 02/27/2019 - 01:44

Tips that could help protect customer vehicles in your body shop's care

SIL6504 — Fri, 22 Jun 2018 17:18:16 +0000

Tips that could help protect customer vehicles in your body shop's care SIL6504 Fri, 06/22/2018 - 13:18

When customers leave their car at your auto body shop for repair, they likely have a lot on their mind. Either they've recently been in an accident, or they've had a breakdown of some sort that leads them to need your services. You know what may NOT be on your customers' minds? The risk of something happening to their vehicle while at your shop. Yet things happen while vehicles are being serviced. A mechanic might accidentally back one vehicle into another during a test drive, or a vehicle could be left outside and is damaged by a hailstorm overnight.

When a vehicle is left with your business for service, there's specific insurance coverage you can purchase to help protect it. Garagekeepers coverage provides physical damage coverage, comprehensive and collision, to vehicles left in what the insurance industry calls your "care, custody and control." There are three types of Garagekeepers coverage: Direct Primary, Legal Liability and Direct Excess. The most frequently chosen option is Direct Primary.

Direct Primary will pay for any damages, while the vehicle is in your care, custody and control, from a covered loss. Direct Primary supplies broader coverage, but at a higher cost and no need to prove legal liability.

Legal Liability is intended to help protect your customers' vehicles from damage that the shop could be held liable for, due to negligence while in your care, custody and control. For example, if a customer's vehicle was left unlocked and unattended, then broken into or stolen, this would be a scenario in which Legal Liability could apply. The key difference between Legal Liability and Direct Primary is that Direct Primary will pay regardless of fault.

Direct Excess works similarly to Direct Primary. Direct Excess will pay for damage to the customer's vehicle in excess of any amount collectible under the owner's policy or that its owner's coverage will not pay for, on a claim for damages from a covered loss. The difference with Direct Excess is that it will only kick in after any other applicable insurance has paid out. In the case of the hailstorm scenario mentioned above, if your customers' vehicles experienced damage from the hail, and have insurance that will cover their vehicles, your Direct Excess will apply only after their insurance has been applied.

As an auto services shop owner, you have several items that need to be on your mind. These should be at the forefront: First, make sure you have the right Garagekeepers insurance coverage in place. Second, take steps to reduce your chances of having a claim for damage to a customer's car. Lastly, carry a high enough limit to cover the potential losses.

The shop managers and supervisors should lead employee discussions on how to prevent accidents and damage to their customers' property. Below are the categories of information you should consider covering with all newly hired auto service employees. These items should be continually reviewed with all staff members.

Make onsite controls standard procedure for all employees.
There are specific things you can implement, which could help to increase your ability to monitor your operation and reduce the risk of a potential loss. Signs indicating where customers should park, security cameras, and adequate parking lot lighting are just a few things you can do. Make sure these controls are installed and maintained.

Update your work procedures to include controls that must be done regularly to be effective, such as conducting a walk around inspection of every vehicle, and signed off on by the customer and the shop manager at drop off. Implement standard procedures such as asking customers to remove valuables from their vehicle, and even designating where you keep the customer's keys while you have the car.

Hire the right people, and provide the right training.
Risk management includes having the right people on the job. Adding certain checks to your hiring process can go a long way to help ensure you're bringing qualified people on board. And, continuing to evaluate employee performance is critical to maintaining a well-run operation. Confirming a new hire has a valid driver's license seems simple, but could be just as important as making sure they have an acceptable driving record.

Once hired, ongoing training should be a priority. First, make sure each employee has been provided the right training needed to do their job and has been allowed time to fill any training gaps. Then, keep training up to date by providing regular opportunities to learn about new vehicles, processes, safety procedures and services.

The people servicing cars must also be good at driving them.
Of course, driving ability and training are important, but, it's also critical to establish safe driving habits. Before backing up a vehicle, get out of the car, and fully check the area around it to make sure nothing is in the way. Ask for help from a co-worker when there is limited visibility. Brush off all the snow off the car before moving it. These are things that can easily be missed when in a rush on a busy day at your shop. However, they're also common ways that accidents and damages occur.

Finally, consider implementing procedures and training around reporting accidents. If a vehicle in your shop is damaged, the details are important. Even who completes and receives the reports should be standardized. And, management should review accident reports with employees to help avoid similar accidents in the future.

As an auto services shop owner, your next step should be to talk to your insurance agent. Use these professionals as a resource to help make sure you have the right insurance protection and risk management practices in place to help keep your customers happy and your business on the right path.

State Auto Insurance makes no representations or guarantee as to the correctness or sufficiency of any information contained herein, nor guarantees results based upon use of this information. State Auto does not warrant that reliance upon this document will prevent accident and losses or satisfy federal, state and local codes, ordinances and regulations. The reader assumes entire risk as to use of this information.

Make your auto body paint spray booth a smooth operation

SIL6504 — Fri, 22 Jun 2018 16:35:33 +0000

Make your auto body paint spray booth a smooth operation SIL6504 Fri, 06/22/2018 - 12:35

Smooth is a very important word when it comes to auto body paint jobs. You want to avoid that orange peel effect and get a beautifully smooth finish. You also want the process itself to go smoothly, so you don't end up with a fire or explosion in your paint spray booth.

A smooth operation at your auto body service shop starts with meeting the current codes and standards from the National Fire Protection Association® (NFPA®). Specifically, NFPA 33 is the code that provides requirements to reduce fire and explosion hazards when dealing with spray application processes that use flammable or combustible materials. It's important for the auto body servicing and related industries that use these types of operations.

Your insurance program will likely require that you at least meet the standards in NFPA 33, plus national fire codes. You're probably also required to have a paint spray booth with an automatic sprinkler system. We insure many auto body service shops at State Auto, and we require all to have and to follow the proper fire protection requirements.

As an insurance company, we see what happens when the proper safety conditions aren't achieved. Our trained Risk Engineering staff can offer suggestions to help further reduce the exposure to hazards and provide guidance on who and where to go, for assistance on specific topics.

Implement a routine - and well-documented - maintenance program. Your program should include removal and cleaning of overspray from the walls, floors and ceilings of spray booths. The ventilation ducts and filters in modern, quality spray booths should also be serviced regularly. When overspray material builds up, it can act as a propellant for fire.
Be sure that the proper ventilation system has been installed. This works towards keeping the potentially dangerous atmosphere controlled in your shop.Make sure you use explosion proof lighting and fire rated wiring only. Review the lighting and wiring installed in the booth.
If you're using a spray booth, you're also using paints and stains. These highly flammable materials will need to be stored on site. Make sure paints and stains are stored in properly labeled containers with pressure release valves. Keep them in the smallest quantities possible. And store them indoors, in an approved fire rated cabinet, to help contain any explosion or fire.

Maintain a high standard for your operations - everything from the quality of your spray booth and materials, to the skills and training of your staff, and the detailed care you take in your work - you can help to reduce your risk of a potentially dangerous and costly situation.

The professional services liability question

SIL6504 — Fri, 22 Jun 2018 15:50:00 +0000

The professional services liability question SIL6504 Fri, 06/22/2018 - 11:50

As a business owner, do you need professional liability or general liability for your business? The answer could be both. If you're not sure why you might need these two types of liability insurance, or, if you're thinking, "Aren't those the same thing?", keep reading.

Let's start with the easy answer - most every business owner needs some form of business liability coverage. A popular version is called a General Liability Policy, also called commercial liability, or CGL. No matter what kind of business you have, you will probably need protection in case something happens to someone on your property, or if you (or others on your behalf) accidentally cause bodily injury to others or property damage to someone else's property.

General liability also addresses things like personal and advertising injury, which include coverage for damages resulting from libel, slander, false arrest, detention, malicious prosecution, copyright infringement and slander in your advertising. And, this type of insurance pays for legal expenses to help defend you if you're sued for something that's covered in the policy. You might not be responsible or guilty in the suit, but you still will likely have to defend yourself.

This is a simplified description of general liability insurance, but hopefully, you see how critical it is for most businesses.

Here's the real question: Do you know if you need professional liability insurance?

Professional liability is not the same as general liability. Whether or not you need professional liability often depends on the type of business you own.

First, let's look at how professional liability is different than general liability.

Say you're a florist. You have a small shop on Main Street and you deliver flowers to weddings most weekends. If a customer slips on water spilled from a floral vase in your shop and is injured, your general liability policy would respond. If you fail to deliver flowers to the correct wedding or deliver wilted flowers, you could be sued by the customer. In this case, no property other than the flowers were damaged, and no one was injured. This suit came as a result of your professional services (or, in this scenario, failure to render services properly). This is where professional liability insurance comes in.

Professional liability insurance is for errors, omissions or malpractice resulting from your professional services. Other examples of businesses that likely need professional liability include aestheticians, attorneys, IT professionals, engineers, architects, physicians, optometrists, pharmacists, printers, veterinarians, and many more.

So, while every business likely needs a commercial general liability policy, only those that provide professional services might need a policy that provides coverage for lawsuits that arise out of the service itself. These businesses probably need both types of liability insurance, and if a loss occurs, only one will respond.

The thing with both of these policies is that there's always an exception. Insurance is designed to address an endless number of possible unique scenarios, which can make it complicated.

For example, a beautician who makes a mistake while creating a particular haircut or style could be protected by a professional liability policy for any resulting damages. Fairly straightforward. But, a professional liability policy may also cover lawsuits that are the result of injuries caused by infections from pedicures or scalp burns or other injuries arising out of the beautician's services. Are the injuries the result of the beautician's professional services (professional liability), or out of a completed operation (general liability)? It's possible it could be both.

For each claim, your agent and the insurance company will evaluate the loss and the coverage. The key is, make sure you have the appropriate coverages for your business. To avoid conflict in event of a claim, it may also be prudent to maintain your general liability and professional liability with the same insurance company.

If you're not sure whether you need professional liability, general liability insurance, or both - or which policy would cover which type of loss - don't go it alone. Ask your insurance agent for guidance.