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Appliance Business Insurance: Repair, Installation & Maintenance

If you provide device repair and maintenance services, your focus is always to get the damaged appliance up and running. While you might have top-notch technical skills, and certifications, and be extremely careful when repairing broken smart devices, you can't avoid the potential risks. The only means to protect your business from the potential liabilities involved in your line of work is to purchase comprehensive appliance repair insurance. 

What Risks Do Appliance Repair and Maintenance Businesses Face?

Risks lurk all around when rendering appliance repair and maintenance services. The following are some of the risks device repair businesses are exposed to every day:

  • Commercial building damage caused by fire, resulting in loss of equipment and customers' appliances

  • Customers' lawsuits against your business for property damages or unsafe repair works

  • Theft of business equipment and customers' appliances

  • Work-related injuries sustained by your employees

  • Lawsuits by employees because of employer negligence, work malpractice, or discrimination


In all those occurrences, your business is held liable. Appliance repair business insurance covers the financial implications of all the risks you're vulnerable to. Without it, you have to pay for the damages and injuries from your business's funds, which entails losses. 


What is Appliance Repair Insurance, and How does It Differ From Home Appliance Insurance?

Appliance repair insurance is a business insurance product that protects appliance repair businesses from third-party liabilities and property damages. Comprehensive appliance maintenance insurance also provides workers' compensation to cover your employees' medical expenses and lost income due to work-related injuries. 

 

Here's a real-world situation when an appliance repair insurance policy can cover you: You may visit a customer's home to fix a microwave, and the appliance falls, damaging the floor. In another situation, you might leave a piece of equipment unattended in the hallway, and someone trips over it and suffers a dislocated wrist. 

 

The injured individual may file a claim against your business, and appliance care insurance can cover you against bodily injuries and property damages that can potentially ruin your business. 

 

Appliance Repair Insurance vs. Home Appliance Insurance

It's easy to confuse an appliance repair coverage policy and home appliance insurance. The former is designed for businesses that provide appliance repair and maintenance solutions. It protects them from liabilities (third-party property damages and bodily injuries).

 

Home appliance insurance (also referred to as a home appliance warranty) reimburses a homeowner if covered appliances get damaged because of natural causes, human errors, or factory defects.

 

To avoid confusion, just remember that appliance repair insurance is a type of business insurance. On the other hand, home appliance insurance is a type of homeowner’s insurance. 

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Types of Appliance Repair Insurance Coverage

There are several types of insurance for appliance repair businesses. They include:

 

General Liability Insurance

A general liability insurance policy covers your business against third-party claims for bodily injuries and property damage. Your employees may damage appliances when doing repairs, or a customer might sustain injuries in your commercial building. Your general liability insurance pays for defense costs and compensation to the aggrieved parties. 

 

Note that basic general liability insurance is a claims-made policy. This means that it will only cover personal injury claims and property damage claims filed against your business at the same time the incident happened. This won’t provide coverage if your appliance repair service caused property damage or personal injuries sometime later. 

 

To solve this problem, carriers allow the adding of products and completed operations coverage to general liability insurance. With products and completed operations coverage, general liability can cover personal injury and property damage claims filed by customers against your business sometime later after you completed the repair service. 

 

Customers and other businesses might accuse your appliance repair business of slander, libel, and copyright infringement. General liability insurance will protect you from these too but only if you decide to add advertising injury coverage.

 

So just to be clear, basic general liability insurance only covers claims made during the time the covered peril happened. That’s why it’s added with products and completed operations coverage and advertising injury coverage for more protection. 

 

 

Commercial Auto Insurance

You also need coverage for the commercial van you use to travel to a customer's premise for on-call appliance repairs. This coverage offers:

  • Auto Liability coverage

  • Physical damage coverage

  • Medical payments (also referred to as personal injury protection)

  • Uninsured/underinsured motorists' insurance

 

You might collide with another vehicle while heading to a client’s place. It’s also possible for you to crash into an object due to poor visibility.  Auto liability coverage sees to it that if ever any of the two happens, you don’t use your own money to pay settlements and defense costs if ever the matter is taken to court. 

 

Physical damage coverage sees to it that you don’t incur losses when repairing damaged or replacing defective vehicle parts. Physical damage coverage can be categorized into two - collision and comprehensive. 

 

Your vehicle will surely get damaged if it crashes into another vehicle or object - broken windows, dented bumpers, and busted headlights. Collision coverage is what will help you take care of these things at the lowest possible cost or no cost at all.

 

On the other hand, comprehensive physical damage coverage will take care of costs if your vehicle got damaged because of fire, theft, vandalism, riot, extreme weather, and other covered perils. 

 

The easiest way to distinguish between comprehensive and collision insurance is to state that collision coverage takes care of damage resulting from crashes. On the other hand, comprehensive coverage takes care of damage resulting from any event aside from a collision. 

 

Medical payments coverage will be very helpful if you get involved in an accident with passengers. Its purpose is to pay for the injured passenger’s emergency treatment. However, note that should the passengers decide to sue you, medical payments coverage can’t help. 

 

Many people drive without commercial auto insurance. Some are also insured but only have the minimum coverage needed. Getting involved in accidents caused by these drivers is problematic.

 

Underinsured/uninsured motorists' insurance sees to it that you’re adequately covered. This insurance policy will cover expenses if an underinsured/underinsured driver can’t cover you with his or her auto liability insurance policy.


Workers' Compensation

If you've employed workers to provide appliance repair, you're legally required to have workers' compensation. This insurance policy covers medical bills and lost income when an employee sustains a work-related injury or illness. 

 

So when do you get workers compensation? Workers compensation is required the moment one or more employees are working for you. Understand that this is a state-mandated coverage. Meaning that there will be a penalty if you don’t comply. The penalty depends on where you’re located. For example, if you’re in Idaho, you’ll be fined $25 dollars for each day you didn’t have workers comp coverage (meaning that if you didn’t purchase workers comp for 25 days then the penalty will be $300). 

 

Even though it is a bit expensive, workers compensation insurance is very useful. Aside from covering costs for an injured employee’s benefits, it also offers some legal protection. Some states have workers comp laws that prohibit employees from suing employers for work-related injuries.

 

Employer’s Liability Insurance

Employees might sue if they get injured at work. General liability insurance can’t cover you in this case because it only takes care of third-party personal injury claims. So is there any other insurance that can help? Yes, there is - employer’s liability insurance. Just like general liability insurance, employer’s liability insurance covers attorney fees and settlements.  


How about sexual harassment, discrimination, and wrongful termination? Does employer’s liability insurance cover these things? The answer is no. Employment practices liability insurance covers such perils. Employment practices liability insurance provides money for defense costs and settlements if an employee sues you for his or her injuries. 


Commercial Property Insurance

Commercial property insurance protects your appliance repair business’s commercial building. Perils like fire or extreme weather might destroy it completely. Riots, vandals, and thieves might cause some damage too.  


Building reconstruction or repair is expensive. That’s why it’s smart to get commercial property insurance even though it seems like you don’t need it right now. In case your appliance repair business’s building got totaled due to fire or extreme weather, the policy will pay for reconstruction costs. Commercial auto property insurance also covers repairs if the building only got damaged. 


Inside your building are equipment used to repair appliances. And so, consider adding business equipment coverage to commercial property insurance. Business equipment coverage reimburses your losses if business equipment were lost or damaged because of fire, theft, vandalism, and other named perils. 


Does your appliance repair business sell spare parts? If so, consider getting insurance for those too. And to do so, add stocks and contents coverage to your commercial property insurance. Stocks and contents coverage reimburses your losses if valuable items, except work tools and equipment, got damaged or lost.


Crime Insurance

Just like any other business, your appliance repair shop might experience burglary or theft. Fraud and social engineering can happen too, though rare. But still, these crimes will make you lose a lot of money. Ponder about getting crime insurance, because it will help.

 

Crime insurance reimburses your losses if third parties manage to successfully do any of the following against your appliance repair business:

  • Fraud

  • Theft

  • Document manipulation

  • Social engineering

  • Destruction of money and other related items


What if an employee does any of the following crimes above? If you’re worried about losses if such a thing happens, add employee dishonesty coverage to crime insurance. 


By the way, you should know that crime insurance is underwritten in two ways. The first type of crime insurance provides coverage the moment you filed a claim upon discovering the crime. On the other hand, the second type provides coverage even if you filed a claim much later when the crime was discovered so long as the incident happened while the policy is valid or active. 

 

Professional Liability Insurance

Also known as Errors and Omissions (E&O insurance), professional liability coverage protects your appliance repair business when a third-party files a claim due to wrong advice or negligence that results in financial or economic loss. We recommend you have professional liability insurance and general liability insurance. By having both, you will have comprehensive protection from third-party claims.

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Appliance Repair Business Insurance Cost

There's no average cost of appliance repair insurance coverage because every business has its own insurance needs. Besides, several factors affect the monthly premiums companies pay for appliance installation insurance. They include:

  • Your chosen insurance carrier

  • The coverage you need

  • Business location

  • The services you provide

  • Policy limits

  • The commercial property your own/lease

  • Number of employees

  • The equipment and tools you use


On average, an appliance repair general liability policy costs $33 per month or $396 per year for a $1 million coverage. To save costs on premiums, ask if the carrier has new customer, business experience, and policy bundle discounts. Also, decide to have a high deductible as doing so will significantly decrease rates.

 

By the way, here’s a table showing the pricing of the best appliance repair insurance companies.


Cost per Month Cost per Year Best for
CoverWallet $34 $408 Appliance repair business insurance quotes comparison online
Hiscox $35.89 $430.68 Appliance repair business insurance with more than $2 million limit
AIG $42.31 $507.72 Appliance repair business insurance with 24/7 support
Allstate $160 $1,920 Appliance repair insurance with no deductibles

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Best Appliance Repair Insurance Companies

Many insurance companies provide appliance repair and maintenance insurance. Still, it would be best to be discriminative when searching for an insurer to partner with. If you want to purchase appliance installation or repair insurance, consider buying the coverage from one of the following companies. Read the reviews below to know their pros, cons, and monthly pricing for a $1 million general liability coverage. 


CoverWallet Appliance Repair Business Insurance


Pros

  • Get covered online

  • Compare the appliance repair business insurance quotes of different carriers 

  • Offers a many useful business insurance policies

  • Cancel your coverage anytime 

Cons

  • Not an insurance company but a broker selling the quotes of its partners 


CoverWallet helps you find the best appliance repair business insurance coverage with its online quotes comparison. Provide the required details and with just a simple click of a button, the company’s online quotes comparison platform will give you the offers and pricing of different carriers. The best thing is that CoverWallet doesn’t only give you quotes but also allows you to purchase insurance immediately.


Best for: Appliance repair business insurance quotes comparison online

Average cost: $34  per month

Our rating: 10/10


Hiscox Appliance Repair Insurance


Pros

  • Offers generous limits

  • Free business resources

Cons

  • Has a lot of customer complaints


Hiscox is one of the long-standing insurance providers, having been in the industry for over 120 years. The company provides appliance repair insurance for Hiscox-branded appliances and equipment. All parts must carry at least a 90-day/3-month manufacturer's warranty, which covers any manufacturing defect. 

 

The insurance carrier has factory-trained technicians who can provide appliance and furnace repair and replacement services for major brands. Like other appliance repair insurance providers, customers require a copy of the purchase receipt when filing claims. Subsequently, Hiscox arranges for in-home repair services or in-store shop repairs, whichever works for you. 

 

Besides professional repairs, the company also caters to DIYers by ordering the replacement parts they need to repair their appliances and furnaces. The company has a wide range of assorted factory-authorized parts and components. You only have to call Hiscox and tell them the appliance brand and serial number, and the company provides the estimated price and when you can expect to find the part in-store. 

 

Best for: Appliance repair business insurance with more than $2 million limit 

Average cost: $35.89  per month

Our rating: 8/10

 

AIG Appliance Repair Insurance


Pros

  • 24/7 customer service

  • Global service capabilities

  • Insurance underwritten by warranty and insurance professionals

Cons

  • 24/7 customer support may only be available for Americans

  • Insurance only covers appliances by renowned brands


AIG  was established in 1919 and has been a go-to insurance provider for a wide range of coverage policies. For 30+ years, the insurance carrier has provided end-to-end appliance repair insurance to some renowned and globally-acclaimed brands. 

 

With its flexible global service capabilities, the company provides everything, from warranty administration, claims processing, 24/7 US-based customer service, and contract underwriting. Its appliance repair insurance combines warranty and insurance programs that include risk management and underwriting services. Retailers and manufacturers get warranty management provisions, including protection plans, mobile insurance, and extended service plans. 

 

Best for: Appliance repair business insurance with 24/7 support

Average cost: $42.31  per month

Our rating:  8/10


Allstate Appliance Repair Insurance


Pros

  • Insurance covers mechanical and electrical failures

  • Hassle-free online claims

  • No deductible or hidden fees

Cons

  • Buyers may have to purchase coverage from a third party

 

Allstate has been providing insurance for over 85 years, helping people protect their families and property. While you might purchase an appliance and get a one-year or two-year warranty, Allstate provides protection for up to five years. 

 

Appliance repair insurance from Allstate provides coverage for mechanical and electrical failures, including complex components built to work for years after purchase. The insurance covers leaks, damages due to power failures, food spoilage of up to $300 due to refrigerator damage, and missed laundry reimbursement of up to $50 during the third to fifth year. 

 

With Allstate insurance, customers can file their claims online 24/7, although they'll require the original purchase receipt. Once approved, the company schedules in-home repair services to offer customers convenience. Alternatively, policyholders can choose their preferred appliance repair service. 

 

Best for: Appliance repair insurance with no deductibles 

Average cost: $160  per month

Our rating: 8/10


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If you run an appliance repair and maintenance business, compare appliance repair insurance quotes by clicking the " Get Quotes " button to get the offers and pricing of the top insurance providers.


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