Innfo: Operating A Successful B&B
A Guide For The Serious B&B Innkeeper
Insurance Quotes
for the Bed and Breakfast Innkeeper
February 19, 2006
by Kit Cassingham
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Insurance quotes are an important aspect of buying insurance. You need to be sure to get auto
insurance quotes, health insurance quotes, and life insurance quotes when you are buying those types
of insurance. Having a trusted agent and insurance company is one part of buying insurance, having
the right coverage for the right price is another important aspect of finding insurance coverage.
Whether you getinsurance quotes online or directly from people, be sure to compare policies and
companies, and make sure you are comparing like-kind policies.
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Any time you want to buy insurance, getting insurance quotes is the
first step. That's true whether you are buying something brand new, or renewing insurance you've had for
years. There is quite a collection of insurance policies you should be reviewing and renewing annually. Plan
on requesting auto insurance quotes for both your personal and inn autos, health insurance quotes, disability
insurance quotes, and travel insurance quotes for the travel insurance you offer your guests. Even if you
have a trusted agent, you should make sure you have up-to-date quotes and coverage options as you renew each
year.
Life insurance quotes don't fall into the same category as the
above quotes because it's not prudent to change life insurance coverage since as we age our premiums go up
with new policies, even with the same coverage. What you may want to consider though is evaluating your
policy and determine if you need to buy additional coverage or drop some of the coverage you have. Your life
insurance coverage could be a combination of whole life, universal life, and term life policies. Getting
quotes for those various types of policies helps you evaluate your postilion and action.
Another quote that's critical to get is the business insurance
coverage you have on the inn. As a reminder, you can't use your homeowner's insurance to cover the inn or
your liability and guests. Having commercial coverage for the B&B is imperative for preserving your financial
health. Make sure that not only are the basic business functions covered -- building, furnishings, equipment,
and supplies -- but also liability coverage for your guests and anyone coming onto the property. Then there
are the extra coverages that reflect your location and additional businesses; flood insurance for those whole
live near the coast or a river; additional liability insurance for those who offer rentals of things like
bikes, skates or boats; and coverage for special events held at your bed and breakfast.
When I was an innkeeper, I realized a week before the policy was
expiring that I hadn't priced my insurance in a while. What an interesting experience that was! First, don't
ask for an insurance quote with just a few days' lead and expect a reasonable response; most insurance agents
need much more time than that to work up a sound quote for you. But what was most interesting was the range
of responses I did get. I had given half a dozen insurance companies the limits and coverages I wanted
included in my quote but received some quotes that didn't touch on my needs and some that quoted on the
details requested plus additional, valuable coverages. My returned quotes ranged from $1,400-6,000. You have
to be very careful with evaluating your quotes so you are sure to be comparing the same policies.
I have only shopped for insurance quotes online once, and that was
for health insurance. In my experience, you aren't really getting "online quotes", you are giving your
information to a form online and then waiting for a human to contact you by email, mail or phone with a
quote. And those people want to give you more than you asked for, like disability insurance quotes or some
form of life insurance quote, as well as group and individual health insurance quotes. I'm sure that seeking
online insurance quotes will be a viable way to shop someday, but in my limited experience, it's not here
today.
I'd love to be able to find online life insurance quotes, whether
it's online whole and standard life insurance quotes, or term insurance. I want to shop around for my car
insurance with online quotes, as I shop for cars -- without human involvement until I narrow my scope.
The important message here is that you want to be sure to get
insurance quotes to make sure you have the right coverage for each situation you are insuring. Laws change.
Your needs change. And pricing changes. Be educated and get the best coverage you can afford.
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