How to Insure a Day Care in New Jersey

While some folks may think running a day care involves little more than finger paints and songs about colors, really there’s a lot more that goes into it behind the scenes. Just like any other type of business, day care owners face many potential risks on a daily basis. That’s why it’s important to work with a New Jersey independent insurance agent to get your business set up with the right day care insurance. But until then, go ahead and check out this guide to day care insurance.

What Is Day Care Insurance?

Just like anywhere else in the country, day care insurance in New Jersey is a parent-approved snack of an insurance package designed to meet the specific needs of day care owners. This includes all the coverage offered with a basic small business insurance plan in addition to coverages tailored to the unique needs of day cares. Of course, only specific perils stated in the policy will be covered. All policies come with a list of excluded perils as well.

How to Insure Your Day Care in New Jersey

Thing is, one insurance policy won’t work for every type of day care or each specific day care owner. With the help of your New Jersey independent insurance agent, you’ll work together to assemble a package of different coverage types to protect yourself and your day care against risks that are unique to you, depending on specific daily activities involved. Day care insurance is designed to keep your business afloat following a huge disaster like theft or lawsuits.

Your New Jersey independent insurance agent will help identify the right types of coverage for you as they learn more about your specific day care and its operations. Since day care insurance is so customizable, you’ll be able to work together to build a policy that fits not only your business’s needs, but also the needs of your bank account.

What Does Day Care Insurance Cover in New Jersey?

A day care insurance policy is typically the easiest option when it comes to knocking out your extensive list of coverage needs all together in one tidy package. These policies offer the basics of business insurance coverage, including most of the liability insurance you’ll need, plus specific coverages tailored to your unique niche.

Here are several day care insurance coverage options available in New Jersey:

• General liability: This coverage protects you against property damage or injury claims made by a third party. 
• Workers’ compensation: If your employees become ill, get injured, or worse due to a work-related incident, this aspect of the insurance covers the financial ramifications. Depending on the type of work being performed, this coverage is mandatory in New Jersey. 
• Property insurance: Covers loss of or damage to your physical property, including your office space and often the inventory in it. Protected mishaps include fires, storms, and more.
• Cyber risk & privacy liability: Covers the loss/theft of customers’ sensitive data including credit card numbers and more. This coverage can also save your business in the event a deposit or money transfer is intercepted by cybercriminals.
• Employment practices liability: Covers fees for lawyers and other financial ramifications if any of your employees are involved in harassment cases against coworkers or customers. When children are concerned, this coverage extends to negligence towards minors.
• Business income: A part of property insurance, this aspect covers the financial loss suffered while a business is closed due to fire damage or other disasters.

Your day care insurance package will be assembled by selecting the coverages that work for your unique business from a big list of available options. Coverage applies to everything from lost business revenue to potential legal/court fees and beyond.

What Does Day Care Insurance Not Cover in New Jersey?

Though day care insurance covers a lot of components necessary for your business’s protection, it unfortunately can’t cover everything. The following are examples of commonly excluded perils under day care insurance policies in New Jersey:

• Employee dishonesty
• General wear and tear of equipment, etc.
• Routine maintenance fees
• Earthquake damage
• Nuclear reaction and war
• Robbery
• Pollution
• Temperature/humidity changes
• Inexplicably lost inventory
• Flood damage*

*In a state like New Jersey that’s prone to flooding, you’ll most likely want to purchase additional flood coverage for your day care, or you may even be required to have it by your mortgage lender. Your New Jersey independent insurance agent can give you more information about finding coverage.

What Are the Benefits of Day Care Insurance in New Jersey?

Day care insurance provides protection to business owners in New Jersey in a number of ways. Beyond the day care’s physical building, many components of your business stand to be destroyed or otherwise harmed by common threats. There are three major benefits to having day care insurance:

• Protection against legal trouble: A costly and damaging event like a fire or lawsuit could send a business into the red without the proper coverage. If the business was unable to pay off their loans, vendors, or employees, they could face serious legal consequences. Day care insurance helps prevent these ugly matters from surfacing.
• Protection against a damaged reputation: Often times, huge incidents affecting day cares end up in the media. When it comes to customers’ personal property getting lost, damaged or destroyed, word about their upset could spread quickly and even turn from gossip into media coverage. Having the right day care insurance can help prevent your business’s reputation from going up in flames.
• Protection against bankruptcy: Imagine a severe storm or other terrible incident like an airplane crash that literally wipes out your day care entirely. Without the right insurance, the business owner could easily be forced into bankruptcy. Day care insurance helps your business’s doors remain open and operational or rebuild following massive destruction.

Your New Jersey independent insurance agent can help you review your day care insurance policy to answer any remaining questions about your coverage. They’ll also be able to help you figure out whether you’ve got enough coverage, or if you should purchase more.

How Much Does Day Care Insurance Cost in New Jersey?

Truthfully, it depends on quite a few things. A huge commercial day care center in a large city like Newark might pay $2,000 annually in combined liability insurance, workers' comp and more. However, an in-home day care service in a small town with a few, if any, additional employees might pay only $600 annually.

Of course, it’s hard to offer an average figure since each day care is unique. But really it depends on a number of factors, like:

• The type of day care: This involves more than just the songs you sing. The condition of the building you house your day care in, as well as the services you offer and any equipment you use will affect your business’s risk level. Obviously, more danger means more money for insurance.
• The location of the day care: Larger cities tend to have higher insurance premium costs, but it goes beyond that. Depending on where you are in the country, your location may be subject to various weather-related risks. Day care centers along the Atlantic Coast, such as in New Jersey’s case, may have premiums up to 20% higher due to risk of hurricane damage.
• The number of employees: The more you've got, the more workers' comp you’ll need. Simple as that.
• How much business you generate: Premiums are calculated based on business projections for the upcoming year. If your workload doubles, most likely your premiums will too.

Your New Jersey independent insurance agent can help you find more exact quotes when it comes to day care insurance premiums. They’ll also be able to help you find the most affordable policy that meets your needs.

Why Work with a New Jersey Independent Insurance Agent?

In order to get the protection you need and deserve, you’ll want to work with a trusted expert. And who could be better for the job than a local agent who shares your area code? Independent insurance agents act as your own personal insurance shoppers, offering you tons more options than one-policy companies. With just one call, they’ll hook you up with multiple quotes.

New Jersey independent insurance agents are armed with knowledge on what coverage is needed in your area, and they’ll get you set up with just enough of it — not too little, not too much. They’ll handle all the heavy lifting so you can rest assured you’ll be set up with the right coverage at the right price.

They’re not just there at the beginning either. If disaster strikes, your New Jersey agent will be there to help walk you through the claims process and make sure you’re getting the benefits you're entitled to. Now that’s thinking ahead.