Best Dog Grooming Business Insurance

The Hartford scores perfectly in coverage and affordability for dog grooming business insurance. Pet grooming professionals get comprehensive protection at competitive prices.

*We based all scores on a dog grooming business with two employees across professional liability, general liability, workers' comp and BOP policies.

Thimble leads dog grooming insurance at $52 monthly, especially for general liability coverage. But if you need workers comp, professional liability or BOP insurance, The Hartford and NEXT offer more affordable rates for those specific coverage types.

In general, dog grooming business insurance costs are the following for the four most popular coverage types:

• General Liability: $64 on average per month, ranging from $55 to $74, depending on the state
• Workers' Comp: $65 on average per month, ranging from $56 to $75, depending on the state
• Professional Liability (E&O): $55 on average per month, ranging from $47 to $63, depending on the state
• BOP Insurance: $93 on average per month, ranging from $79 to $109, depending on the state

For most dog grooming operations, general liability and animal bailee insurance represent the most critical non-required coverages. State laws and client contracts frequently mandate workers' compensation, professional liability, commercial property, and commercial auto insurance (for mobile operations).

Here's why these coverages matter and what coverage amounts work best for the average dog grooming business:

• General liability insurance: Covers client slip-and-falls and damaged belongings, the most common claims grooming businesses file. Get $1 to $2 million per occurrence or $2 to $3 million aggregate coverage.
• Workers' compensation: Required by law once you hire employees. Pays medical bills and lost wages when workers get hurt, from chemical burns to back injuries from lifting large dogs.
• Professional liability insurance: Protects you from negligence claims and grooming error lawsuits. Get $500,000 to $1 million per claim or $1 million aggregate to meet client requirements and avoid financial ruin.
• Animal bailee insurance (care, custody and control): Covers pets that get injured, lost, stolen or die while you're caring for them. Start with $2,500 to $5,000 per occurrence and a $10,000 aggregate limit. Handle multiple pets at once? Consider $15,000 to $25,000 per occurrence.
• Commercial property insurance: Protects your grooming tables, tubs, clippers, dryers and specialized equipment from damage or theft. Coverage runs $10,000 to $50,000 depending on your equipment value and business size.
• Commercial auto (for mobile grooming operations): Mobile groomers who transport pets need this. Get $1 million combined single limit (CSL) liability with comprehensive and collision coverage to meet state laws and protect your mobile setup.

Here's how to buy business insurance for your dog grooming company:

The Hartford is the best insurer for dog grooming business insurance, while Thimble offers the cheapest option overall. We also recommend getting quotes from NEXT, Coverdash and Simply Business. For the best deal, consult agents and similar businesses, research costs and companies, and compare multiple quotes.

We answer frequently asked questions about dog grooming business insurance:

We selected the best business insurer for dog grooming companies based on the following criteria:

• Affordability (50% of score): The lower a company's costs compared to the competition based on our base profile for four core coverage types, the better the company performs.
• Customer service (30% of score): We scored providers on overall customer satisfaction using industry studies, customer review forum ratings and public forum sentiment analysis from sites like Reddit.
• Coverage (15% of score): We scored business insurance providers for this category based on the flexibility, payment and actual coverage options.
• Financial stability (5% of score): Using financial stability industry ratings from companies like AM Best and Moody's, we created an overall rating to judge how likely companies are to pay out claims compared to the competition.

All pricing in this article is based on the following base profile to represent the vast majority of small businesses in all states:

• Three-person business with two employees
• Coverage: $1 million per occurrence and $2 million total per year for all but BOP, which includes the same coverage plus $5,000 of business property coverage
• $150,000 in payroll
• $300,000 annual revenue