Mobile and home-based barber insurance
Mobile and Home-Based Barber Insurance
Cutting hair from home or on the road keeps your costs down. It also means your home, your car and your tools carry business risks.
If a client trips on your front step or your clippers are taken from the car, your home and car policies may not pay.
Cover is subject to the policy terms and the insurer's acceptance.
Reviewed by
Founder and Director, Grace Insurance. Diploma in Broking, Fellow CIP. In insurance broking since 1992.
What insurance does a mobile barber need?
A mobile barber needs public liability that covers work in clients' homes and at events, and treatment risk cover, which pays if a cut, shave or colour hurts a client. Add tools cover for the kit you carry in the car. A home-based barber should also check their home and car policies, because many leave out business use.
The gaps
Why Your Home and Car Insurance Is Not Enough
Home insurance may leave out business
Home and car policies are written for private life, and many home policies leave out business activity or cap it at a small amount. A client hurt in your home studio, or clippers lost in a house fire, may not be covered.
Tell your car insurer about work
Driving between clients with your tools in the boot can count as business use. Tell your car insurer how you use the car, because a policy taken out for private use only may not pay a claim.
Check your lease or strata rules
If you rent your home or live in a unit, check that your lease or strata by-laws, the rules set for everyone in your block of units, allow a home business with clients coming in.
Mobile barber insurance
The Covers a Mobile Barber Needs
A mobile barber usually needs four covers: public liability, professional indemnity and treatment risk, tools and equipment, and personal accident and illness. Tell us every place you cut, so each policy matches the work you do.
Public liability
Covers injury and damage claims at clients' homes, at events and in your home studio. Your limit, the most the insurer pays for one claim, can be $5 million, $10 million or $20 million.
Read about public liability →
Professional indemnity and treatment risk
Covers a claim that a cut, shave or colour hurt a client, whether you did it at their home, at an event or in your studio.
Read about professional indemnity →
Tools and equipment
Pays to repair or replace your clippers, scissors and styling tools if they are stolen or damaged in the car, at a client's home or at an event.
Read about tools and equipment →
Personal accident and illness
Pays you a weekly amount if an injury or illness stops you working, including an injury from a car accident on the way to a job.
Read about personal accident and illness →Mobile barber risks
Risks on the Road and at Home
The main risks for a mobile barber are a client hurt where you cut, kit stolen from the car, a reaction to a treatment and an injury that stops you working. Each one is a claim on a different cover.
A client trips over your clipper cord
Even if it happens in their own lounge room, they can still claim against you. Public liability can cover it, as long as the policy lists mobile work.
Kit stolen from the car between jobs
Tools and equipment cover pays for stolen kit, but many policies pay only if the car was locked, the kit was out of sight and someone forced their way in.
A dye reaction before a wedding
If a groom reacts to beard dye on the morning of his wedding, the claim is about the treatment itself. That goes to treatment risk cover, which pays when a cut, shave or colour hurts a client.
A crash on the way to a client
Damage to the car goes on your car insurance. If you are hurt and cannot work, personal accident and illness cover pays you a weekly amount.
Home studio insurance for barbers
Working From a Home Studio
List your home as a workplace
A home studio, a chair set up in a spare room or garage, brings clients onto your property. Your public liability needs to list your home address as a place you work, so a client who trips on your front step is covered.
Check with your local council
Your local council may have rules for running a business from home with clients visiting. Check with them before you take your first booking.
If you also rent a chair
If you also cut in a shop on some days, tell us every place you work so the policy lists them all. See insurance for barbers renting a chair for the covers a renter needs.
Who we cover
Other People We Cover
Mobile barbers FAQ
Questions From Mobile Barbers
Often not. Many home policies leave out business activity or limit it. You need public liability for clients who visit and cover for the tools you use.
Yes. Carrying tools and driving between clients can count as business use, and a policy taken out for private use only may not pay. Tell your car insurer how you use the car.
Theft from a car is often covered only if it was locked, the tools were out of sight and someone forced their way in. Many policies leave out tools left in the car overnight.
You need the same covers as a mobile barber: public liability that covers work at clients' homes and events, and tools cover. You also need treatment risk cover, which pays if a colour or chemical treatment hurts a client.
It can, if the policy lists mobile and event work. Organisers will often ask before the day for a certificate of currency, a short document from your insurer that proves your cover is active.
Mobile barber insurance quote
Get a Mobile Barber Quote
Tell us where you cut and what kit you carry, and a broker will contact you with your options.
1800 556 777Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 5:00pm Perth time
