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| | | Author: | HoleintheWall  | | Posted: | May 1, 2022 23:09 | | Subject: | Ontario, Canada Business-in-home Insurance | | Viewed: | 107 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| tldr: need insurance company in Ontario, Canada that will cover home insurance
and business-in-home insurance.
I started my Bricklink business around 1.5-2 years ago, and am in the process
of starting up a small computer business as well. Between the two businesses
the assets are material enough that I would like to have them covered by insurance.
I called up my insurance company (TD) to see if I could get coverage added to
home policy for business assets.
After waiting for a few days they called me back and told me that not only will
they Not cover it, but they will not be renewing my policy when it expires as
well. I asked for clarification and they stated that the value of my business
assets exceed their risk tolerance values. I than asked what if I purchased separate
commercial property insurance for the business assets and they stated the policy
would still not be renewed.
Soooo, that leaves me looking for a new insurance company. I've started calling
around to a couple different insurance brokers in town, but I was wondering if
anybody here might have some suggestions.
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| | | | | Author: | Cob | | Posted: | May 1, 2022 23:20 | | Subject: | Re: Ontario, Canada Business-in-home Insurance | | Viewed: | 43 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| My sister sells insurance and I asked this question.
She recommended a separate policy for the business and her company policies wouldn't
provide enough coverage for a small business. There is a limited amount of coverage
for personal assets through homeowners, however it would be combined with all
your home's belongings. In the event of a total loss she didn't think
I would be adequately covered.
In Selling, HoleintheWall writes:
| | tldr: need insurance company in Ontario, Canada that will cover home insurance
and business-in-home insurance.
I started my Bricklink business around 1.5-2 years ago, and am in the process
of starting up a small computer business as well. Between the two businesses
the assets are material enough that I would like to have them covered by insurance.
I called up my insurance company (TD) to see if I could get coverage added to
home policy for business assets.
After waiting for a few days they called me back and told me that not only will
they Not cover it, but they will not be renewing my policy when it expires as
well. I asked for clarification and they stated that the value of my business
assets exceed their risk tolerance values. I than asked what if I purchased separate
commercial property insurance for the business assets and they stated the policy
would still not be renewed.
Soooo, that leaves me looking for a new insurance company. I've started calling
around to a couple different insurance brokers in town, but I was wondering if
anybody here might have some suggestions.
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| | | | | | | Author: | HoleintheWall | | Posted: | May 1, 2022 23:48 | | Subject: | Re: Ontario, Canada Business-in-home Insurance | | Viewed: | 38 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| I'm a little angry at my insurance company for dropping me, but... better
to find this out now than after a catastrophic event happens. I'll just
have to find homeowners insurance that is ok with me having a small business
in the house with commercial insurance I guess.
In Selling, Cob writes:
| | My sister sells insurance and I asked this question.
She recommended a separate policy for the business and her company policies wouldn't
provide enough coverage for a small business. There is a limited amount of coverage
for personal assets through homeowners, however it would be combined with all
your home's belongings. In the event of a total loss she didn't think
I would be adequately covered.
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| | | | | Author: | dreambuilder71 | | Posted: | May 2, 2022 00:15 | | Subject: | Re: Ontario, Canada Business-in-home Insurance | | Viewed: | 38 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| I'm following this thread for good advice as well.
And very good to know that we shouldn't deal with TD ever again for doing
something so stupid, lol. Banks know nothing about money and only care about
their shareholders making money, or the politicians they own! This is why Cryptocurrency
was invented and growing strong!
Suggest we find a good insurance company who will cover all us Canadian Bricklink
sellers and sign on with them. Would be a huge win for hundreds of us sellers
and collectors in Canada to sign up with the same company!
Sorry I'm passionate about things and love when the little guy wins and teach
people we are stronger as a pack of small business owners. Ok, getting off my
soap box now. As you were. 
Peace,
James
In Selling, HoleintheWall writes:
| | tldr: need insurance company in Ontario, Canada that will cover home insurance
and business-in-home insurance.
I started my Bricklink business around 1.5-2 years ago, and am in the process
of starting up a small computer business as well. Between the two businesses
the assets are material enough that I would like to have them covered by insurance.
I called up my insurance company (TD) to see if I could get coverage added to
home policy for business assets.
After waiting for a few days they called me back and told me that not only will
they Not cover it, but they will not be renewing my policy when it expires as
well. I asked for clarification and they stated that the value of my business
assets exceed their risk tolerance values. I than asked what if I purchased separate
commercial property insurance for the business assets and they stated the policy
would still not be renewed.
Soooo, that leaves me looking for a new insurance company. I've started calling
around to a couple different insurance brokers in town, but I was wondering if
anybody here might have some suggestions.
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| | | | | | | Author: | Nubs_Select | | Posted: | May 2, 2022 00:33 | | Subject: | Re: Ontario, Canada Business-in-home Insurance | | Viewed: | 35 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| I should be looking for myself also since my inventory value is now getting up
there and I don’t think it’s a good idea to risk not having insurance anymore.
Hopefully some other Canadian stores that have insurance will be able to pitch
in.
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| | | | | Author: | legomalego | | Posted: | May 2, 2022 10:57 | | Subject: | Re: Ontario, Canada Business-in-home Insurance | | Viewed: | 35 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| TD is DEAD to me.
In Selling, HoleintheWall writes:
| | tldr: need insurance company in Ontario, Canada that will cover home insurance
and business-in-home insurance.
I started my Bricklink business around 1.5-2 years ago, and am in the process
of starting up a small computer business as well. Between the two businesses
the assets are material enough that I would like to have them covered by insurance.
I called up my insurance company (TD) to see if I could get coverage added to
home policy for business assets.
After waiting for a few days they called me back and told me that not only will
they Not cover it, but they will not be renewing my policy when it expires as
well. I asked for clarification and they stated that the value of my business
assets exceed their risk tolerance values. I than asked what if I purchased separate
commercial property insurance for the business assets and they stated the policy
would still not be renewed.
Soooo, that leaves me looking for a new insurance company. I've started calling
around to a couple different insurance brokers in town, but I was wondering if
anybody here might have some suggestions.
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| | | | | Author: | HoleintheWall | | Posted: | May 24, 2022 23:24 | | Subject: | Re: Ontario, Canada Business-in-home Insurance | | Viewed: | 29 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| As a follow up the insurance search is still ongoing.
Long story short there are lots of insurance carriers I can switch to that will
cover my business assets.... However, none of them will cover it due to the
fact that my business has international sales (aka to the USA). Apparently
having international sales puts me in a different liability category so I need
to look for a full commercial insurance package that's suited to fit my needs
on top of my standard home insurance.
I thought about not selling internationally to simplify the insurance situation,
but it accounted for almost 1/3 of my sales in 2021 and I'd rather not lose
my exposure to such a large market.
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| | | | | | | Author: | Nubs_Select | | Posted: | May 24, 2022 23:26 | | Subject: | Re: Ontario, Canada Business-in-home Insurance | | Viewed: | 25 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| Yikes! Sounds complicated. I do look forward to the end results of your search
tho. Thank you for the update!
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| | | | | | | Author: | HoleintheWall | | Posted: | May 24, 2022 23:27 | | Subject: | Re: Ontario, Canada Business-in-home Insurance | | Viewed: | 25 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| I forgot to add this in:
The funny part is that although TD told me the were not renewing me guess what
I got in the mail yesterday? Yup. Renewal papers.... Talk about the left
hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | Nubs_Select | | Posted: | May 25, 2022 00:02 | | Subject: | Re: Ontario, Canada Business-in-home Insurance | | Viewed: | 35 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| | | | | Author: | HoleintheWall | | Posted: | Jul 24, 2022 17:11 | | Subject: | Re: Ontario, Canada Business-in-home Insurance | | Viewed: | 32 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| Final Update
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TLDR: Co-operators for the win.
Overall, I contacted 11 different insurance brokers/companies to look for home
insurance that would also provide business insurance for my Bricklink store.
I started with the ones we had locally then expanded to the ultra-large national
ones.
The short answer for most of these was "no". Legos are high risk because they
count as a kids toy. Selling to the US is high risk because of potential lawsuits
(I never even thought of that one).
Additionally, even though in the various emails/phone calls/application forms
I clearly stated what the business was, the inventory, and the sales methods,
most companies lumped me under "reseller" or "distributor" which are both really
high risk as the default categories assume that I'm buying bulk returns and
reselling them or something.
So here I am, literally on the last possible day before I don't have house
insurance anymore (TD was kind enough to extend my policy an extra week), I see
a result for the Co-operators insurance. I had skipped them in my previous searches
because I had heard they were very expensive - but at this point I was desperate
so I figured why not.
I talk to the broker on the phone, and I spend about 30 minutes going over every
step of the business from sourcing to how stuff is packed when it's mailed
out, he even went to Bricklink to check out the website. You know what he says
to me? "Yeah, sure, there shouldn't be any problem getting you business
insurance on top of a home policy". I told him about the struggle and he told
me about how other places were probably mis-categorizating me.
Then came the magic part. He told me that he was an "MGA" which means that
he's both a broker AND an underwriter so he'd be able to write up my
policy on the spot as long as it was within certain limits. At 2pm, friday afternoon,
I had my home insurance AND business in home insurance (and the rates were reasonable!)
If you're a home seller in Ontario and have questions, message me. Hopefully
my ordeal can save you a bit of time if you're looking for insurance as well.
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| | | | | | | Author: | Nubs_Select | | Posted: | Jul 25, 2022 00:31 | | Subject: | Re: Ontario, Canada Business-in-home Insurance | | Viewed: | 36 times | | Topic: | Selling | |
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| | Thankyou for the informative update! |
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Canada, Ontario
USA, Missouri
