Please help, immediate need for non-internetphobic insurance company!

October 25, 2008 4:07 PM

We're having great difficulty getting required insurance approval for the house we are trying to buy, all due to us having a web-based business. Please help!

Difficulty: Canada, and we've got until Wednesday to get this sorted out.

Insurance companies keep refusing us because we have a web-based (we make a couple hundred dollars a month off Google ads and hosting a handful of websites). We HAVE to get approval for insurance before the bank will approve a mortgage.

Basically, the insurance companies are making no distinction between having a hobby web-based business like ours and running a major web operation. Doesn't matter that I have a full-time job outside the home and that the server is located 688 kilometres away.

So, it appears our next option is lying and not saying anything about the web-based business or finding some company that will cover us.

Are there any other options? Any leads on companies who don't act like idiots when it comes to small hobby web businesses?

posted by Kickstart70 to home & garden (5 answers total)

In the U.S. insurance companies make a distinction between home businesses that do and do not have clients who come into your home. They are concerned about liability regarding visitors. Have you made clear in your application that you will not have clients visiting the house? Also that there are no manufacturing facilities involved -- dangerous machinery or chemicals?
posted by JackFlash at 4:31 PM on October 25, 2008

Are they worried that you'll have expensive inventory in your home?
posted by amtho at 4:53 PM on October 25, 2008

Either:

a) Drop into an insurance agent, explain the situation, and get her to speak directly to underwriters;

or:

b) Stop telling insurance companies you have a home based business. It would never have even occurred to me to tell them had a "home based business" when all I'm doing is collecting Google checks and setting up DNS 1,000 miles away.

I wouldn't consider B to be lying, either. I seriously do not think this is what they mean by "home based business" - which surely means visiting clients or holding physical inventory.

Drop it, and get small business cover if you're worried about being sued by a hosting client.
posted by DarlingBri at 5:22 PM on October 25, 2008

Are you speaking to an insurance broker or to direct-sales insurance companies? If it is the latter, I suggest talking to a broker. I had home insurance (in Canada) without any trouble when I had a much larger web-based business. If I recall correctly, I had to promise that no clients would visit me in my home and then there was no extra cost. The insurer was Lloyds and the insurance was purchased through the local broker in my small town.
posted by ssg at 5:26 PM on October 25, 2008

lastobelus had a similar problem in August but didn't post a resolution. I'd suggested contacting Hub and lastobelus indicated that they may need to get separate liability coverage for their business. Maybe give them a MeMail.
posted by Mitheral at 10:52 PM on October 25, 2008