Maintenance: How to Preserve Low-Cost Laundromat Insurance Premiums

Many Laundromat owners are now struggling to purchase or maintain their BOP business insurance coverage in California, Texas and Florida. Fires, floods, hurricanes, inflation and increased jury awards have made major insurance carriers withdraw from insuring Laundromats in these States and it’s also carried over to other States where premiums are seeing significant increases

Additional issues that impact overall cost of insurance is also based on the shoddy condition of many existing Laundromats. Underwriters, the rate risk calculators, visualize abundant risks in Laundromats; they don’t always have the highest regard for the management expertise and care of Laundromat owners.

This is unfair to the many well-run, well-maintained facilities run by professional operators. Therefore, I think it would be useful to current owners and those about to enter into this fabulous business to assist in improving this opinion.

One way to make your Laundromat safe from negative opinions from surprise insurance company inspections is to have the store always ready for inspection.

In order to reduce insurance risks and claims, here are a few behaviors that could be dangerous and that an experienced Laundromat operator would avoid or include when running their business.

  1. Replace all discolored ceiling tiles. The stains are probably is from a roof or swamp cooler leak and should be fixed and the tiles replaced, but if you wait too long and it rains again, the stained panels can fall and injure customers. The tiles are weakened by the constant water drips from your ceiling leaks.

  2. Never leave a door to your back rooms unlocked. Children are curious and love to explore. You don’t want to hear about the injuries resulting from the rear of dryers (especially when the rear covers have been left off) or burns from water heaters and boilers to the little explorers in your store. Attendants must always lock or close all doors to areas where access to the rear of machines or equipment is available.

  3. Block all accessible electrical outlets on the walls around your Laundromat, or at a minimum ensure the outlet covers are commercial metal ones and not the home-style plastic ones. You have to carefully consider if any electric outlet should be available to your customers. Children stick their fingers into these outlets. If you want to let customers charge cell phones, put in a USB panel with the electrical plug behind the bulkhead.

  4. Don’t leave towels on the floor in front of washers that frequently leak; it creates an observable liability claim concern. Fix the cause or put down one of the large wet floor mats like you see in restaurant kitchens. If someone slips and falls in front of a leaking washer, you’re subject to a lawsuit and you’ll have to explain why you have an ongoing and dangerous water leak issue with water on the floor. Slip and falls are a major cause of lawsuits impacted owners and insurers in Laundromats. Use those yellow caution cones when your mop the floor or discover a leak before you’re able to keep it clean.

  5. Never train or have your attendants confront the homeless or any other visitor. You may be responsible for their acts and their conversations. No threats, violence or undue pressure should be exerted. Calling the police is the correct corrective response.

  6. Never have a gun or trained security dog in your store. Most policies will exclude coverage that involves your use of a gun or trained dog.

  7. Make sure it is difficult for customers to lift or use have access to the bulkhead covers behind your machines.

  8. Either keep your restroom clean or close if for employee use only. Insurance inspectors can draw negative opinions of these poorly kept facilities. The drain line needs to be wrapped and handicap bars installed for any public restroom.

  9. Make sure your exterior entrance, sidewalk and parking lot are clean and free from potholes, while curbs and stairs are properly marked for ADA use. You can be named in injury claims if your customers are injured in the common area or parking lot. Don’t count on the landlord’s policy to bail you out. You are obligated in a leased situation to notify your landlord of dangers noted in the common and parking areas. Even exterior lighting of the lot can be a source of a lawsuit if you don’t keep it properly lighted.

  10. Extension cords are often a no-no to many inspectors and are illegal in some jurisdictions. No home-style white cords dangling from the ceiling.

  11. Always have a way to shutoff the electricity to any washer at the installation location. In an emergency it may save serious injury. To save money, many equipment installers have hardwired in the electrical connection of the front load washers. Older models will not have a red emergency stop button. If you don’t have those on your washers, wire the washers to a pig tail connection so the machine can be unplugged in an emergency.

  12. Post a sign about children not being allowed to ride in laundry carts or sit on folding tables. Injuries or bruises from cart tip-overs and headers off folding tables are not infrequent. Include signage that states that floors can be wet, caution should be used and use of these washers requires customers accepting the risk.

  13. Never use those cheap “white plastic” chairs in your Laundromat. They are not rated for commercial use and can collapse and cause serious injury especially to anyone above 250 pounds. Check the label of any chair and see if it is certified for commercial use.

This is not intended to be a complete list of proper maintenance of your Laundromat to avoid an increase or cancellation of your policy, but it it’s a starter and I hope others will contribute their suggestions as well.