Personal Trainer Insurance

Personal Trainer Insurance Protects Your Business Gains

You’ve put the sweat equity into your personal training business, and now it’s time to protect what you’ve built with personal trainer insurance.

Simply Business offers liability insurance for trainers that covers accidents that could potentially mean the difference between a business that survives an accident or one that goes bankrupt. By answering a few questions, you’ll unlock a free quote from top insurers in minutes.

Get your free quotes today to discover business coverage options that are tailored to your unique needs as a personal trainer.

Here are three types of business insurance available to personal trainers:

• General liability insurance
• Professional liability insurance
• Workers compensation insurance

Each type of policy covers different scenarios, but all insurance offers the benefit that:

• It can protect your business from certain claims.
• It can cover damages caused by your negligence.
• Proof of insurance can help clients feel good about your work.
• It may be legally required where you’re located.

What Types Insurance Do I Need for my Personal Training Business?

There are a few different types of insurance you need to consider as a personal trainer, and we’ll cover them here. Some are likely required no matter what, while others may depend on your business and employees.

General Liability Insurance

General liability insurance for personal trainers is a little bit like the jack-of-all-trades of coverage. This type of insurance typically covers bodily injury, property damage, and third-party accidents. In this case, “third-party” typically encompasses clients or vendors. You also can add contents coverage to your policy, which could offset the cost if someone runs off with your dumbbells and medicine balls.

Accidents and mistakes can happen in any business, and without general liability insurance, you’ll be stuck with the bill. Considering the average claim for property damage or accidents in small businesses is $30,000, liability insurance for personal trainers is definitely worth considering.

The legal terms and conditions of a business liability policy can be a bit confusing, though. What does having a general liability policy really mean for your personal training business? Let’s review a scenario that would be covered by insurance.

One day you’re setting up for your next client and you take a break before your next session. You leave a few dumbbells on the floor next to the equipment, and your client trips over them. They stumble, hit their head on a machine, and ultimately sue you for their medical bills and time off work.

Without liability coverage, you’d need to defend yourself and fork over the cash by yourself to pay the lawsuit, even if it means dipping into your family’s finances or taking out a loan. However, a general liability policy typically would defend the lawsuit and pay out any settlements up to your coverage limit. Paying a monthly premium for insurance can potentially make or break your business in case of an accident.

So what does a general liability policy usually cover in your personal training business? Here’s a recap:

• Third-party property damage (aka clients or vendors)
• Bodily injury
• Medical expenses
• Personal and advertising injury
• And more

General liability insurance does not cover:

• Personal property damage
• Professional services
• Employee injury and workers compensation
• Damage to your work
• Motor vehicles during business use
• Intentional injury or damage
• And more

Professional Liability Insurance

Being a personal trainer means helping people to get active, find their limits, and grow stronger. What happens if a client claims you pushed them too far, or they injured themselves under your direction?

You use your professional liability insurance to help cover your assets.

As a personal trainer, you’re offering a professional service. Whether you agree with the claim or not, clients can sue you for negligence and damages. In fact, a professional liability policy can cover you in case a client claims that you, your employees, or your business were negligent.

What does “negligence” look like for personal trainers, though? Imagine you’re working with a client, and you push them a little too hard, causing them to pass out from dehydration. Your client could claim you were negligent in your guidance, and sue you for their injuries and mental anguish. Even if you have sufficient proof to claim your actions weren’t negligent, you could still accrue legal fees.

Professional liability insurance can offset these costs, which otherwise would need to come out of your own pocket. Having professional liability coverage is critical for personal trainers since you’re dealing directly with your clients’ physicality and well-being.

Let’s review the scenarios that professional liability insurance typically covers:

• Legal defense costs
• Omissions or alleged omissions
• Negligence or alleged negligence
• Claims and damages
• And more

Having professional liability insurance does not usually protect you from:

• Property damage
• Intentional acts and omissions
• Bodily injury
• Medical expenses
• And more

Workers Compensation Insurance

There aren’t many guarantees in business, but if you have employees, you can bank on being required to have workers compensation insurance. In 99.9% of cases, workers comp is typically a legal requirement if you have employees. This type of insurance policy covers medical bills, lost wages, and any legal costs associated with an employee who got sick or hurt on the job.

What does that mean for a personal training business? Let’s say you have a part-time employee who is helping you out with a few clients. One day while re-racking weights, they crush their hand and break a finger, requiring a trip to the hospital. A workers compensation policy can help pay for the employee’s medical bills and time missed from work.

Workplace injuries are expensive, so having workers compensation insurance to help you out is critical. The average cost of workers comp claim is $40,051, and on average, a claim featuring a fracture, crush, or dislocation can cost more than $58,000.

Workers compensation insurance for personal trainers can cover:

• Medical payments
• Lost wages
• Rehabilitation expenses
• Death benefits

Why Do I Need Personal Trainer Insurance?

Starting a business as a fitness instructor is no small feat, and even the most humble of beginnings have expenses. When your priorities lie in buying equipment or marketing your personal training business, it can be cumbersome to add a monthly liability premium cost to the mix.

The cost of business liability policies vary, based on how many employees you have, where you’re located, what types of training services you provide, your estimated revenue, and more. You can answer a few questions here to get a tailored estimate. However, any monthly insurance costs pale in comparison to what you could be accountable for if something went wrong.

The average costs small business owners can be exposed to without insurance include:

• $30,000 for property damage or accident claims
• $39,000 for work injury claims
• $50,000 for reputational harm claims (e.g., in cases of slander or libel)
• $20,000 for a client slip-and-fall case

As a personal trainer, you’re dealing directly with your clients’ health and well-being, as well as working with a lot of potentially dangerous equipment. An upset client could sue you (even if you did nothing wrong), and a human error could lead to a negligence case. Plus, trying to get by without personal trainer insurance in a state that has a legal requirement could get you into serious trouble.

A single claim from a disgruntled client harms not only your business, but also your personal finances. Claims will need to be paid, and without insurance, you and your family may have to bear the financial weight.

Personal trainer insurance isn’t just about protecting your finances from claims or meeting legal requirements. Being able to show proof of coverage gives potential clients peace of mind, and may help you win more contracts. You also may need insurance to qualify to rent space or convince new employees to join your team.

When you buy a liability policy through Simply Business, you’ll receive a certificate of insurance (COI) so you can provide proof of coverage.

How Do I Protect Myself as a Personal Trainer?

The best way to protect yourself and your personal training business is to get the right business insurance coverage.

Here's why: Personal trainer insurance makes it so that if an accident happens, you won't have to pay out of pocket for it (minus your deductible). And if you get sued by a client - even if you didn't do anything wrong - your insurance policy can cover the cost of hiring an attorney to defend you in court. Bonus: if you're ordered to pay out a claim, your insurance can cover that, too.

In addition to getting insurance, here are a few ways you can protect yourself as a fitness instructor:

• Maintain your certification
• Apply for a business license
• Continually invest in your education and training
• Have your client sign a waiver
• Ask your client for any relevant medical history so as to avoid accidents or injuries
• Continually check in with your client during every workout
• Record the outcomes of each session

Personal Trainer Insurance FAQs

• Is liability coverage required by law?

  It’s common for states to require small business owners, including personal trainers, to carry general liability insurance. You’ll also need workers compensation coverage if you have any part-time or full-time employees. It’s also possible that you’ll need proof of coverage to rent space to conduct your personal training sessions.

• Is liability coverage tax-deductible?

  We recommend talking to an accountant for more information on which business expenses are tax-deductible for your particular business. Generally, though, you may be able to deduct insurance premiums when filing your business income taxes.

• How much insurance coverage for my personal training business will I need?

  Your insurance coverage depends on different factors, such as:

  • The size of your business
  • Your business’s location
  • Your annual revenue
  • And more

  We’ve designed our quote form to provide you with recommended amounts of coverage. If you have more questions, our licensed insurance agents will be happy to assist you!

• What should I consider before buying personal trainer insurance?

  To make the insurance quote process as fast as possible, you should have the following:

  • Annual revenue and payroll estimates
  • Information on any previous claims
  • Valid training and certificate licenses as required by state law
• Does business liability coverage differ by state?

  Coverage requirements can differ between states. You don’t necessarily need to know your state’s laws to get started, though. Our quote process takes your location into consideration, and our insurance agents can help you better understand your state’s specific requirements.

• What does business insurance cover?

  A comprehensive insurance product — one that includes general liability, professional liability, and workers compensation — can cover:

  • Bodily injury
  • Accidents and damages
  • Employee injuries
  • Unintentional mistakes
  • And more
• How much does a business liability policy cost?

  The cost of your policy depends on what kind of work you’re doing and whether or not you have employees. Your policy cost will also be determined by:

  • Payroll estimates
  • The location of your business
  • The specific services you offer
  • And more

  Want to see how much your personal trainer insurance may cost? Just click here to answer a few questions and get free quotes to compare policy prices.

• What if I perform multiple activities as a business?

  Our licensed agents can help you find insurance that offers robust protection for your other services.

Why Choose Simply Business?

Choosing the right insurance policy is a big decision, but Simply Business equips you with the information to make the best choice for your business. Simply Business is an online insurance brokerage that makes it easy to compare quotes from top insurers. Thousands of customers trust us to protect their businesses, making us one of the fastest-growing online providers of small business insurance.

So why choose Simply Business? To put it simply:

We make it easy to get affordable coverage. As a business owner, your schedule is packed. Our quote process is easy, and our policies are fast, affordable, and ready when you are.

We offer flexible coverage. Choose the level of coverage you need now and increase coverage as your business grows.

We have insurance as unique as you are. Say goodbye to one-size-fits-all insurance. Get protection that’s suited to your personal training business needs.

After all, you’ve worked hard to build your personal training business. That’s why we offer the best coverage to protect it.

This content is intended to be used for informational purposes only. It is not intended to provide legal, tax, accounting, investment, or any other form of professional advice.