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Gunsmith Insurance
- Thread starter Ricochet
- Start date
4 Eyed Six Shooter
New member
Join the American Gunsmith Assoc. (they are on the web) They offer a policy that is $425.00 a year for (if memory serves) is for $400,000. coverage at @200,000. per claim. It maybe more or less than that though. Most people recomend a minimum of one million coverage. I guess it depends on how much you have to loose. A limited liability or regular incorperation can help protect your assets that are seperate from the business. The best insurance is to turn down jobs that you know may be unsafe and safety check and test fire each firearm that you work on.
If you need more coverage than the Gunsmith assoc. offers check with the NRA. They can stear you in the right direction.
Good Shooting, John K
If you need more coverage than the Gunsmith assoc. offers check with the NRA. They can stear you in the right direction.
Good Shooting, John K
Incorporating is not a cure-all, but it is a good idea. In most cases, a claim has to be made against the corporation, and in general only the assets of the corporation can be seized, not personal assets.
Anyone starting in business should also retain an attorney. While it sounds costly, a simple retainer can run around $100, and that usually includes an hour or so of advice. One of the thing you should consider having him draw up is a "bulletproof" acceptance of responsibility form. This is used when you take in a gun, and find it unsafe. The form has to be signed by the customer to get the gun back and essentially says you warned him of the danger, absolves you of blame for any problem, and accepts any reponsibility for damages.
One of the big problems in a hobby business is that too many people treat it like a hobby and not like a business. They work long hours for peanuts, buy for their own collections and not to sell to make money, etc. Some concentrate so much on things like Federal licenses and laws that they forget common business laws, like business income tax, employee laws, zoning laws, bookkeeping requirements, etc. Maybe Abe Lincoln kept all his papers in his hat, but today he would need a much taller hat, with room for an accountant.
While it is hard to believe today, most accountants and lawyers really are honest and competent.
Jim
Anyone starting in business should also retain an attorney. While it sounds costly, a simple retainer can run around $100, and that usually includes an hour or so of advice. One of the thing you should consider having him draw up is a "bulletproof" acceptance of responsibility form. This is used when you take in a gun, and find it unsafe. The form has to be signed by the customer to get the gun back and essentially says you warned him of the danger, absolves you of blame for any problem, and accepts any reponsibility for damages.
One of the big problems in a hobby business is that too many people treat it like a hobby and not like a business. They work long hours for peanuts, buy for their own collections and not to sell to make money, etc. Some concentrate so much on things like Federal licenses and laws that they forget common business laws, like business income tax, employee laws, zoning laws, bookkeeping requirements, etc. Maybe Abe Lincoln kept all his papers in his hat, but today he would need a much taller hat, with room for an accountant.
While it is hard to believe today, most accountants and lawyers really are honest and competent.
Jim