Next Esthetician Insurance Review

Pros Explained

• Live online digital certificates of insurance: You can instantly share a digital, up-to-date, certificate of insurance (COI) with anyone. You can even add an additional insured to your certificate at any time. 
• Highly rated mobile app: The Next Insurance app has high third party ratings. You can use the app to share your COI, instantly update your coverage, and even file a claim from your phone. 
• Live chat support: There’s no need to get used to the on-hold music. You can access customer support through the live chat feature ​​Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. PT. 
• Monthly billing options: While many insurance providers require annual payments, Next allows you to pay with monthly payments.

Cons Explained

• Professional liability coverage is claims-made: Occurrence form coverage is preferable because it covers you as long as the incident occurred while the policy was in effect. While Next offers occurrence form general liability coverage, like other insurers, professional liability coverage is claims-made. All professional liability claims must be brought while the policy is active. 

Complaint Index

Over the last two years, Next Insurance received far fewer complaints with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) than were expected given the company’s size. Note that Next Insurance had a very high complaint index in 2019, but the company accounted for such a small share of the market that the high index was the result of only two complaints.

The NAIC annually calculates a complaint index for insurance companies that indicates how many complaints each company received relative to its size. An index of 1.00 means a company received the expected number of complaints for its size. An index greater than 1.00 is cause for concern, while an index of less than 1.00 is ideal. Over the last two years, Next Insurance received an average complaint index of just 0.59. During this period of time, very few policyholders filed complaints against Next. 

Third-Party Ratings

Next Insurance also has an A- (Excellent) financial strength rating from the well-respected credit rating agency AM Best. AM Best ratings are important because they show the creditworthiness of insurance providers, or the likelihood that companies can meet their financial obligations, such as paying claims. 

In fact, financial strength ratings from AM Best are so vital to our evaluations that we don’t typically recommend insurers that score below the A bracket.

Competition

Policies Available

Next offers three levels of coverage for estheticians: Pro Plus, Pro, and Basic. Each covers commercial auto, general liability, workers’ compensation, and commercial property insurance but has different coverage limits. For example, Pro Plus has the following limits: 

• Commercial auto: $1 million/combined single limit
• General liability: $1 million per occurrence/$2 million aggregate
• Workers’ comp: $1 million/per accident
• Commercial property: $25,000/per occurrence

General Liability

General liability insurance helps cover you when your business is responsible for causing injuries or damage to customers’ property. It pays for medical bills, legal fees, and judgments against you. The Next Insurance general liability policy also includes product liability insurance coverage. 

Professional Liability

Professional liability insurance can be added to your policy to cover you if you make a professional mistake that results in damage or a financial loss for a customer or client. If you’re accused of negligence, business errors, or missing a deadline that led to losses, professional liability insurance is designed to cover the costs. 

Commercial Auto

Commercial auto insurance is required for workers who use their vehicles for business purposes. Commuting to and from work doesn’t count, but traveling between salon locations or client homes does. You can customize your commercial auto insurance coverage to include property damage and bodily injury liability coverage, collision and comprehensive coverage, towing and labor coverage, rental reimbursement coverage, and uninsured motorist coverage. 

Commercial Property

If you work with equipment, sell products, or lease or own a physical location for your business, you should have commercial property insurance. It covers gear that is stolen or damaged by a covered peril and helps pay for equipment breakdowns, lost inventory, business income replacement, and property structure repairs. 

Workers' Compensation

Workers' compensation insurance covers medical bills and lost wages for employees who can’t work because they were injured on the job. It also pays survivorship benefits to the employee’s family in the event of their death or pays for retraining if they need to enter a new field. And if an employee files a lawsuit against you, it covers your legal costs. 

Business Owner’s Policy

This is a group of coverages that can be customized to meet your business needs. It typically includes general liability and commercial property insurance, and you can also add any of the other coverages above. 

Customer Service

You can reach customer service by filling out an online form or using the live chat feature. You can also email support@nextinsurance.com or call 855-222-5919 for assistance. Business hours are weekdays between 6 a.m. and 5 p.m. PT. 

Price

Next provides starting prices for many types of coverages, but your individual rate will depend on several factors, such as your location and coverage limits. In general, though, here’s what you can expect. 

Is Next Esthetician Insurance Right for Me?

If you’re looking for affordable, customizable business coverage that comes with online tools, such as live chat customer support and an easily shareable COI, Next may be a good option. It’s our top pick for policy management of the best esthetician insurance companies due to the variety of transactions that can be completed online relative to other insurers. 

In addition, the company has few complaints and a good financial strength rating. However, like many other companies, professional liability coverage from Next is claims-made. Should a client sue you once your professional liability policy is canceled, you won’t be covered. Additionally, if you don’t need property or auto insurance, you may be able to find cheaper liability coverage elsewhere. 

Our Methodology: How We Review Esthetician Insurance Carriers

To determine the best insurance companies for estheticians, we collected 20 data points on the top esthetician insurance companies by premium. These data points include:

• Financial strength
• Cost
• Policy types and features
• Exclusions
• Consumer complaints
• Online tools
• Billing options
• Coverage limits

We gave preference to companies with top ratings from AM Best, a low rate of customer complaints, and those that offer coverage based on the date of the occurrence as opposed to when the claim was made. Companies with high aggregate coverage limits, monthly billing, low premiums, online purchase options, and those that offer property coverage got ratings boosts. To rank the companies we researched, we applied the following weights to each customer-focused category:

• Types of coverage and features: 40% 
• Financial stability: 20% 
• Consumer complaints: 25%
• Online purchase: 10%
• Billing options: 5%

We delved further into product and company specifics to determine which companies were best for which types of consumers. Using this research, we determined which companies offer the best esthetician insurance.