Insurance for nanny in VA?

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone, hope you all are having a great weekend so far!
We are in the process of hiring a nanny for the first time and are struggling a little bit to figure out all the insurance related stuff. We live in VA and looks like we should be good for anything that would happen to our nanny or our kids inside our house (because of the homeowners policy and umbrella policy).
But since we would like our kids to have activities outside the house, our nanny will be driving them in her car and supervising the activities as well. Whatever happens while she is driving should be covered by her car insurance. But what about what would happen outside of our house and her car? How can we make her comfortable from a financial vulnerability perspective if something happens to her in that situation?
Any feedback of similar situations or expert opinion would be extremely appreciated!! Thank you so much!

[Anonymous]

We were in a different position as we leased a nanny car for our nanny and paid the insurance on that car. However, I’ve known a few nannies who carry their own car insurance and use their own car with reimbursement for miles.

[Anonymous]

If you expect her insurance to cover, she has to carry commercial insurance, since the children would only be riding with her during the course of her job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you expect her insurance to cover, she has to carry commercial insurance, since the children would only be riding with her during the course of her job.

That’s really overstating. It’s certainly not necessary in a nanny position. She isn’t a paid chauffeur!

[Anonymous]

Nanny here. You’re overthinking, OP. You don’t have to worry about liability outside your home.

[vkandinsky]

Hi everyone - and thank you for the responses
(also just realized I posted as Anonymous, but here is my account )

So yeah, I think here the idea is really what happens after she has driven to somewhere. For example she goes to the Clemyjontri playground in McLean with her car, they get there, all good. But unfortunately, as part of her job, she injures herself and can't work for a 3 weeks. I think here there are 2 things to think about, one being the salary loss and the other one the medical bills.

For the salary loss, we decided to not buy a policy (short term disability coverage, or something like this) that would cover that even if something happens in our house. So this is not something we worry about, it's a risk we accept to take given how pricey the policy is.

But for the medical bills, what happens? In case something happened in our home, our homeowner insurance (and umbrella policy if needed) would cover that if I understand correctly. But not outside of our home, right? So how could we have this covered for the nanny in case something happens to her during her work hours, not because of negligence, and not in our house nor her car?

Sorry I know it's a long block to read, but tried to make it as clear as I can. I'm under the impression I'm overkilling a bit too, but at the same time, I never had a good answer to the questions above haha

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you expect her insurance to cover, she has to carry commercial insurance, since the children would only be riding with her during the course of her job.

That’s really overstating. It’s certainly not necessary in a nanny position. She isn’t a paid chauffeur!

Of course she is! She is being paid to take care of these children and paid to drive them and this makes her a paid driver.

[Anonymous]

Why would you not get workman's comp insurance?

[vkandinsky]

Anonymous wrote:Why would you not get workman's comp insurance?

At Statefarm they told me that this was only if we were employing more than 3 employees, which is not our case. I was surprised as well after reading everything I read online, but I kind of trust what the insurance company tells me ha

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why would you not get workman's comp insurance?

This. And bump nanny’s car insurance up.

[Anonymous]

You could get voluntary workers' comp. Not sure how much it is but a company like GTM Payroll Services can give you a quote. Mentioning them as they deal with household employers so would know what you need.

As for auto insurance, if there is an accident with your nanny driving her car, your children’s injuries would be covered under the nanny’s medical payments coverage and then through the bodily injury limit on her policy. The minimum coverage for bodily injury varies by state and may not cover the cost of a serious accident. Make certain the nanny has adequate liability insurance coverage to pay for any injuries to your children.

Also, ask for a copy of her insurance card. Make sure she keeps it valid and coverage doesn’t lapse.

[Anonymous]

We live in VA and bought a workers comp policy. You sound sure your homeowners covers everything at your house, so I assume you have checked your policy to make sure it doesn’t have a workers comp exclusion? Most do.

[Anonymous]

vkandinsky wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would you not get workman's comp insurance?

At Statefarm they told me that this was only if we were employing more than 3 employees, which is not our case. I was surprised as well after reading everything I read online, but I kind of trust what the insurance company tells me ha

You keep on trusting your Insurance company. I, however, would not and would get Workman's Comp. So I wouldn't be sued if nanny falls or other serious accident.