Insuring your survival; want to know how to reduce your workers' comp costs? Read on. (includes a quiz to see how efficient your workers' compensation insurance is being handled; includes information on an available workers' compensation book)

Insuring your survival

Jokes about insurance agents used to be as common as those about traveling salesmen.

But with premiums up, the squeeze is on and insurance is no longer a laughing matter.

Margins are tight enough at the average dealership without spending thousands of gross profit dollars on protecting your assets. But...

Should burglars ransack your store, or a fire destroy your inventory, or a worker get seriously injured -- insurance can mean the difference between surviving and closing up shop.

Spiraling workers' compensation costs are of particular concern.

The premiums -- in part determined by each dealership's experience modifier -- can be outrageous, which has outraged many a tire dealer.

According to John F. Burton Jr., editor of the Workers' Compensation Monitor, workers' compensation insurance cost U.S. employers an estimated $53 billion in 1990, more than twice the amount paid out six years earlier.

Increased injury and illness claims are major reasons for the dramatic rise.

How can you cut your workers' comp costs without cutting your coverage?

There are many ways, say the insurance experts. And it all starts with the proper …