Garage Services Insurance

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In addition to coverages associated with normal business insurance policies, as an owner of an auto service business you need special coverage tailored to protect your business and your customer's vehicles.

Garage insurance has several options and requires an insurance specialist to guide you and recommend the best coverage to protect your business.

Driscoll & Associates has been tailoring insurance programs for gas stations, service stations, auto repair shops, auto body shops and all segments of the automotive services industry for over 30 years. We have many programs specifically designed for the auto services industry that not only provide cost savings, but excellent coverages as well.

Garage Coverages

A Garage Liability Policy is a hybrid of General Liability and Auto Insurance.

Broad Form Products/Completed Operations coverage provides for the resultant damage, but not for damage to the product itself or the work performed. Please be certain you're covered for that. With respect to premises and operations, it is important for you to be properly covered for slips or falls into an open pit. Also important are coverages for allegations of employment related discrimination, false or misleading advertisements, personal injury and errors or omissions in the administration of employee benefits

One of the most important things to consider is how you are going to insure your customer's vehicles. This is called Garagekeepers coverage.

Legal Liability - Coverage is provided when, as a result of your negligence, you become legally liable for damage.

• For example: You are test-driving a customer's car and collide with a parked car.
• This is the most commonly written form of Garagekeepers coverage, but it is very dangerous for you, as the garage owner. Consider: You have the care and custody of your customer's second-largest investment, but if the car is damaged, you are not covered unless you were negligent or legally liable. For example, damage to your customer's vehicle where you may not be negligent include:
  • Hail storm.
  • Vandalism on a locked, lighted lot.
  • You are test-driving the car and are hit while stopped at a stop light.

Direct Excess/Customer Excess - This approach, again, provides coverage for damage to a customer's vehicle in cases where you are legally liable or negligent. In addition, it provides stop-gap coverage when:

• You are not legally liable, but the customer has no collectible physical damage insurance.
• You are not legally liable, but the customer has a substantial deductible. Without your coverage, the customer would be expected to submit the claim to his carrier and handle his own deductible.

Direct Primary/Customer's Auto - Coverage is provided regardless of your negligence or legal liability.

• For example: Your customer's car is vandalized while locked in your fenced, lighted lot.
• This is the coverage we recommend. You want to be in a position to provide coverage regardless of legal liability, if anything should happen to your customer's vehicle while it is in your care, custody or control. Some contracts allow you to control the claim, in cases where you are not legally liable, and decide yourself which claims you wish your insurance company to pay. Some examples of claims where you might wish to have that option:
  • Rear-ended while test-driving
  • Hail storm
  • Vandalism

Some content provided by Professional Insurance Associates (PIA).