Business Garage Insurance
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What Is Garage Liability Insurance?
As a repair shop, auto-body or auto-glass business you need a garage to safely store vehicles, whether these vehicles are being repaired or simply kept safe. You'll be storing cars, trucks, bikes and many other kinds of equipment and machinery.
Garage Liability insurance protects your business from property damage or third party bodily injury caused as a result of your garage business operations.
Garage Liability insurance is a type of umbrella policy that adds an extra layer of cover to your garage's General Liability Insurance. It covers your clients' property entrusted you to protect until it is returned to them.
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What Is Garage Liability Insurance All About?
How Much Does Garage Liability Insurance Cost?
The costs associated with Business Garage insurance vary in accordance with the specific policy you have chosen. Each policy is created based on the industry your business operates within, the types of equipment or vehicles you repair or store as well as whether or not employees are working within the garage itself. While any business owner can invest in Business Garage insurance, your specific needs will vary depending on these different aspects.
Overall, the cost will be contingent upon the type of the insurance policy you choose and how much protection it affords. You may choose a policy that includes one, several or all of the aforementioned protections, each of which have their costs. Regardless of the protections, you invest in; there is the likelihood that you will find yourself paying a premium which is a small percentage of that amount.
What Does Garage Liability Insurance Cover?
FAQs on Garage Liability Cover
Do I Need Garage Liability Insurance?
If you run a repair shop, auto-body or auto-glass business, garage liability insurance will come in handy if you want to protect:
- Your customer's vehicle from theft.
- Your customer's vehicle from replacements.
- Your customers from bodily injury.
- Yourself and your business against financial risk.
- Garage Liability – Including bodily injury and property damage to other parties.
What is the difference between Garage Liability and General Liability?
Garage liability is specifically designed for automotive repair shops, dealerships, towing companies, and service stations. It includes General Liability which covers bodily injury and property damage for others.
For example, if a customer slips and falls on your premises that would be a General Liability claim. However, because you operate within the automotive industry there are some unique risks that require you to have Garage Liability.
Does Garage Liability cover faulty workmanship?
Garage Liability insurance excludes coverage for faulty workmanship, and there is no enhancement endorsement that you can add to cover it.
What are garage operations?
Garage operations refer to a business that deals with the automotive industry and has a high-risk exposure to automobile liability. This can include anything from auto sales to auto repair to towing.
What does Garage Keepers Legal Liability cover?
Garage Keepers Legal Liability will provide coverage for your customers’ vehicles that you keep stored in order to repair or parked for some time. This mostly applies to automotive repair shops and towing companies.
What Are the “Limits” on a Garage Liability Insurance Policy?
A Business Garage policy covers specific types of protections in addition to what your general liability policy covers. Each of these protections will have coverage of a given amount.
If your policy provides coverage of $1 million, then this will be the limit.
As the types of coverage needed for Business Garage insurance vary greatly, each will have a different amount. If you choose a policy that does not cover the full value, then you will be protected at a given limit.
What Does Garage Liability Insurance Not Cover?
Injury to employees
- A Garage Liability policy is not going to cover injury to employees (Workers Compensation) and damage to the garage itself (Commercial Property).
Policy covers an amount less than the total value of the financial losses
- If your policy covers an amount less than the total value of the financial losses associated with repairs, theft, or third party bodily injury the remaining amount will not be covered.
Client Property
- This coverage does not apply to client property such as client vehicles being repaired. In addition to this coverage, Garagekeepers Liability coverage should be added to cover client vehicles and damages caused by client vehicles.
Garage Liability vs Garage Keepers Liability - Which do I need?
What's the difference? It's best to explain with a scenario:
Bob runs an auto repair shop, where his customer, Janice, gets injured when her car falls off a lift during repair. In addition to Janice's injury, her car is also damaged. Without insurance, Bob, the business owner, would be liable for the damage to Janice's car and the injuries she sustained.
This is where Garage Keepers Liability comes in. It will protect you and your business if a car in your custody got damaged, stolen, or vandalised due to your negligence. It also covers damages caused by fire or collision.
Garage Liability Insurance, on the other hand, protects you and your business against third party injury as well as property damage that have occurred at your shop. The insurance will pay for medical expenses and cost of repairs up to the limit you chose.
Both Garage Keepers Liability and Garage Liability are necessary for auto repair shops, car detailing, valet parking, or a towing company as the former is your protection against liability for operations and vehicle, while the latter is your protection against damage to your customers' vehicles.