The most likely claim is the car you were working on, and that is the one general liability excludes.
We insure mobile and fixed auto detailers, ceramic coating and paint protection film installers and window tint shops, with garagekeepers for the customer’s car wherever you work on it.
Tell us the situation.
One licensed human replies the same business day — not five agents, not an auto-responder. If the policy you have is already the right one, we will tell you.
We use this to quote and service your insurance, and we do not sell it or pass it to lead networks. Privacy policy.
Send us what you have. We’ll tell you if it’s right.
Your current policy paperwork, a renewal notice, or nothing at all. A licensed agent reads it and replies the same business day.
What auto detailing businesses actually need.
Garagekeepers
Customer vehicles in your care, custody and control. Every repair shop and dealership has the exposure and most standard policies exclude it.
Without it — The customer’s car while you work on it, in your bay or in their driveway. Ask whether the form covers damage caused by the detailing work itself.
General liability
Third-party bodily injury and property damage. It is the line nearly every contract names by default.
Without it — A customer or passer-by hurt by your hoses, chemicals or equipment, and damage to property that is not the car, such as a stained driveway or a garage door.
Commercial auto
Vehicles the business owns and the people who drive them for work.
Without it — The van or truck you detail from. Personal auto policies commonly exclude a vehicle used mainly for business, and a loaded rig is a business vehicle.
Inland marine & equipment
Tools, equipment and property in transit. It picks up exactly where commercial property stops, which is the moment the item leaves the building.
Without it — Polishers, extractors, pressure washers, the water tank, the generator and the film plotter, covered wherever they are.
Workers compensation
Required in almost every state the moment you have employees. Priced on payroll and class code, which is why the class code is worth arguing about.
Without it — Chemical burns, slips on wet floors and repetitive strain. Most states require it once you hire.
Contractors pollution liability
Bodily injury, property damage and clean-up caused by a pollutant your work released: chemical drift, run-off, fuel spills. The standard general liability form excludes all of it.
Without it — Runoff from a mobile wash into a storm drain. General liability carries a pollution exclusion.
Commercial property
Buildings and contents, valued at what it costs to rebuild today rather than what you paid.
Without it — For a fixed studio: the building, the lift and the stock of coatings and film.
The claims we actually see.
Ordered by how often we see them, not by how dramatic they are. Each one names the coverage that answers it — and the policy people wrongly assume already does.
Most common
A polisher burns through the clear coat, or a chemical stains the paint or trim
Covered by Garagekeepers, if the policy does not exclude your own work on the car
General liability excludes the car in your care. Some garagekeepers forms also exclude damage caused by the work itself, so this is the wording to read before you buy.
Common
A customer car is scratched, dented or keyed while it sits at your shop
Covered by Garagekeepers comprehensive and collision
A legal liability form pays only if you were at fault. Vandalism by a stranger overnight is usually nobody’s fault, which is the case direct primary is bought for.
Common
A customer trips over a hose or a pressure washer line in their own driveway
Covered by General liability
This is what general liability is for. It is the claim most detailers think is their main risk, and it is rarely the expensive one.
Less common, severe
The van, the water tank, the generator and the polishers are stolen
Covered by Inland marine for the equipment, commercial auto for the van
A personal auto policy is not written for a business van, and a property policy stops at your address. Mobile equipment needs coverage that travels.
Joe Gorman
Co-Founder | President of Commercial Lines
Has placed hundreds of auto service businesses: repair shops, mobile mechanics, heavy truck garages and the roadside operators most carriers will not look at. He knows which markets still take a garage risk and what garagekeepers limit a full lot actually needs. A mobile operation described the wrong way gets declined on sight, so he describes it the right way.
What the insurance company will ask about your auto detailing business
We read the applications the markets use for businesses in this field and pulled out what they actually ask. Have these answers ready and a quote takes a day instead of a week, because nobody has to come back to you for the missing piece.
About the business
- What type of repair and service work do you do?
- How long have you been in business?
- What is your business structure (sole owner, partnership, corporation, etc.)?
- What states do you operate in?
- How much of your work is mobile repairs versus repairs done at your location?
How you operate
- What percentage of your work involves different types of vehicles (cars, trucks, motorcycles, RVs, etc.)?
- Do you lease or rent vehicles to customers?
- Do you have any other business operations besides repair and service?
- Do you test drive vehicles over 26,000 pounds off-site?
- Do you park customer vehicles on public streets?
Safety and controls
- Are your work areas separated from where customers wait?
- Do you do spray painting, and if so, is it in a separate ventilated room?
- How do you store paints, solvents, and fiberglass resins?
- Do you have fire extinguishers on site, and are they serviced and charged?
- Do you get certificates of insurance from all subcontractors?
Your history
- What was your gross revenue from tire sales, installation, and repair in the last year?
- Have you had any insurance claims or losses in the past five years?
- Have you ever been canceled or refused coverage by an insurance company?
- Who is your current or most recent insurance company?
Money and people
- How many employees do you have?
- Do any of your drivers have commercial driver's licenses?
- Do you have any vehicles with dealer or repair plates?
Have these ready
- Your last five years of claims history from your current insurer, called loss runs
- A list of all owners, employees, and drivers with their driver's license numbers, birthdates, and any traffic violations or accidents
- Your dealer license (if you have one) and list of which states issued it
- Proof of insurance from all subcontractors you work with
You answer what you can; a licensed agent fills the rest with you.
What our auto detailing clients ask us.
Do I need garagekeepers as a mobile detailer?
Yes, if you want the customer’s car covered. Garagekeepers covers a customer vehicle in your care, custody or control, and the car is in your care while you work on it in their driveway or office lot, not only in a shop. General liability excludes it wherever you are. Many mobile detailers buy general liability alone because a client or a dealer asked for a certificate, and find out at the first burned panel that the car itself was never covered. Mobile work also narrows the market: a large standard carrier non-renewed a mobile detailer we insure because it had stopped covering mobile services, and the account had to be re-placed.
Does insurance cover damage from my own detailing work, like a burned clear coat?
It depends on the garagekeepers wording, and it is the most important question to ask. Garagekeepers forms commonly exclude faulty work you performed, and some carriers write detailing programs that cover accidental damage during the work while others do not. Read the exclusions or ask us to. A policy that covers theft and vandalism of the car but not damage from the polisher misses the most likely claim a detailer has.
Does a ceramic coating, PPF or tint shop need different insurance from a detailer?
The same coverages, with more weight on two of them. A coating or film job keeps the car longer and involves cutting, heat and chemical work on the paint and glass, so garagekeepers with a limit sized to the most expensive car you take matters more. A film installer also cuts on the car, and a slipped blade through paint or a rubber seal is property damage to a car in your care. A tint shop that refuses a request for illegal tint darkness is managing a liability risk, not just a ticket for the customer.
A dealership wants me on their certificate. What do they usually ask for?
Commonly general liability with the dealership named as additional insured, proof of garagekeepers on the vehicles you handle, and workers comp if you have staff. Limits are set by the dealership’s contract, so send us the contract or the vendor requirements page. A detailer who cannot show garagekeepers often loses the account even when the general liability limit is right.
I was dropped after several claims. Can I still get garagekeepers?
Usually, but not from the market that dropped you. We placed garagekeepers for a detailing operation with more than five claims in two years by taking it to two wholesalers with the new procedures the owner had put in place, including pre-work photos and a written inspection on every car. Fix the process first, then shop the account.
What does a auto detailing insurance application ask for?
The applications for auto detailing businesses ask about 4 things above all: what type of repair and service work do you do; what percentage of your work involves different types of vehicles (cars, trucks, motorcycles, rvs, etc.); are your work areas separated from where customers wait; what was your gross revenue from tire sales, installation, and repair in the last year. Have your last five years of claims history from your current insurer, called loss runs and a list of all owners, employees, and drivers with their driver's license numbers, birthdates, and any traffic violations or accidents ready and a quote takes a day instead of a week.
Commercial insurance is 96% of what we do — it is not a department here, it is the whole business. Not ready to talk? The guides answer the questions this page raises in more depth. Already insured with us and need a certificate or a policy change? Ask the service team rather than starting a quote — it is faster and it goes to the people whose job it is. We also write home and auto, which is usually cheaper alongside the business policy than apart from it.
Handed a lease, a vendor packet or a client contract with insurance requirements? Paste it into the COI Requirements Decoder to see what each one means for your business, or read what the requirements mean.