Customer cars in your care are the exposure standard policies exclude.
Commercial insurance for auto repair shops, detailers and dealerships. Built around garagekeepers, the cover most standard policies leave out.
Tell us the situation.
A licensed human replies the same business day — not an auto-responder, and not five producers calling at once. We shop it across our carriers and tell you if the policy you already have is the right one.
We use this to quote and service your insurance, and we do not sell it or pass it to lead networks. Privacy policy.
What auto services businesses actually need.
Garagekeepers
Customer vehicles in your care, custody and control — the exposure every repair shop and dealership has and most standard policies exclude.
Without it — A customer vehicle damaged, stolen or burned while in your shop is your bill, and general liability specifically excludes it.
General liability
Third-party bodily injury and property damage — the line nearly every contract names by default.
Without it — A customer injured in the waiting area or the lot has a direct claim with nothing behind it.
Commercial property
Buildings and contents, valued at what it costs to rebuild today rather than what you paid.
Without it — Lifts, diagnostic equipment and the building itself have to be replaced at today’s prices out of cash.
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 — Technician injuries are frequent in this trade and become uncapped claims without it.
Commercial auto
Vehicles the business owns and the people who drive them for work.
Without it — Shop trucks, loaners and test drives are all uninsured business use.
Crime & employee dishonesty
Theft by your own staff, funds transfer fraud, and the dishonesty bond a home care contract will ask you for by name.
Without it — Parts theft and till shortages by staff are a routine loss nobody plans for.
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. Knows which markets take a garage risk, what garagekeepers limit a full lot actually needs, and how to describe a mobile operation so it gets rated as what it is rather than declined on sight.
A dealer came to us after five claims in under two years, having been told by several agents that he was uninsurable. He did not believe we would place it either.
We placed it, and he is still with us two years later — including after an employee caused around $10,000 of damage to two customer vehicles in the dealership’s custody, which is exactly the garagekeepers claim the coverage exists for. A loss history is a reason to shop the account properly, not a reason nobody will write it.
What auto services operators ask us.
What is garagekeepers coverage and do I need it?
Garagekeepers covers customer vehicles in your care, custody and control — damage, theft, fire or vandalism while the car is yours to look after. It is separate from general liability, which excludes property in your control, and separate from your own commercial auto. Any shop that takes possession of a customer vehicle needs it, and it is the coverage most often found missing when we read an existing policy.
Direct primary or legal liability?
Legal liability only pays when you are proven at fault, which means a fire of unknown origin or a theft with no negligence can leave a customer uncompensated and you in an argument. Direct primary pays regardless of fault. It costs more, and for most shops it is worth the difference — the whole point is not having that argument with a customer.
Does it cover cars being test driven?
Generally yes while the vehicle is in your control for service, though the specifics vary by form and by who is driving. If employees regularly road test customer vehicles, that is worth confirming in writing before you need it rather than after.