Customer vehicles in your care are excluded by the policy you already have.
Garagekeepers covers customers’ vehicles while they are in your care. Every repair shop, dealership and valet has that risk, and general liability excludes 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 garagekeepers actually covers.
Comprehensive and collision
Damage to a customer’s vehicle on your premises or while being moved.
Without it — A car damaged on your lot is paid from your own money, and the customer expects it that day.
Fire and theft
Vehicles lost to fire or stolen from your premises.
Without it — A single overnight fire can involve a dozen cars you do not own.
Legal liability or direct primary
Whether coverage applies only when you are at fault, or regardless.
Without it — On a legal liability form, a theft with no negligence on your part may not respond at all.
Where garagekeepers shows up.
- Auto Services & Garages
A customer vehicle damaged, stolen or burned while in your shop is your bill, and general liability specifically excludes it.
- Tow Truck & Recovery
Vehicles sitting on your lot are property in your care, and general liability excludes damage to them outright.
- Taxi & Rideshare Fleets
Vehicles parked on your lot between shifts are property in your care.
- Mobile Mechanics & Heavy Truck Repair
The customer’s vehicle is in your care the moment you start work on it, wherever that is, and general liability excludes damage to property in your care outright.
- Auto Body & Collision Shops
Customer and insurer-referred vehicles in your care, often for weeks while parts arrive. The per-location limit has to match a full shop and lot, not a slow Tuesday.
- Auto Detailing, Ceramic Coating & Tint
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.
- Tire Shops
Customer cars on the lift, in the bay and parked overnight. The wheel scratched by a changer is the frequency claim.
- Heavy Truck & Diesel Repair Shops
Tractors and trailers in your bays and yard. Set the per-location limit for a full yard of heavy equipment and check any per-vehicle maximum against your most valuable unit.
- Car Washes
General liability specifically excludes property in your care.
- Auto Dealers
General liability excludes property in your care, custody or control.
- Valet Parking
General liability excludes property in your care, custody or control, and every car you park is exactly that. A dented door on a customer’s car is paid from your own account, and they expect it that evening.
- Mesa Underwriters
Garage exposure is its own form and a standard package does not contain it.
- Auto Repair Shops
Customers’ vehicles on your lot and in your bays. General liability excludes property in your care, custody and control, so this is the coverage the whole risk turns on.
What clients with garagekeepers ask us.
What is the difference between legal liability and direct primary?
Legal liability pays only when the damage was your fault. Direct primary pays regardless, which is what most customers assume they are getting and what most disputes turn on. Direct primary costs more and is usually worth it, because arguing about fault with a customer whose car burned in your shop is not a business you want to be in.
I was dropped after several claims. Can I still get garagekeepers?
Usually, but not from the market that dropped you. A shop with several claims in a short period is declined by the standard carriers on the loss runs alone. What moves the account is a wholesaler with access to underwriters who will write frequency, and a submission that shows what changed since the claims. We placed garagekeepers for a detailing operation with more than five claims in two years by going to two wholesalers with the new procedures the owner had put in place. Fix the process first, then shop the account.
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.