Your shop is the shoulder of a live interstate.

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 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.

Commercial auto

Vehicles the business owns and the people who drive them for work.

Without it — Service trucks are on the road constantly and frequently stopping on shoulders, which is the worst place a vehicle can be.

General liability

Third-party bodily injury and property damage. It is the line nearly every contract names by default.

Without it — Completed operations matter here: a repair that fails at speed later is your claim, not the driver’s.

Motor truck cargo

The freight itself while you are hauling it. Separate from the liability on the truck.

Without it — On-hook and in-tow coverage, where you recover or move vehicles as part of the service, because the vehicle you are towing is not covered by liability.

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 — Working beside live traffic is the defining injury exposure in this class, and struck-by claims are catastrophic.

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 — Tools, diagnostic equipment and the fit-out of a service truck are worth more than the truck.

Umbrella & excess liability

Extra limit stacked above general liability, auto and employers liability. Usually the cheapest million dollars on the policy.

Without it — Fleet accounts and roadside contracts require limits above primary, and a highway incident exhausts them.

Commercial property

Buildings and contents, valued at what it costs to rebuild today rather than what you paid.

Without it — The shop, the lifts and the parts inventory still need replacing after a loss.

Does my general liability cover work on semi trucks and other heavy trucks?

Often not, and it is worth checking before the next job. Many general liability programs written for mechanics are built around passenger cars and light trucks, and they exclude or sharply limit work on heavy trucks. We place mobile mechanic general liability with a specialty market that includes heavy truck work, so a repair on a tractor or a trailer is covered the same way as a repair on a pickup.

Why is mobile repair harder to place than a shop?

Because the work moves to the roadway. A technician working in a bay is in a controlled environment; the same technician on the shoulder of an interstate at night is exposed to traffic at highway speed, and struck-by injuries are severe when they happen. Carriers that write ordinary auto repair frequently will not write roadside work, and the ones that do want to know how much of your revenue it is.

Do I need garagekeepers if I do not have a shop?

Yes, and this is the most common gap in mobile operations. Garagekeepers covers damage to a customer’s vehicle in your care, custody and control, and it is in your care while you are working on it in their yard, at a truck stop or on a shoulder, exactly as it would be on your lot. General liability excludes it wherever the work happens, so a mobile operator without garagekeepers is uncovered for the most likely claim they have. Check the per-vehicle limit as well. A mobile mechanic program we place carries $50,000 per vehicle with a $1,000 deductible, which suits cars and light trucks and does not replace a tractor.

Legal liability against direct primary garagekeepers

Who pays if my repair fails a week later and causes a crash?

Your general liability, under completed operations, for the injuries and the damage to other people’s property. Completed operations is the part of a general liability policy that answers for work after you have finished it and left. It does not pay to redo the repair itself, which is the faulty workmanship exclusion, and the customer’s own auto policy will pay its insured first and then pursue you. A signed repair order and photos of the finished work are the defense.

Faulty work against completed operations

What if I also do towing or roadside recovery?

Then you need on-hook and in-tow coverage as well, and it has to be disclosed rather than assumed. The vehicle attached to your truck is not covered by your liability policy, and a repair-written program usually does not contemplate towing at all. Where roadside assistance is part of the offer, say so at submission. This is a class where discovering it at claim is the bad outcome.

Can this class actually be cheaper than what I am paying?

Frequently, and by more than people expect. Mobile and heavy truck service is priced badly by default because most submissions do not describe the operation properly: the split between shop and roadside, the technician experience, the safety equipment on the service trucks, the fleet controls. Presented properly, with the credits a well-run fleet qualifies for, the difference can be very large. Our largest mobile truck repair client saw about half.

What does a mobile repair and heavy truck service insurance application ask for?

The applications for mobile repair and heavy truck service businesses ask about 4 things above all: what types of auto repair work do you do most often (like oil changes, body work, painting, tire service); how many employees do you have working on site; if you do painting, do you have a separate spray booth with proper ventilation and explosion-proof lighting; what is your claims history from the last three years. Have your last three years of claims history from your current or previous insurer, called loss runs and a copy of your dealer's license if you have one ready and a quote takes a day instead of a week.