The moment the key changes hands, the car is your problem.

Garagekeepers

Damage to, and theft of, a customer’s vehicle while it is in your care, from the key stand to the space and back. Written as legal liability, which pays when the damage was your fault, or as direct primary, which pays regardless.

Without it — 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.

Hired and non-owned auto

Liability for what your attendants do while driving a car you do not own, including the pedestrian in the lane and the car in the next space.

Without it — The customer’s own auto policy insures the customer. It was not written to defend your business for what your employee did behind the wheel, and their insurer will look for you.

General liability

A guest struck at the stand, a fall on the ramp, a cone in the wrong place, and the defense costs that arrive before anyone decides who was at fault.

Without it — The venue contract requires it before the first shift, and without it there is no contract.

Workers compensation

Attendants run, in traffic, at night, in whatever the weather is doing. The injury rate reflects it.

Without it — A valet hit in the lane with no comp policy is a lawsuit against the operator and, in most states, a penalty from the state on top.

Umbrella

The limit above the primary policies, which hotels, hospitals and event venues routinely name in the contract.

Without it — A single-vehicle injury involving a guest can pass a one million limit, and a venue that wrote five million into the agreement will hold you to it.

We are a restaurant and our own staff park the cars. Does our restaurant policy cover them?

Almost certainly not, and the exclusion is in the general liability form rather than in one carrier’s fine print. Liability policies exclude damage to property in your care, custody or control, and a guest’s car with your employee at the wheel is the textbook example. What answers is garagekeepers for the car itself and hired and non-owned auto for what the employee does while driving it, with the attendants rated as drivers. If you also own a shuttle or a house car, that goes on a commercial auto policy. None of this is expensive next to the first claim, and a restaurant that has run its own valet for years without it has simply not had the claim yet.

What garagekeepers covers and how it is written

Doesn’t the customer’s own car insurance cover it?

The customer’s policy insures the customer, and their insurer will pay them and then come looking for you. That process is called subrogation and it is routine. So the guest’s policy does not remove your exposure; it changes who sends the letter. On top of that, many guests carry liability only, with no coverage on their own car, and for them the valet stand is the only place the money can come from. Garagekeepers exists because both of those things are true at once.

What is the difference between legal liability and direct primary garagekeepers?

Legal liability pays when the damage was your fault, so the carrier can investigate before it does. Direct primary pays for a covered loss to a car in your care whether you were negligent or not, and it is what most guests assume they are getting when they hand over the keys. A stolen car, a hailstorm on the overflow lot and a scratch nobody saw happen are all cleaner under direct primary. It costs more, and for a valet operation it is usually the right form, because the argument it avoids is with your own customer.

Legal liability versus direct primary

What do venues put in the valet contract?

General liability and garagekeepers at stated limits, the venue named as an additional insured on both, hired and non-owned auto, workers compensation, and often an umbrella above them. Hotels and hospitals tend to ask for the higher limits. Read the insurance section of the agreement before you price the job, because the limits and the endorsements are a cost of the contract, and a certificate that does not match the wording gets the operator sent home on the first night. We match the certificate to the contract and send it to the venue before the stand opens.

Hired and non-owned auto explained

How much does valet parking insurance cost?

It is rated on the number of attendants and their driving records, the number of cars you move on a typical night, the venues and the states you work in, and whether the garagekeepers form is legal liability or direct primary. A single-restaurant stand with three drivers and a hotel contract with twenty are different risks and price that way, so we do not print a number here. What lowers the price is clean motor vehicle records, checked before hire and every year after, a written key-control procedure, and a claims history that shows you have had the stand for a while without incident.

We use a contract valet company. Are we covered?

You are covered by their policy only to the extent their certificate says so. Ask for a certificate naming your restaurant or hotel as an additional insured on both the general liability and the garagekeepers, and ask for the endorsement itself rather than the certificate alone, because the certificate is a summary and the endorsement is the coverage. Keep it current every year. If the operator lapses or goes out of business, the guest’s claim comes to the name on the building, and your own policy still excludes the car.

Restaurant insurance, including the valet question

Do you write new valet companies?

Yes. A first-year operator is placeable when the application is honest about who is driving and where. What the underwriter wants is a driver list with motor vehicle records, the venue contracts or letters of intent, the hours and the traffic pattern, and the key-control procedure in writing. The first year carries the price of no history, and it improves after twelve clean months.

What does a valet parking insurance application ask for?

The applications for valet parking businesses ask about 4 things above all: what services do you provide (boarding, day care, grooming, training, or other); how many pets do you have on site on an average day; do you have functioning fire extinguishers on site; have you had any property or liability losses in the past three years. Have description of what your business does and how you operate and your loss history for the past three years (claims you or your current insurer know about) ready and a quote takes a day instead of a week.