What auto dealers should know about garagekeepers insurance

If you have an auto dealership, you might have a repair shop as well. And when you have your customers’ cars in your care, custody, and control, it’s important to have the right coverage to protect them in case something happens to them. An important coverage is garagekeepers insurance, but you might wonder what’s so important about it. We’ll go over some of the basics about the coverage. (And answer a few of the questions you might have.)

What you should know about garagekeepers insurance.

What does garagekeepers insurance do?

If you have a repair shop and you keep your customers’ cars in your care, custody, and control, garagekeepers insurance is definitely a coverage to consider. That’s because it’s designed for businesses that keep their customers’ cars at their location for parking, storage, or services. Your clients trust you to take care of their vehicles, after all. And something happening to the customers’ cars is one of the major risks that auto service stations face.

Garagekeepers insurance can protect the cars from losses like…

• Fire
• Theft
• Vandalism
• Lightning

So, if a fire overtook your shop and burned all of your customers’ cars to a crisp … that’s where garagekeepers could come in very handy.

Different types of garagekeepers insurance.

There are a few different types of garagekeepers insurance, so it’s important that you understand what your coverage will and won’t cover. Here are two of the different types of garagekeepers insurance:

Direct primary: This can provide coverage for the business even if they are not legally liable for the loss and even if it’s not their “fault”, per se

Excess coverage: This can provide coverage in excess of what the customer might have for their own vehicle.

At any rate, always ask questions about the policy to clarify things that need some explanation. Having a nasty surprise when it comes to insurance is not fun, and you don’t want to be in a situation where a loss you thought would be covered actually isn’t covered.

Determining the amount of garagekeepers insurance you need.

Another question you might have about garagekeepers insurance is this: how much garagekeepers insurance do I need for my auto dealership? Getting enough coverage is important, after all. You can give yourself a general idea of what limit of coverage you might need with a simple multiplication trick. You can take the average number of cars you have in your care, custody, and control and multiply it by the average value of these vehicles.

(For example, if you usually have 8 customer cars in your shop and the cars cost an average of $15,000, you would multiply 8 by $15,000 to get $120,000. That means that you would need at least $120,000 of coverage.)

A word about deductibles.

You also have to be aware of the deductible with your garagekeepers insurance. Garagekeepers usually comes with a per-vehicle deductible, so you need to pay attention to that. How that works is that, in the event of a covered loss, you would pay your deductible and the insurer pays the rest, up to the policy’s limit. Be sure that you know your deductible and that it’s set at the right level for your business.

Garagekeepers insurance exclusions.

Now, garagekeepers insurance comes with certain exclusions, and it’s important that you’re aware of these exclusions. For example, here are some losses that are typically NOT covered by a garagekeepers insurance policy:

• Contract obligations
• Theft by the entity that is insured
• Defective parts
• Faulty work
• Loss to sound reproducing equipment (unless permanently installed)
• Loss to sound receiving equipment (i.e. radio or phone) unless installed in the vehicle
• Equipment that detects radars

How to get insurance quotes.

We can help you get garagekeepers insurance for your business. We like to make insurance easy. Here’s how that works:

• Let us know that you need garagekeepers insurance for your dealership with our online form. (Or by calling us.)
• We’ll chat with you about your business and your insurance needs.
• We’ll go and get you some quotes.
• You can ask any questions you have about your quotes.
• Our team will be here to help with your insurance issues, questions, or concerns.

So, use our online form, give us a call, or message us to get started with getting garagekeepers insurance for an auto dealership. We’re here to help!