Auto Repair & Body Shop Insurance
General Auto Repair and Auto Body Repair garages can be full of a number of hazards. They are often filled with moving vehicles, expensive equipment, a surplus of employees and potentially dangerous tools. Even the safest garages will occasionally have accidents, and that’s why it’s essential to make sure that your business is covered.
That’s where garage general liability (GGL) coverage comes in. GGL can basically be thought of as a combination of a commercial general liability policy and a business auto policy that’s designed to cover the typical operations of commercial garages. However, as with most insurance policies, there are some important distinctions you should understand as you elect your coverage.
- Garage operations other than covered autos. This section includes coverage liability for property damage to the garage itself, as well as bodily injury to owners, their employees and their customers.
- Operation of autos. This refers to aspects of coverage analogous to many business auto policies. Specifically, a GGL policy will cover vehicles owned by the business, vehicles being held for sale or any other vehicles owned by someone else and being used in business operations. For example, this would include damages incurred if a business’s manager is driving a demo vehicle and causes an accident, or if the company’s parts driver gets in an accident while making a delivery.
- Garagekeepers. If a customer’s car is damaged while in your company’s care, or if it causes damage while in your company’s care, your GGL could leave you exposed. However, a separate coverage commonly sold along with a GGL policy—garagekeepers coverage—is designed specifically to provide coverage for that exposure.
Other important coverages to consider are:
- Employees tools coverage: Provides coverage for tools owned by employees located on the described premise
- Repairs and replacement provision: Provides 90 percent of the retail selling price of parts and materials and 100 percent of hourly labor rates for the repairs or replacement made by the insured to the customer’s auto if property damage to the customer’s auto arises out of the insured’s garage operations, resulting from the insured’s work or product
- Vehicle damage to buildings leased by the insured: Provides coverage for property damage caused by a customer’s auto to the premise rented to the insured when required by written lease agreement
- Defective products and faulty work coverage
- Additional audio, visual and data electronic equipment
- Blanket coverage for additional insured
- Hired auto physical damage
- Locksmith service
- Personal property of others
- Rental reimbursement
- Temporary transportation expense
- Towing and labor
- Waiver of deductible for glass breakage