Best Garage Insurance

You can protect yourself, your employees and your garage with tailored insurance plans. Start with our guide for everything you need to know about garage insurance.

Best Garage Insurance

To get the best coverage for your garage or repair shop business, it’s important to consider which insurance company can best meet your needs. Most well-known insurance companies have experience in insuring several types of industries. 

If a company has experience providing insurance for garages and other auto repair businesses, it will have an understanding of the risks your business may face. 

Types of Garage Insurance

The most important thing to understand before you purchase insurance for your business is that your garage will probably need more than 1 insurance policy. While there are insurance companies out there that can suggest a combination of insurance coverages based on your industry, you’ll need to customize the coverages for your business. 

Some of the types of insurance coverage you may want to consider include:

General Liability Insurance

General liability insurance is a coverage that almost any business could benefit from. It protects your business from a wide variety of claims, ranging from a customer injuring themselves when visiting your garage to a competitor claiming that your business copied their advertisement. 

The 2 main components of general liability insurance coverage are bodily injury and property damage liability. If a customer is injured on your business’s property, your business can use its general liability coverage to help pay for their medical bills to treat and diagnose the injury. Your general liability insurance policy can also help if a customer’s own personal property is damaged on your property. 

General liability insurance policies may also offer additional coverages. Some policies include personal and advertising injury, which can protect your business if your business is sued due to issues including libel, slander, malicious mischief and copyright infringement. A general liability insurance policy may also include coverage for completed products and completed operations. This means that if your garage performs and completes faulty service or work on a customer’s vehicle, it can cover the damages that arise from your garage’s completed work. 

Commercial Property Insurance

Think of this type of insurance coverage like coverage for personal property that is owned by your business. This includes your garage’s actual building structure, as well as other property on the site that is owned by your business like tools and equipment. 

Commercial property is an important layer of protection for your business and can help your business get back on its feet if tragedy strikes. It covers losses that are caused by things like fire and theft of your business. 

A business owner’s policy (BOP) is a convenient way to combine multiple coverages into a single policy. This can save your business money and make your insurance policies easier to manage. 

Most BOPs start by including both general liability and property insurance coverage. It offers the exact same benefits as if you had purchased each of those policies separately. 

Some BOPs also offer additional types of coverage. This can include data breach coverage, business income coverage or other specialized coverages. Each insurance company creates its own BOP, so it’s important to review each company’s coverage options before you purchase.

Commercial Auto Insurance

If your garage has any vehicles that are used for business, you may need to purchase a commercial auto insurance policy. Commercial auto insurance is similar to personal auto insurance, but it’s designed specifically to cover business vehicles since they are typically exposed to more risk than personal vehicles. 

When you get a commercial auto insurance quote, it will likely include coverage for:

• Liability
• Physical damage
• Medical payments
• Uninsured motorist
• Hired auto
• Non-owned coverage
• Any auto 

Some insurance companies offer different levels of auto insurance policies. For example, a policy for business auto vehicles such as vans and SUVs may be different from policies for dump trucks and commercial trailers. Your insurance company may also offer the ability to adjust your policy seasonally to reflect your business’s changing needs while keeping your rates as low as possible.

Garagekeepers Legal Liability Insurance

Fortunately, the garage industry does have an insurance policy that is designed specifically to protect garage owners and their businesses. Garagekeepers legal liability insurance is a coverage option for businesses that operate service stations and/or offer towing services. 

This type of coverage protects the vehicles of your customers while the vehicle is in a covered location for either parking, storage or to have service performed.

Workers’ compensation insurance is a crucial type of coverage if your garage has any employees. This type of insurance policy offers legal protection for your business, as well as benefits that go directly to your employees if they file a covered claim.

If 1 of your employees is injured on the job, they can file a claim for workers’ compensation insurance. You and your employee will need to work together to get all of the information that needs to be submitted to your insurance company to receive workers’ comp benefits.

When an employee suffers from a work-related injury or illness, they may qualify for benefits from your workers’ compensation insurance policy. The employee’s benefits include coverage for their medical bills as they receive treatment for the work-related illness or injury. 

If the affected employee can’t return to work due to the injury, they can receive lost wages benefits to help make up for their loss of income. If the employee can only return to work in a reduced capacity in a lower-paying position, they may also qualify for lost wage benefits. 

Your business will also benefit from legal protection from workers’ compensation insurance. If the injured employee sues your business, your policy may be able to help with your legal costs. It may also help with your business’s legal costs if your employee passes away from their work-related ailment and their family sues your business.

Cost of Garage Insurance

It’s not easy to estimate what the cost of your garage insurance policies will be. To find an accurate estimate of your garage insurance costs, you can get a quote. It’s important to understand what factors go into determining the cost of your insurance policies. Some of the factors an insurance company may consider before giving you a quote are:

• The location of your garage
• The physical condition of your garage’s property, including the garage itself
• How long you’ve been in business 
• How many years of experience you have in the auto or garage industry
• The number of employees that work at your garage
• The annual size of your garage’s payroll
• Your past history of business insurance claims

You must also consider the coverage limits you choose for your insurance policies. The coverage limits are the maximum amount of money that an insurance company will pay out for your insurance policy’s claims through the year. Each insurance policy you purchase will have its own maximum coverage limit.

To get a quote for your garage’s insurance policies, you can start by entering the ZIP code your garage is located in. A quote can detail your policy options and the amount that your insurance policies could cost. It does not obligate you to purchase any insurance policy.

Fortunately, some insurance companies publish the average costs of some insurance policies online. Progressive is an insurance company that offers discounted coverage options through its Progressive Advantage Business Program. Through this program, the average annual costs for insurance policies in 2019 were:

• $636 for general liability insurance
• $960 for a business owner’s policy (BOP)
• $816 for workers’ compensation insurance

When reviewing your coverage options, keep in mind that some insurance companies offer ways to bundle multiple coverages into a single policy, such as with a business owner’s policy. Combining coverages into a single policy can help you save money overall on your business insurance.

How Garage Insurance Works

When purchasing insurance for your garage, it’s important that you carefully consider the risks that your business faces and make sure that you have coverage for each risk. Remember, no 2 insurance policies are the same. While some insurance companies may offer certain insurance recommendations for the garage industry, there is no singular garage insurance policy. 

To get complete coverage for your garage, you’ll need to be deliberate in understanding and choosing insurance policies that cover different aspects of your business. A good insurance company and/or insurance agent can help you make these decisions by offering recommendations based on what has worked for other garages. 

When purchasing business insurance, it’s also important to understand what may be legally required of your business. For example, if your garage has any employees, your business is probably legally required to have an active workers’ compensation policy. 

Some states may also require that businesses have other insurance types, such as a general liability insurance policy. If you’re working with an insurance agent, you can ask the agent what your state requires. The insurance agent or company you work with should be able to help you make sure that your business meets the minimum legal requirements based on your state and industry. 

Next Steps for Your Garage

Start with a quote as the 1st move toward your business insurance policy. Getting a quote is a fast, easy and free way to compare your garage insurance options.

Check out our list of recommended providers to find the best policy today.