Garage keepers’ coverage is something anyone operating a business where they are taking the responsibility of other people’s vehicles in to service them needs to consider. This could be cars, trucks, boats, heavy equipment, any other vehicle you can think of. While you have that item in your care, custody, and control, you can be found responsible for it.
Garage keepers is a coverage that is designed for that exact purpose. This coverage offers physical damage coverage for your client’s vehicles while in your care, custody, and control.
When deciding how you want this coverage to work for you, there are a few things to consider:
- What is the average value of the typical vehicle you are working on, and what is the high-end value of that typical vehicle?
- How many vehicles are you typically responsible for at any given time?
- What is a deductible amount you would be comfortable with if you had to claim a loss on one vehicle, and what is the maximum deductible you would be comfortable with if you had to claim a loss on multiple vehicles at one time?
- What kind of situations do you want this coverage to respond? What I mean by that is that you can choose between two different coverages Legal Liability, and Direct Primary. Here is the difference:
Legal Liability Coverage: This will allow the policy to respond ONLY if you are legally liable for damages to a customer’s vehicle. If legal liability can’t, be proven the claim will likely be denied by your insurance carrier and your customer will have to rely on their own insurance for repairs. While this is a cheaper cost it can leave a lot to be desired if you have a claim, and potentially lead to a bad experience for your customers who likely won’t be shy about sharing that experience with other potential clients.
Direct Primary Coverage: This will allow the policy to respond to incidents where a customer’s vehicle is damaged while in your care no matter if you are responsible for the damages or not. The cost for this coverage is more than the Legal Liability, but that is because you are indeed buying more coverage. In a real-life situation, this typically leads to a much better experience for your customer knowing that you are taking care of them which builds trust, and a repeat customer, who in this case will hopefully not be shy about sharing that experience.
For more information on this get ahold of our office, we love talking insurance.