Insuranks

Garage Keepers Insurance: Liability Coverage, Cost & Quotes From $11

Garage keepers insurance is designed to provide business insurance coverage to commercial garage keeping services, automotive repair services, and other similar businesses.


As a garage keeper, it’s your responsibility to ensure that your customers’ autos are kept safe from damage or theft while under your care. Unfortunately, though, things may not always go according to plan. You can never fully prepare for a break-in, robbery, or even a natural disaster wreaking havoc on your garage space.


This is where garage keepers insurance comes in.


In this article, we’re about to show you why you need garagekeepers insurance, explain some of the most common types of garage keepers insurance coverage, and even go over some of the various costs of different coverage levels. Lastly, we’ll include several brief reviews of the best garage keepers insurance companies. Let’s take a look!


Also read:

Garage Keepers Insurance Definition

Before we get into the different types of garage keepers coverage, it would be best if we discuss how garage keepers insurance helps.


Your business is liable for a customer’s car stored in the garage.  A customer’s car can get damaged while in your possession, and the function of garage keeper’s insurance is to make sure that you don’t incur financial losses if the customer files a claim. Specifically, garage keepers insurance will shoulder the cost of the following:

  • The amount the owner of the damaged vehicle wants you to pay

  • Vehicle parts repair or replacement expenses 


Now that you know how a garage keepers policy helps, let’s take a few minutes to discuss some of the most common types of garage owners insurance! 



Garagekeepers legal liability coverage is the most common type of garage keepers insurance. This will shoulder reimbursements if you or an employee damaged a client’s car.  Note that garage keepers legal liability insurance, doesn’t pay a disgruntled client on your behalf if the car under your care is damaged by weather, a vehicular accident caused by a third - party, fire, theft, and vandalism. 


Garagekeepers Comprehensive Coverage

Garagekeepers comprehensive coverage, also called direct primary coverage, kicks in regardless of how a customer’s car got damaged while under your care. In other words, it doesn’t only cover damage caused by mistakes or negligence you or an employee committed but also fire, theft, vandalism, and  a vehicular accident a third party caused. 


Exclusions in Garage Keepers Insurance

Know that garage keepers insurance comes with exclusions.  An insurance company won’t cover the following:

  • Theft of a client’s personal effects stored inside the car under your custody

  • Loss and damage caused by the theft of an aftermarket car stereo that’s not permanently installed

  • Damage to already defective parts


How Much Garage Keepers Insurance Do You Need?

How much garage keepers insurance you need to get depends on the number of customers’ vehicles under your custody. A business that has custody of only 10 cars will require lesser coverage than a business responsible for 20 cars. 


Experts recommend that small businesses need to get a garage keepers insurance offering $1,500 per occurrence limit. On the other hand,  large businesses offering garage services must get $2,500 in coverage.  But still, the best way to figure out how much coverage to get is to assess the risks your business faces. 


Garage keepers liability coverage and garage keepers legal liability aren’t the same (though many say they are).  Garage keepers liability insurance covers personal injury and property damage claims filed against your business. 


On the other hand, garage keepers legal liability insurance doesn’t cater to personal injury claims or property damage claims from third parties. Instead, it only takes care of claims from customers whose vehicle got damaged while under the custody of your business.


Useful Business Insurance Policies Aside from Garage Keepers Insurance 

Your business needs other business insurance policies for the best protection. Business insurance policies you’ll absolutely need are:

  • Commercial property insurance

  • Commercial auto insurance

  • Workers compensation insurance

  • Employee dishonesty insurance


Commercial Property Insurance

Commercial property insurance covers the building or any other similar structure you’re using as an auto storage facility. Extreme weather and fire might destroy your commercial space. Also, theft and vandalism might cause some damage. Commercial property insurance sees to it that you don’t  use personal funds for building reconstruction or repair. 


Businesses offering garage keeping services such as auto repair shops and auto detailing shops decide to add business equipment and tools coverage to commercial property insurance. Commercial property insurance with business equipment and tools coverage will reimburse losses if work tools and equipment got damaged because of extreme weather, lightning, theft, and other named perils. 


Commercial Auto Insurance

If your garage-keeping business owns a vehicle and is using it for business-related purposes, consider getting commercial auto insurance. Commercial auto insurance provides the following protection:

  • Auto liability coverage

  • Physical damage coverage

  • Emergency roadside assistance

Your garage-keeping business’s vehicle might cause a vehicular accident. In connection, the job of auto liability coverage is to shoulder the emergency treatment of injured third parties. Also, it reimburses individuals whose property got damaged. In other words, auto liability coverage in commercial auto insurance ensures that you don’t use personal funds when wrapping up a vehicular accident in which you’re the one to blame.


Vehicular accidents will damage your business’s vehicle. Lightning, fire, riot, vandalism, and theft might do the same. Repairing or replacing damaged vehicle parts is very costly, but not so much if you have physical damage coverage. 


Physical damage coverage helps your garage-keeping business get refurbished at the minimum cost or no cost at all. It comes in two forms - collision and comprehensive.


Collision physical damage coverage covers parts repair or replacement cost if your garage-keeping business’s commercial vehicle incurred damage by colliding with another vehicle or object while running. But note that this coverage won’t cover you if you got involved in a collision while DUI, driving in hot pursuit with police authorities, and other related criminal activities. 


Comprehensive physical damage coverage covers parts repair or replacement costs if the following damaged your commercial vehicle:

  • Lightning - You left your garage keeping business’s vehicle out in the open as there’s no more space inside the building. Lightning then struck it during heavy rain and busted the batteries

  • Vandalism - A group of teenagers made some ugly and blatant graffiti on your business’s commercial vehicle

  • Theft - Someone tried to open your garage keeping business’s commercial vehicle and heavily damaged the doors

  • Fire - A faulty wiring sent electrical sparks all the way to the gas tank. The gas tank then burned in flames and heavily damaged some external vehicle components 

  • Hail -  A strong hail happened and broke the windows and headlights of your garage keeping business’s commercial vehicle


Workers Compensation Insurance 

Your garage keeping business won’t run without employees. Your employees might get hurt or sick because of slip and fall or any other accidents in the workplace.  


Workers compensation insurance helps you look after employees. Specifically, this is an insurance policy you can claim the moment an employee gets injured or sick because of work. Workers compensation will pay for the employee’s hospitalization, treatment, and after-hospital visits. 


What if the employee needs to take a break to further heal his sickness or injury? Does workers comp insurance cover lost wages? The answer is yes. Workers compensation insurance provides an allowance so that the employee still has money during his or her temporary unemployment. The amount of allowance will be equal to two thirds of the employee’s average weekly wage. 


What if the employee dies? Can workers comp still help? The answer to this is yes as well. In case the employee dies, workers compensation insurance will provide death benefits to his or her dependents - specifically, the spouse and children. 


Why Should You Get Workers Compensation Insurance?

Aside from helping you take care of injured or sick employees, it’s important for you to get workers compensation insurance to avoid penalties. Authorities require employers to get workers compensation insurance.  Non-compliance might result in the imposition of fines. Imprisonment is another possible consequence.


Another thing, workers compensation insurance also offers some legal protection. Some states in the US prohibit employees from suing employers who provide workers compensation coverage. With that said, if you have workers compensation insurance, then there might be no need to get employer’s liability insurance. But still, it all depends on the workers comp law of the state where your business is located. And so, contact authorities just to be sure. 


Employee Dishonesty Insurance

Employees might commit crimes against your garage keeping business. It’s certain that you’ll incur losses if this happens. That’s why consider getting employee dishonesty insurance. Employee dishonesty insurance will cover your losses if an employee commits theft, fraud, social engineering, and other related crimes. 


Also read: Car Hauler Insurance: Cost & Quotes From $11

Compare Garage Keepers Insurance Quotes

Get all the best quotes from leading providers in a click of a button!

garagekeepers


Garage Keepers Insurance Cost

Wondering how much is garage keepers insurance policy going to cost you? On average, garage keepers liability insurance cost is $96 per month or $1,152 per year.


As always with insurance, rates depend on multiple risk factors, such as the size and location of your business for instance. On top of that, garage owners insurance policies may include more than just basic liability so keep that in mind when you look at the average garage keepers insurance rates which you will find below. 


Coverage Type Average Monthly Cost Average Annual Cost
General Liability Insurance $96 $1,152
Public Liability Insurance $73 $876
Comprehensive Insurance Add-Ons $50 $550


Here’s another table that shows the pricing of the best companies for garage keepers insurance:


Cost per Month  Cost per Year Best for
CoverWallet  $66.66 $800 Garage keeper insurance quotes comparison online
Progressive $85 $1,020 Garage keepers legal liability insurance for high risk towing and automobile service
State Farm  $96.15 $1,155 Mid-sized garage-keeping businesses
Geico $106.41 $1,277 Large garages that need to insure multiple garage storage spaces


How Much is Garage Keepers Insurance for Automotive Businesses?

Automotive businesses pay $108 a month or $1,300 a year for their garage keepers insurance. Factors that affect the price of garage keepers insurance for automotive businesses are claims history, location, policy limit, deductibles, and more. 


How Much is Garage Keepers Insurance for Auto Detailing Business?

Auto detailing businesses pay $125 a month or $1,500 a year for their garage keepers insurance. Factors that affect the price of garage keepers insurance for auto detailing businesses are business history, claims history, and more. 


How to Save on Garage Keepers Insurance Premiums?

Always decide to get a high deductible. If your deductible is high, then your premiums will be 15% - 20% cheaper. 

Another way for you to save money is to pay for the whole year rather than going for monthly payments. This works because all insurance companies give a 10% - 15% discount if you pay for premiums upfront. 

Each insurer may offer special rates and deals, depending on what city and state you live in. Again, that’s why it’s always a good idea to compare insurance quotes before you decide on one company over another. 


Make a Garage Liability Insurance Quote Comparison Now!

Want to find cheap garage keepers insurance? Whether you’re just looking for a simple liability policy or a more comprehensive policy, the best thing that you can do is to compare quotes from different insurance companies. By comparing quotes, you control the sales process and ensure that you have multiple insurance options available to choose from, while your potential insurers are "fighting " for your business by offering their best rates. 


Given the competitive nature of the insurance marketplace, the mere fact that you’re comparing quotes often triggers the companies’ algorithms to offer you better-than-average rates. This is all done in an effort to undercut their competitors. 


That said, the best rates aren't always what you want to go after, you must make sure that the coverage that you are getting is broad enough for your specific business needs on top of everything! 


To get your customized garage keepers insurance quotes online right now, simply click one of the ‘Get Quotes’ buttons on this page to compare quotes from some of the top garage keepers insurance providers in America!

Rank and Review Insurance Companies

Help others make better decisions

Show more

Best Garage Keepers Insurance Companies

If you’re looking for the best garage keepers insurance companies, then you most likely can’t go wrong with the ones featured in this section! Take a look at the pros, cons, and average $1 million garage keepers insurance rates of the top carriers. 


CoverWallet Garage Keepers Insurance


Pros

  • Compare the garage keepers insurance quotes of different companies 

  • Get insured, grab a certificate of insurance, and pay premiums online

  • A partner of reputable companies

  • Streamlines the insurance process

Cons

  • Garage keepers insurance is an endorsement not a stand-alone policy or optional policy 


CoverWallet offers three types of garage keepers insurance - legal liability, direct primary coverage, and direct excess. Garage keepers insurance from this company is available to garage keeping businesses, parking lot businesses, automotive shops, auto detailing, and other types of businesses that take custody of their customer’s car.  


CoverWallet understands that you need more protection. And so, it also offers garage liability insurance. 


So what are the perks of working with CoverWallet? If you decide to get insured by this company, you’ll enjoy 24/7 online support.  CoverWallet also streamlines the insurance process by allowing you to pay premiums and get proof of insurance online. 


Best for: Garage keeper insurance quotes comparison online

Average cost: $66.66  per month

Our rating: 10/10


Progressive Garage Keepers Insurance

Pros

  • Covers customers with a lot of claims history

  • File and track a claim online

Cons

  • Only offers garage keepers legal liability. 

  • No direct primary coverage or direct excess coverage is available 


Progressive offers garage keepers legal liability insurance for towing businesses and automobile service station businesses. This company covers low-risk and high-risk customers. Work with Progressive because this carrier allows you to file and track a claim online. Furthermore, it offers the insurance policies needed for state licensing. 


Best for: Garage keepers legal liability insurance for high risk towing and automobile service station businesses

Average cost: $85  per month

Our rating: 9/10



State Farm Garage Keepers Insurance


Pros

  • Great customer service rating 

  • Competitive rates

  • Locations around the country for easy access

Cons

  • Some businesses have found that it takes a while to handle claims


In terms of total clients, State Farm is the largest insurer in the United States. They started in the mid-1920s as a small insurance company providing coverage for homes and farming equipment. Now, they offer a wide range of personal and business insurance policies that can cover just about any garage-keeping business on the market with great confidence. They have excellent customer service ratings and have very competitive rates. 


Best for: Mid-sized garage-keeping businesses

Average cost: $1,155  per month

Our rating: 8/10


Garage Keepers Insurance Geico


Pros

  • Easy-to-use smartphone app

  • Policies for small or large garage keepers

  • Fast customer service and claims handling

Cons

  • The cost of insurance can vary heavily from one customer to another


Geico is the second-largest insurer in the United States and offers excellent small business insurance policies. Whether you’re a small-time garage-keeper or you need to ensure a full-scale auto dealership, Geico has you covered with great rates, fast service, and an easy-to-use smartphone app so you can handle your policy, claims, and billing anywhere you are. 


Although Geico claims to have lower prices than competitors, this can vary from one location to another, so it’s still a good idea to compare quotes. 


Best for: Large garages that need to insure multiple garage storage spaces

Average cost: $1,277  per month  

Our rating: 7/10

Compare Garage Keepers Insurance Quotes

Get all the best quotes from leading providers in a click of a button!



Recent Reviews

Recent Posts