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Auto Repair & Tire Shop Insurance
Coverage Built Around the Bay
Every day, customers hand you their vehicles and trust you with them. Between lifts, torches, compressed air, test drives, and a lot full of customer cars, repair shops carry risks that ordinary business policies don't address. The two coverages that make or break a shop's program: garage liability and garage keepers.
Core Coverages for Repair Shops
- Garage liability — premises and operations liability tailored to auto service, including products/completed operations (the brake job that fails a week later)
- Garage keepers coverage — damage to customer vehicles in your care, custody, and control: fire, theft, vandalism, collision during test drives
- Commercial property — building, lifts, diagnostic equipment, compressors, inventory
- Tools and equipment (inland marine) — including techs' tools if you cover them
- Workers compensation — required for most shops with 5+ employees; shop work is injury-prone
- Commercial auto — tow trucks, parts runners, shop vehicles
Details That Matter
- Garage keepers comes in "legal liability" vs. "direct primary" forms — direct primary pays even when you're not at fault, which customers (and reviews) appreciate. Know which you have.
- Test drives, employee driving records, and after-hours vehicle storage all affect coverage and pricing.
- If you sell tires or parts, products liability is working every day — make sure completed operations limits are adequate.
FAQ
Garage liability covers injuries and property damage from your operations. Garage keepers covers the customer vehicles themselves while in your care. Shops need both — one without the other leaves a major gap.
That's exactly what garage keepers responds to — if you carry it and limits are adequate for the number of vehicles you hold overnight. We size limits around your real lot count, not a guess.
Only if the policy is set up for it. Tool coverage can include employee tools via inland marine — a meaningful benefit for retaining good techs. Tell us what's in the boxes.
Completed operations coverage (part of garage liability) is designed for claims arising from finished work — like a wheel-off after a tire rotation. It's essential for tire shops.
Covered under a properly structured garage policy, subject to listed driver and MVR requirements. Screen who test-drives and keep records — carriers check after a loss.
Typically, a few thousand dollars a year for a small shop, scaling with payroll, lot exposure, and equipment values. We shop it across garage-specialty carriers to find the fit.
