Glossary
Garage liability insurance, defined
The core policy for auto dealers, repair shops, body shops and service stations, combining premises and operations exposure with auto exposure in one form.
In practice
A shop that lifts a customer's car, drives it to test the repair and sends it home on a new brake job cannot separate its operations from the vehicles it touches, so this form covers both: injury on the premises, injury caused by the work, and accidents while an employee drives a customer's or the dealer's vehicle. It does not cover damage to the customer's vehicle while the shop holds it; that is garagekeepers coverage. Dealers add a separate section for their inventory. Premium is rated on payroll and, for dealers, on the number of plates and employees who drive.
A worked example
Suppose a technician road-tests a customer's truck after a brake job and rear-ends another car, injuring its driver. The shop's garage policy pays the $40,000 injury claim within its $1,000,000 limit. The damage to the customer's truck falls to the garagekeepers part of the policy instead. Hypothetical.
Applies to: Commercial Auto InsuranceGeneral Liability Insurance