Garage Liability vs. Garagekeepers

These two coverages sound similar but protect against different things. Most auto shops need both. Here's the difference.

Garage liability

Garage liability is essentially general liability + auto liability combined for automotive businesses. It covers:

• Customer slips and falls in your shop
• Damage you cause while test-driving a customer's car
• Faulty repairs that cause damage or injury later
• Your employees driving customer vehicles

Think of it as covering your operations—what you do that might hurt someone else or damage their property.

Garagekeepers coverage

Garagekeepers covers customer vehicles in your care. If a car gets damaged while in your shop—from fire, theft, vandalism, or even your employee hitting it with a forklift—garagekeepers pays to fix it.

Coverage options:

• Legal liability: Only pays if you're legally responsible for the damage
• Direct primary: Pays regardless of fault—better coverage but costs more

Why you need both

Garage liability doesn't cover damage to customer vehicles in your possession. Garagekeepers doesn't cover injuries or damage from your operations. Together, they provide complete protection for an auto shop.

Example scenarios

• Customer trips on a hose: Garage liability pays for their medical bills and any lawsuit.
• Fire damages cars in your lot: Garagekeepers pays to repair or replace the customer vehicles.
• Tech crashes car during test drive: Garage liability covers the third-party damage; garagekeepers covers the customer's car.

How much coverage?

Garage liability limits are typically $1M per occurrence. Garagekeepers limits depend on how many customer cars you have on-site at once—calculate the maximum total value and insure at least that amount.