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🔧 '''Garage insurance''' is a specialized [[Definition:Commercial insurance | commercial insurance]] product designed to cover the unique risks faced by businesses that service, repair, store, or sell motor vehicles — including auto repair shops, body shops, car dealerships, towing operators, and parking garages. It bundles several coverages into a single policy, addressing both the [[Definition:Liability insurance | liability]] exposures that arise when a business handles customers' vehicles and the [[Definition:Property insurance | property]] risks associated with the premises, tools, equipment, and vehicle inventory. Although the term is most established in the North American market — where it corresponds to specific ISO policy forms — similar packaged coverages for motor trade businesses exist in other jurisdictions under names like "motor trade insurance" in the UK and "motor traders' policy" in parts of Asia and Australia.

⚙️ A typical garage insurance policy weaves together several distinct coverage parts. [[Definition:Garage liability | Garage liability]] responds to [[Definition:Bodily injury | bodily injury]] and [[Definition:Property damage | property damage]] claims arising from the business's operations, such as a mechanic's error that causes an accident after a vehicle leaves the shop. [[Definition:Garagekeepers insurance | Garagekeepers coverage]] protects customers' vehicles while they are in the insured's care, custody, or control — a risk ordinary [[Definition:General liability insurance | general liability]] policies typically exclude. Many garage policies also include or can be endorsed to add [[Definition:Business interruption insurance | business interruption]], [[Definition:Workers' compensation insurance | workers' compensation]], and coverage for the insured's own fleet of vehicles or dealer inventory under a [[Definition:Dealers open lot coverage | dealers open lot]] provision. Underwriters evaluate these accounts by examining the type of garage operation, annual revenue, number of vehicles handled, claims history, and the safety protocols in place, often requiring proof of fire suppression systems and secure storage for high-value inventory.

🏢 Garage businesses occupy a critical node in the automotive ecosystem, and the concentration of third-party property in their care creates [[Definition:Bailee | bailee]] exposures that standard commercial packages cannot adequately address. A single fire at a dealership lot or a flood in a repair facility can destroy dozens of customer and inventory vehicles simultaneously, generating catastrophic [[Definition:Loss | loss]] severity. Insurers writing this class must therefore price for both frequency — the steady stream of minor fender scrapes and tool theft claims — and the tail risk of large single events. In the United States, garage insurance is a staple of the [[Definition:Commercial lines | commercial lines]] market, often written by specialty carriers or [[Definition:Managing general agent (MGA) | MGAs]] with motor trade expertise, while in the UK the motor trade insurance market is well developed with its own network of specialist [[Definition:Insurance broker | brokers]]. For any business whose daily operations revolve around other people's vehicles, garage insurance is not optional — it is the foundational risk transfer mechanism that keeps the doors open.

'''Related concepts:'''
{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Definition:Garagekeepers insurance]]
* [[Definition:Commercial auto insurance]]
* [[Definition:Dealers open lot coverage]]
* [[Definition:Bailee]]
* [[Definition:General liability insurance]]
* [[Definition:Motor trade insurance]]
{{Div col end}}

Definition:Garage insurance - Revision history

PlumBot: Bot: Creating new article from JSON