If you own and operate a mechanic shop, you provide various auto repair services to your customers. Customers rely on you to repair their vehicles, and often to keep their vehicles safe in your garage overnight. Your biggest risks are damage or theft of the customer’s vehicles, as well as damage to your own property. Protect all of your risks with a mechanic shop business insurance policy.
Types of Mechanic Shop Business Insurance
You have a variety of risk exposures as an owner of a mechanic shop, so you need more than one insurance policy to offset your risks. Here are the most important ones.
General Liability
If you only get one insurance policy for your mechanic shop, it should be general liability insurance. This policy covers injuries to customers who visit your shop, with the premises liability coverage, as well as any damages to their vehicle during repairs, with the completed operations section. In addition, if your mechanic’s shop sells auto tools or supplies, the loss or damage they cause customers is covered under products liability.
Business Auto
The business auto insurance policy is a commercial policy that offers coverage if you get into an accident. It provides protection for damage to the vehicle or property, bodily injury, and uninsured or underinsured motorists. You can also choose to add theft and vandalism coverage to the auto policy.
Business Owner’s Property (BOP)
A business owner’s policy (BOP) is a package policy you can customize with different areas of coverage. You might find your biggest risks and damage to your property or employee-related thefts, so you would want to add dishonest employee coverage and business property and contents coverage to the policy. You can choose as many or as few coverages as you like.
Business Property
Business property insurance offers you adequate protection in the event of an unexpected catastrophe. Perils like natural disasters or fires can occur without warning, and cause damage to your building, vehicles, and equipment. With this policy, you have coverage for the building and contents, from replacing tool to making repairs to the shop itself. With motor oil and other types of flammable liquids, you are at a higher risk for fire, so this is definitely a vital mechanic shop business insurance policy you need.
Garage Keepers Liability insurance
Since you often keep vehicles of your customers in your garage overnight, you need additional protection through a garage keepers liability insurance policy. If anything happens to their vehicle, whether through a crime of theft or vandalism or a shop fire, the damages are covered by the garage keepers insurance policy. It covers legal costs and other associated costs.
Equipment Breakdown Insurance
You require the use of equipment in your auto repair shop in order to perform daily business operations. If you have a car lift or mechanic tools break down, it could mean halting operations until the machine or tools are repaired or replaced. Some of these costs can be covered with the help of an equipment breakdown insurance policy.
Cyber Liability Insurance
Cyber crimes include any type of criminal activity occurring with your website or blog. If there is a hacker stealing personal information from your visitors, not only do you owe legal costs, but they might also take your own personal information. Protection is available from these types of crimes with a cyber liability insurance policy.
Employee Dishonesty Coverage
Employee dishonesty coverage is specifically for covering crimes committed by your employees. Employee crimes may include taking cash from the register, stealing supplies or equipment, or giving free services to their friends. All losses and damages that are the result of an employee-related crime are covered by this type of mechanic shop business insurance policy.
Workers’ Compensation
Your employees are at risk of a number of injuries due to the auto repair work they do. If one of your workers gets an injury to their hand while pulling out an engine on a vehicle in order to make repairs, these injuries are covered by the workers’ compensation policy. It covers their medical costs and lost wages if they need time off work. It also protects you because the employee cannot sue you for damages.
Crime Insurance
You run the risk of various crimes committed by outsiders, as well as your employees. Not only do you keep expensive equipment in your shop, but you might be holding other people’s vehicles overnight. If one is broken into, this becomes your responsibility. Crime insurance can help cover the losses or damages.
The last thing you want to do is work on running a successful mechanic shop, then have to close shop due to legal costs. Protect your financial assets with the right types of mechanic shop business insurance policies.
