Before you buy insurance for your shop

For small business owners, having the right business insurance coverage could prove to be your saving grace when it comes to keeping the doors open in the future. One of the things we love about providing business insurance to Texas entrepreneurs, is making sure that they’re well-covered in the face of the unexpected. In today’s post we will focus on business insurance for auto repair shops.

When you are shopping insurance for your auto repair shop, there are three coverages every shop owner should have.

Adequate limits for your employees’ tools

Most owners find that their business insurance policies either have no coverage for employees’ tools or they have low limits that do not adequately protect the business owner and employee.  So, what limits do you need?  That all depends on the value of each employee’s tools that are stored inside your garage.  Keep in mind that a rolling tool box can cost anywhere from $1,000 to $3,000.  There are also important tools such as scanners that can cost up to $4,000.  It would be very easy for each employee to have over $10,000 of their own tools in the garage.  This isn’t something that is really thought about until there is a large loss and at that time it’s too late!

Faulty Work Coverage

No matter how much training you or your mechanics have gone through the fact remains that you’re still human and all humans make mistakes.  A very common exclusion in garage liability policies is the “faulty work” exclusion.  This policy exclusion eliminates coverage for any “mistakes” or “faulty” work done by you or your mechanics.  A small mistake in the auto industry can mean BIG money in damages to the vehicle.  Just think of the damage that can be done if an oil cap is not put back on after an oil change.  Without faulty work coverage this burnt out engine would have to be replaced out of pocket!

Garage Keepers Legal Liability

When people leave their vehicles with you they are trusting that they will get it back in better shape than they left it.  Garage Keepers Legal Liability coverage ensures that will happen.  GKLL provides insurance coverage for damages to a client’s property (vehicle) while in your care, custody or control.  A good way to make sure you have a sufficient limit is to take the number of vehicles you can house at your shop overnight and multiply it by the average value of those vehicles.  If you suffer a fire and all the vehicles in your shop are damaged GKLL will make sure that you can replace your clients’ vehicles and keep them as satisfied customers!

As a provider of Texas business insurance in Katy and the Greater Houston Area for many years, we have certainly witnessed these exact coverages come to the aid of small business owners in our community. Recently one of our insurance clients, an auto repair shop in Katy Texas, experienced fire damage to their building and contents. Because the auto repair shop had insurance coverages as detailed above, they will hopefully open their doors within the next few months. Insuring that small businesses are able to get back on their feet quickly is one of the most rewarding aspects of providing business insurance in the great state of Texas.