Garage insurance, and the gaps no one reads.

The categories, simply put

Garage insurance is sold under names that vary by country and by insurer, so what matters is the category rather than the label on the schedule.

• Cover for customer vehicles in your care, custody or control, specific to this trade.
• Liability for injury or damage to third parties, including customers on your premises.
• Employer liability for your staff, which is mandatory in most areas.
• Cover for the premises, contents, tools and equipment, including theft.
• Cover for the work itself, so if a faulty repair causes damage, it’s not just your issue.
• Business interruption, which compensates while you can't trade instead of replacing what halted you.

Most disputes are not about whether a workshop had insurance. They are about whether the incident fell inside a category they assumed was covered.

Customer vehicles hold the surprises

This cover is most relevant to a garage and is often narrower than expected.

Key questions to confirm: does cover apply during road tests, who can drive, does it cover overnight vehicles, and does it apply off-site during collection and delivery?

The last point affects mobile operations and workshops offering collection. A policy for on-site vehicles may not cover them on the road, often realised after a year of practice.

Check the conditions, not just the cover.

Most declined claims aren't due to the wrong policy, but unmet conditions in the right one.

Common issues include security requirements like alarms, locks, or immobilisers that must be used, key storage rules, limits on overnight vehicles, and equipment inspection and maintenance certificates.

None are unreasonable and all are verifiable. A common failure is a garage that installed an alarm but stopped using it two years later, leading to a condition breach at claim time, not a coverage gap.

Insure for replacement cost, not what you paid.

Underinsurance is subtle and penalised proportionally, surprising those who think a partial claim will be fully paid.

If the sum insured is below true value, many policies reduce claims proportionally, so a garage insured for two-thirds of its equipment value may only recover two-thirds of a small loss, turning a minor incident into a major one.

The solution is an annual review of replacement values as equipment is added, rather than using a figure from when the business was smaller. It costs nothing and is the most common error in garage policies.

Inform the insurer when the business changes.

A policy outlines a business, and businesses evolve quicker than policies can be updated.

Adding mobile fitting, handling high-value vehicles, working on electric vehicles, storing customer cars overnight, hiring an apprentice, or opening a second site can all materially affect cover, yet none alone warrant a call to the broker.

A brief annual chat about changes is more valuable than hunting for a lower premium, as a cheaper policy that misrepresents your business isn’t cheaper at all.

Renewal isn’t a formality.

With garage insurance, the norm is to accept the renewal invitation, which is often the priciest option available.

Reviewing involves checking sums insured, conditions, and if the business description still fits, then testing the market. Doing all three annually takes a couple of hours and usually pays better than anything else on the admin list.

When a broker is involved, the key question isn’t just the price but what they would alter about the cover. A broker who can’t suggest anything has either crafted a very good policy or hasn’t reviewed it.