Garage liability insurance is a special type of coverage for those who work in the automotive industry. It protects business owners if a third party is injured in the garage or on the property. Businesses like auto body shops, car dealerships, and parking garages all need garage liability insurance. Here are our picks for the top four garage liability companies.
- The 4 best garage liability insurance companies in Florida
- Is garage liability insurance required in Florida?
- Who needs garage liability insurance?
- What is garage liability insurance? And how is it different from general liability?
- Do I need both general liability insurance and garage liability insurance?
- What is garage keepers liability and how is it different from garage liability?
- How much does garage liability insurance cost in Florida?
- What affects garage liability insurance cost?
The 4 best garage liability insurance companies in Florida
Here are our top 4 picks of garage liability insurance companies in Florida.
- Progressive: Best Overall
- Commercialinsurance.net: Best for customer review ratings
- Next: Best for auto repair businesses
- Simply Business: Best for comparing quotes
Progressive: Best Overall
Progressive is the number one commercial auto insurer in the U.S. They have expanded to provide insurance to almost all auto-related business services. They have a garage liability policy which they claim to offer online quotes for, but if you click on the button that says, “Get a Quote” you’ll find that garage liability insurance is not listed, so you’ll have to call to get a quote.
Progressive has the most intensive insurance offerings to auto-related businesses. They are known for offering several discount programs, including new customer discount and bundle discount. If your business offers auto-related services, it is likely that you will need more than just garage liability coverage. You might want to get all coverages you need with Progressive to earn discounts, in addition to managing them conveniently.
Commercialinsurance.net: Best for customer review ratings
Commercialinsurance.net is an online insurance broker out of Norman, OK. They offer business insurance for all fifty states. They partner with top insurance companies to bring you a few quotes so comparison shopping is quick and efficient. Some of their partners include The Hartford, Liberty Mutual, and Progressive.
Commercialinsurance.net does offer online quotes for some types of business insurance, but garage liability insurance is not one of them. This is pretty typical: we couldn’t find anyone who would give us an online quote for garage liability insurance.
Commercialinsurance.net has an A+ rating on the Better Business Bureau website and earns just under four stars out of five. They don’t rate as well on Trustpilot, however, earning just 2.9 stars. Reviews are almost evenly split between five stars (41%) and one star (44%).
Next: Best for auto repair businesses
Next offers fast quotes for small business owners who may not have time to gather multiple quotes and speak to multiple agents. Next was founded in 2016, making them a younger company, but they’ve captured a significant segment of the business insurance market and now insure over 30,000 businesses.
Next offers Auto Repair Service insurance, which includes:
- General liability insurance or garage liability for auto repair business.
- Garage keepers liability
- Faulty work
- Commercial property insurance
This is what an auto body or auto repair shop would need.
Next claims you can save 10% on your insurance when you bundle. You can get a certificate of insurance online and in minutes.
Simply Business: Best for comparing quotes
Simply Business is also an online insurance broker, like Commercialinsurance.net. They partner with various insurance companies to make getting quotes from multiple companies easy. They were acquired by Travelers, one of the leading auto insurance in the US, in 2017.
We couldn’t get an online quote for garage liability insurance. We understand that it is a more complicated coverage, so it is difficult to offer quotes online. However, if you want to compare quotes, Simply Business may be able to help you compare when you work with their agents on the phone.
Is garage liability insurance required in Florida?
Yes. Florida requires all dealers to carry a minimum of $25,000 in garage liability insurance and $10,000 in Personal Injury Protection (PIP). However, these are the bare minimums, and garage owners should consider more coverage.
Who needs garage liability insurance?
The term “garage liability” insurance is slightly misleading because you don’t have to own an actual garage to need garage liability insurance. Any physical location such as a service station, a parking lot, a used car lot, etc. can benefit from a garage liability policy. Any of the following businesses should consider a garage liability policy:
- Auto body shop
- Repair shop – Best auto repair shop insurance companies
- Car dealership
- Tow truck business
- Auto glass installers
- Emissions testing sites
- Trailer dealers
- RV dealers
What is garage liability insurance? And how is it different from general liability insurance?
Garage liability insurance is like general liability insurance for garages. Since the chances of someone injuring themselves in a garage are higher than for many businesses, garage liability insurance is more expensive than general liability.
Furthermore, garage liability insurance provides coverage for issues stemming from work on someone’s car. For example, if a mechanic changes your tires but doesn’t secure one properly and this causes you to get into an accident on the way home, garage liability insurance will cover the garage.
Do I need both general liability insurance and garage liability insurance?
Probably not. Garage liability insurance includes general liability coverage, but specifically for garages. There might be other types of policies you need as a garage owner, such as workers compensation and commercial property insurance, but you don’t need both general liability and garage liability.
Learn more if you really need both garage keepers and garage liability insurance.
What is garage keepers liability and how is it different from garage liability?
Garage liability insurance is like general liability insurance for garages. It covers third-party bodily injury and third-party property damage. Just like general liability insurance, it also protects you from advertising injury and slander.
Garage keepers liability, on the other hand, covers damage to customers’ vehicles while they are on your lot or in your garage. It covers damages from vandalism, theft, fire, or collision.
Do you need both?
Probably, if you store anyone else’s vehicle for any length of time. If a customer comes into your garage to drop off their car and then trips over a wrench on their way out, you’ll need garage liability insurance to cover that customer’s injuries. Then, that night someone breaks into your garage and shatters all the windows on this customer’s car (you are having a very bad day). Garage keepers liability insurance will cover the damage on the car.
How much does garage liability insurance cost in Florida?
Garage liability insurance in Florida runs between $1,500 a year and $4,000 a year. If you also need garage keepers liability insurance, your cost will be somewhere between $3,000 and $6,500 a year.
These are just the averages. Be sure to shop around with a few companies or with a broker like Simply Business, CoverWallet, commercialinsurance.net or Smart Financial to compare several quotes to find the cheapest one for you.
Learn more at how much garage keepers insurance costs
Some other types of insurance you may need:
Surety bond: Bond that protects the state and the customer from a dealership committing fraud.
Blanket dealers open lot: Protects the inventory on a used or new car lot.
Commercial auto: If you drive your own cars or trucks to conduct business, you’ll need commercial auto insurance.
What affects garage liability insurance cost?
Factors that influence the cost of insurance in Florida include:
- Type of business
- What services you provide (transport of customers, towing, etc.)
- Revenue
- Size of business
- Location (if your garage is in a high crime area you’ll pay more)
- Coverage options
- Deductible
- Number of employees
- Claims history
Even if you get a quote online, sometimes when you call, the price will change because there are so many variables.
Last thoughts
Garage liability and garage keepers liability are similar, but different enough so that you need both if you work on/sell/store cars somewhere on your property. Be sure and shop around. It’s hard to get a quote for garage liability, so you’ll have to call more often than not. Stay firm and say you’re going to get other quotes. You can save hundreds of dollars by shopping around.
