If your business puts its hands on other people's cars, you need garage liability insurance, and a general liability policy is not it. Repair and body shops, tire and lube shops, detailers, tow operators, car washes, parking operations and dealers all have the same two exposures that ordinary businesses do not: your people drive customer vehicles as part of the work, and customer vehicles sit in your care. Garage liability handles the first. Garagekeepers, written on the same policy, handles the second. OKC Insurance Brokers is an independent broker in Oklahoma City that writes garage risks across several carriers, from a one-bay tire shop to a collision center to a used car dealer's lot. This page is the shop owner's version; dealers have their own page.
What garage liability covers
- Premises and operations. A customer hurt in your waiting room or on your lot, a lift or a jack that fails and injures someone, damage your work causes to a third party after the car leaves.
- Auto liability for the driving your business does. The road test, the shuttle run, the parts run, the tow, the customer car your porter moves across the lot. Garage liability follows your people into other people's cars, which a commercial auto policy on your own trucks does not.
- Products and completed operations. The brake job that fails a week later. The tire that was mounted wrong.
- Legal defense for all of the above, which on a serious injury is the largest number on the claim.
What it does not cover: the customer's car while it is in your care (that is garagekeepers), your own building, lifts, tools and paint booth (commercial property), your own trucks' physical damage (commercial auto), your employees' injuries (workers compensation), and, for dealers, the inventory on the lot (open lot).
Garagekeepers: the customer's car in your care
The moment a customer hands you the keys, the car is in your care, custody and control, and your liability policy excludes it on purpose. Garagekeepers pays for damage to customer vehicles while you have them: on the lift, in the bay, on the lot overnight waiting for parts, or being moved by your staff. It comes in two forms, and the difference matters more than the price gap. Legal liability pays only when you were at fault; hail on a customer's car on your lot pays nothing, and the customer is arguing with you, not a carrier. Direct primary pays regardless of fault, up to your limit. In a state where hail is a routine event, most shops choose direct primary once they see both quotes. Set the limit to the most customer-car value you have on the property on a busy Friday night, not an average Tuesday.
Quote your garage policy
Class, revenue, payroll and drivers. One application to several garage carriers, back the same business day, certificates the day you bind.
Get a Garage QuoteWho buys it
Repair, tire and lube shops
Premises, the road test and the completed job. Garagekeepers sized to the bays plus the overnight lot.
Body and collision shops
Higher customer-car values for longer, plus the paint booth on the property side. Direct primary garagekeepers is the norm.
Tow operators
Garage liability with on-hook coverage for the car on the wrecker and garagekeepers for the impound lot. Contracts with police and motor clubs set the limits.
Detailers and car washes
Lower liability exposure, real garagekeepers exposure: the customer car moving through your line or sitting in your bay.
Used car dealers
Garage liability plus open lot, false pretense and the $25,000 dealer bond. The dealer version lives on our used car dealer insurance page.
How much does garage liability insurance cost in Oklahoma?
We do not print a range, because a one-bay tire shop and a twelve-tech collision center are not the same risk and one number would mislead one of them. What sets the premium, in rough order:
- What you do. Lube, tire, general repair, body and paint, towing, detailing and dealing are separate classes with separate rates.
- Revenue and payroll. The liability side is priced on them.
- Who drives customer cars, and their records. Every tech who road-tests is a driver on the policy.
- Garagekeepers limit and form. Direct primary costs more than legal liability and pays when it matters; the limit should match your busiest night.
- Location and hail history for the cars on the lot, and claims history for everything.
Send the class, last year's revenue and payroll, the driver list and your current declarations page, and we quote it across our garage carriers the same business day.
What else the shop usually needs
Garage liability rarely stands alone. Commercial property for the building, lifts, tools and inventory, with business income for the weeks after a fire or a storm. Workers compensation once you have an employee, required in Oklahoma. Commercial auto for the physical damage on your own wreckers and service trucks. An umbrella above the liability when a fleet account or a dealer contract asks for limits your garage policy does not carry. We quote the set as one package, and how the pieces fit is on the Oklahoma business insurance page.
Garage liability questions we get asked
What is garage liability insurance?
The liability policy for a business whose work revolves around other people's vehicles: repair and body shops, tire and lube shops, detailers, tow operators, car washes, parking operations and dealers. It combines premises and operations liability (a customer hurt in your waiting room, a lift that fails) with auto liability for the vehicles you own and the customer cars your people drive as part of the work: the road test, the shuttle, the tow. A plain general liability policy does not cover the driving; a plain commercial auto policy does not cover the shop. Garage liability covers both.
Does garage liability cover the customer's car in my shop?
No. Property in your care, custody and control is excluded from garage liability on purpose. The customer's car on your lift, in your bay or on your lot overnight is covered by garagekeepers, a separate coverage written on the same policy. Garagekeepers comes in a legal-liability form (pays only if you were at fault) and a direct-primary form (pays regardless of fault, including hail). In Oklahoma most shops that see the difference on paper choose direct primary.
How much does garage liability insurance cost in Oklahoma?
It is priced on what you do (a lube shop, a body shop and a tow operation are three different classes), your revenue and payroll, how many people drive customer cars and their records, the number of dealer or garage plates, your location and its hail record, the limits and the garagekeepers limit and form you choose, and your claims history. We do not print a figure, because a one-bay tire shop and a collision center with twelve techs are not the same risk. Send the class, revenue, payroll and drivers and we quote it the same business day.
Is garage liability insurance required in Oklahoma?
Not by statute for a repair shop, but in practice yes: your landlord's lease requires proof of liability, your lender requires it on financed equipment, dealers' contracts and fleet accounts require it, and Oklahoma dealers must carry it for the license. Any business that drives customer cars on the road is one uncovered accident from closing without it.
What else does a garage business usually need?
Garagekeepers for the customer cars; commercial property for the building, lifts, tools and the paint booth; business income while you are shut down; workers compensation once you have an employee; and for dealers, open lot coverage on the inventory and the dealer bond. Most of it fits on one garage policy plus a property policy, and we quote it as one package.
Do you write garage liability for dealers too?
Yes; used car dealers are our largest commercial specialty. The dealer version of garage liability, plus open lot, false pretense and the $25,000 Oklahoma dealer bond, has its own page, our used car dealer insurance page. This page is for the shops, tow operators, detailers and car washes that need the same policy without the inventory.
How fast can I get a certificate of insurance?
The same business day once the policy is bound. A landlord, a fleet account or a dealer you subcontract for will not hold work for paperwork, so tell us who needs the certificate and what limits their contract asks for before we bind, and we build the policy to it.
Related: used car dealer insurance (garage liability, open lot and the dealer bond), Texas dealers and the $85,000 garage liability minimum, general liability for the businesses that do not touch cars, and the business insurance hub.
Quote your garage policy
Class, revenue, payroll and drivers. One application to several garage carriers, back the same business day, certificates the day you bind.
Get a Garage Quote