Insurance Info

Garage Insurance doesn’t have to cost a fortune.

Even if it gives you million dollar coverage.  There are a few factors that go into how much garage insurance will cost you, and we will go over the main ones to show you just how affordable it really can be .

Most dealerships and auto mechanics in North Carolina worry that starting a new garage insurance policy will be too expensive.  Even if they’ve had a policy for years there is always the fear of the unknown, that another company or another agency might not give them as good a deal as the person they have been with forever.

And sometimes they are right.  Loyalty can be a factor in insurance pricing, as I’ve said in other blogs.  But so can having the right coverage and knowing what your policy does – and how that affects the cost.

I’m going to use an example, what I’ll call Ideal Body Shop, as our baseline to give you pricing. I’ll give the total cost at the bottom (so scroll down there if you want, cheaters).

So let’s get into it.

First: Number of locations and buildings.

If you have multiple locations and several buildings, you have more to insure.  Each building represents a risk that could be harmed and need repairs, so an insurance company is going to look at that and say that will cost more.

Plus it’s simple math.  Each building has a value, so the more buildings you have the more value you have.  Value can be lost – that’s the whole reason you have insurance to begin with.

If you have a business that only has one location in a new, fire-resistant building, your premium will be incredibly low for the Garage Business Property part of your garage insurance.

But if you have three locations and one of them is in old, wood-framed historic property in a great part of town, you will be looking at a much higher cost – despite how cool your building surely is.

In fact, you can think of this just like you would personal insurance.  If you have a 2004 Toyota Camry, you won’t pay as much for insurance as you would if you had three of them – or if they were Audis.

NUMBERS: Let’s say Ideal Body Shop has one location in an industrial area in a North Carolina city, with a fantastic fire-proof structure, and enough space to work on two vehicles.  How much would that cost?  A little over $700 a year.  Not bad, right?!

A basic garage insurance policy doesn’t have to cost a ton, but it is incredibly reasonable when you are small to medium size – and (shameless plug here) if you go with an independent agency that has the right carriers ready to help.

There is no engine.

Second: Amount of coverage.

You get what you pay for.  And if you want more coverage, you typically have to pay for it.

While this is true generally, one of the keys to understanding amounts of coverage in insurance (especially liability) is that this isn’t always, “more equals more.”

Getting the first million dollars of liability coverage is generally pretty reasonable.  And getting more than that is even more reasonable.  The way pricing works, two million dollars of coverage isn’t twice the price of one million dollars of coverage.  It’s less.

So it is to your advantage to tack on extra coverage after what you think you need on things like liability to really get the most value out of your insurance.

That being said, adding more (or better depending on the type of coverage) insurance is always more expensive.  Insurance is a business, after all, and they have to make profits to pay claims and grow.

But garage insurance should NEVER be about getting as little coverage as possible.  One accident could wipe you out and destroy all of your hard work and effort.

Instead, make sure you get the RIGHT amount of coverage.  At Alliance, we never recommend getting more coverage just for the sake of getting it.  But we also never sell minimum limits on anything.  Finding that sweet spot that gets you enough coverage to protect you from 99% of what life throws at you while making sure you aren’t overpaying for anything is what we excel at.

No one should have too little.  But no one should pay too much.  Simple.

NUMBERS: Ideal Body Shop has $2,000,000 in aggregate General Liability, with $2,000,000 in Products/Completed Operations coverage, $1,000,000 in Personal and Advertising Injury coverage,with $1,000,000 per occurrence.  All of that only costs a little over $750 a year. #bargain

The only one that gets to turn this off is you.

Third: Claims history.

There is using something and abusing something.  Garage insurance is certainly meant to be used, but not used so much that it looks like bad management at best and at worst, fraud.

Insurance companies know that accidents happen, and that having the occasional claim is simply a risk when you are in business.  In North Carolina, there will be hurricanes, there will be electrical fires, there will be slips and falls.  Nothing is perfect.

But accidents can be prevented, or at least minimized.  The best businesses have safety programs in place to reduce employee injuries, they make sure that there aren’t slick spots or obstacles that can lead to customers falling, they make sure the wiring is updated and repaired to prevent fires.

These are the kinds of businesses that get the best rates.  Companies love to insure them because the represent the best risk – but also because this usually means they are honest, upright and successful.  Who wouldn’t want to do business with someone like that?

So if you want to keep your cost down for your garage insurance policy, be as safe and error free as possible to get the best prices out there.

NUMBERS: Our friends at Ideal Body Shop have a perfect record with ZERO claims in the last five years.  The result?  Their total premium for a full Garage Insurance package policy with all of the coverages we’ve discussed in other blogs gives them a yearly premium of just under $1,500.  

Millions of dollars in coverage for less than what many people pay to insure their home.

Claims free, NBD.

Let’s wrap it up.

How much are you paying?  When is the last time you had someone look over your policy?  Do you have enough coverage?  Too much?  Too little?

Are you in the sweet spot of just enough coverage to prevent disaster and not too much to save a ton of money?

If you don’t know the answer to ANY of these, then you need to talk to an expert.

Click the button below to schedule a time with a Garage Insurance Professional.  It’s time you had more than just an agent.

You deserve an advocate in the insurance industry.

Let us be yours.

Click me.

Workers Comp? But you know all about that?

Right?  Well, you probably think you do.  But there are some important things you may not have considered that could be incredibly important to how your business is protected from employee accidents and injuries.  Let’s dig a little into Workers Comp and see what you’re missing.

The first thing we should discuss will be WHAT you are doing to prevent accidents.

The second thing is WHO has your workers comp coverage.

The third thing is WHEN your last quote was with your agent.

What do I mean?  Let’s check it out.

Tip #1 – Preventing Accidents

That sounds too easy.  But the sad fact of the matter is that all too often we see clients ignore pushing safety at the workplace because they think it is only another expense, or that they are too small for it to make a different.

They couldn’t be more wrong.  The only real way you can make your workers comp insurance less expensive is by avoiding claims!

One of the primary ways that Workers Comp price is determined is by experience modification factor.  And one of the ways that it determines price is by how long it has been since you’ve had a claim.

The fewer claims (or injuries on the job), the less you pay.  Simple.

Making sure that your shop is up to OSHA’s standards and that employees are trained in the safety practices that will keep them safe are the only ways that you can chip away at the cost of workers comp for your auto business.

Think it’s impossible, or at the very least too difficult?  One shop in Arizona actually made an entire web page about safety to educate their customers and other businesses! CHECK IT OUT.

Other organizations in your area may have resources to help you stay on top of safety requirements .  CHECK THIS OUT.

The bottom line is that there is no better way than to control the cost of workers comp insurance than by instituting a safety program and keeping your employees from injuring themselves on the job.

Tip #2 – Who’s got your back?

Many auto dealers and auto body shops get insurance when they first start a business, or at least when they get big enough to buy the policies required by law.  Workers comp is no exception.  And if you’re like most mechanics or born salesmen, the last thing you want to think about is insurance.

After all, you didn’t become an insurance agent, did you?

We encounter people all the time who set up their workers comp insurance with either their initial agent years ago or, even worse, someone they just found online for the cheapest possible and then promptly forgot about them.

Do you know who does your workers comp insurance?  Can you picture them in your mind?  Have you spoken with them in a few weeks? Months? Years?

Garage insurance is best when viewed as a package, a collection of policies that all compliment one another.  Without that great overview, it is easy to miss certain things.  You also find that an agent really get’s to know you and can assist you better with that knowledge.

I like to think of a package policy as a suit of armor.  While one piece of coverage or policy covers the head, another covers the chest, and the legs, and so on.  Having different people cover different parts of your body is just a confused mess.

So reach out to your primary agent and see if they do your workers comp.  Don’t have a primary agent?  That could be your problem right there.

Which leads us to our last tip.

Tip #3 – Get a Workers Comp review.  Now.

When is the last time your primary agent actually looked over your review?  Last year?  A few years ago?  EVER?

You need to get a regular workers comp review every three years?  Why?  Because your experience modification factor can change in that time, and if you aren’t checking in with your agent to see if there is good news, you may be missing out.

Not only that, but there may be other changes with your business that could affect the price AND what the coverage does for you – such as number of employees, payroll, etc.

And the crazy thing is that this may not take that much out of your day.  You can usually do this through a five minutes phone conversation and a quick email of your current documents.  That’s it.

There really is no excuse for not checking up on this every few years and making sure you are insured properly – and for the right amount.

Let’s wrap it up.

Three simple things can make a dramatic different.  You take incredibly good care of your business.  Taking care of your employees and your workers comp insurance are natural extensions of that same care.

Some of you reading this won’t have talked to your agent in quite a while.  Or you found something in here (or in our other garage insurance blogs and videos) that made you realize that maybe you need a second opinion.

You owe it to yourself to check in with one of our agents who specialize in garage insurance to see exactly what you’ve got – and what you’re missing.

Click on the link below to schedule a time to talk with one of them today.  It could be the different between you saving some money, or avoiding a massively expensive claim.

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