DEALER INSURANCE SERVICES

We can help! Whether you're a start-up or looking to renew your dealer insurance policy we want to make sure you're in good hands. We've partnered ourselves with reputable insurance companies that specialize in auto dealer insurance programs.  Our select group of insurance carriers understand the automotive dealer industry and offer coverages to provide optimal protection for your business.  From simple-to-complex, we can help simplify the dealer insurance policy and conduct a thorough analysis of your business to detect all potential loss exposures. Based on their discoveries, we can help you develop a risk-mitigating strategy to minimize or eliminate your exposures.

Garage Liability Insurance provides coverage for property damage and bodily injury resulting from the operations of an auto garage operation. It is the most common way for dealerships to reduce the financial impact of a risk occurring. Why go through the hassle of creating an awesome dealership business if you are not going to protect your investment?

I wish I had better news for all you dealers looking to find every loophole in life. The reality is that every Personal Auto Policy has a whopping exclusion for commercial-type exposures. This means that the second that an accident happens, ownership of the vehicle will need to be proven. The purchase documents will show that the vehicle was purchased by the dealership. (If it was purchased by the dealer as a private party, then the dealer as a person would have had to pay the sales taxes and DMV fees.) Once a dealer is established as the owner of the vehicle, a Personal Auto Policy will exclude all claims related to that vehicle.

Just to name a few: Garage Liability, Physical Damage, Garagekeepers Liability, Personal Injury, False Pretense, Title Errors and Omissions/Truth In Lending/Federal Odometer, Broadened Coverage, and Commercial Property.

Some of the car dealers that have been in the business for more than 5 years may refer to used auto dealer insurance as Garage Keepers Liability. The truth is that Garage Keepers coverage is just 1 of about 15 different coverages that are available to a policyholder. Garage Keepers Liability Insurance provides coverage for vehicles that are in the care, custody, and control of a used car dealer while the dealer doesn't own the vehicle. A good example of this exposure is the repair shops that take vehicles in to fix them but the vehicles are not owned by the dealer at this time. A better example is a test drive. What happens if you crash a car that you were test driving to see if you wanted to buy it? The car is not yours yet so your physical damage coverage (comprehensive and collision coverage) won't cover it because that coverage only applies to vehicles if you own them. For this reason, Garage Keepers Coverage was created to offer an additional layer of protection.

Some insurance policies have started to parse out the exposures separately but both elements of loss can be covered under a used auto dealer insurance policy. In some policies, the deductibles can even be modified for a truly tailored insurance policy to fit your budget and risk tolerance threshold.

The very nature of the auto broker side of the business dictates that the sales transaction needs to take place between a retail car dealer and a buyer. The auto broker helps source the vehicle to be purchased but never actually buys or sells the car or truck. So how could an auto broker be found liable for doing nothing more than making the introductions between buyer and seller? The honest answer here is that there is not much exposure to auto brokers but dealer insurance is still a must if you want to sleep at night. Imagine that you arrange a buyer with a seller and a purchase is made! You get paid and you move on to the next transaction to set up. Now imagine that the sale that you arranged goes south for some reason and the buyer sues the dealership. There isn't a lawyer practicing law in the state of California that would hesitate for a minute from naming you in the suit since you were paid for your services.

To answer this question properly, I would need dozens of questions to be answered so we can get a sense of your risk appetite and what type of scenarios would keep you awake at night. Finding the balance between buying too much insurance or unnecessary coverages and not covering your assets properly is a fine line to walk. Let the experts help you today!