Short answer
Garagekeepers coverage pays for damage to a customer's vehicle while it is in your care, custody, or control for service, repair, parking, or storage. IRMI describes it as garage policy coverage for damage to a customer's auto left with the business, and notes other auto businesses can get it by endorsement. A trucking company that only hauls its own freight usually does not need it; one that repairs, tows, or stores other people's trucks does.
- It is different from cargo insurance, which covers freight you haul, and from physical damage, which covers your own trucks.
Who needs it in trucking
- Fleets with a shop that also works on outside trucks. Once you service a customer's tractor, damage to it in your bay is a garagekeepers exposure.
- Tow and recovery operators. Vehicles in your yard after a tow are in your care. See tow truck insurance.
- Yards and terminals that store other carriers' equipment. Parking or storing someone else's tractor or trailer creates the same exposure.
If your shop works only on your own fleet, those trucks fall under your physical damage coverage, not garagekeepers.
Legal liability vs direct coverage
Garagekeepers is commonly written in a few ways:
- Legal liability: pays only if you are legally liable for the damage.
- Direct coverage: pays for covered damage regardless of fault, either as primary or excess over the customer's own insurance.
Legal liability is narrower. If a hailstorm damages a customer's truck parked in your lot, you may not be legally liable, and a legal liability form may not pay. Customers still tend to expect you to handle it. Ask which basis you have and how the limit applies per location and per vehicle.
Why your general liability does not fill the gap
General liability policies typically exclude damage to property in your care, custody, or control, and exclude autos. That combination is why garagekeepers exists as its own coverage. See truckers general liability for what that policy usually does cover.
Common questions
Does garagekeepers cover a customer truck stolen from my lot?
It can, depending on the causes of loss on your form and whether it is written on a legal liability or direct basis. Read the covered causes of loss and the theft conditions.
Is garagekeepers the same as on-hook towing coverage?
No. On-hook coverage applies to a vehicle while it is being towed. Garagekeepers applies while the vehicle is in your care at your location. Tow operators often need both.
Does a trailer interchange agreement create a garagekeepers exposure?
Interchanged trailers are usually handled through trailer interchange coverage, not garagekeepers.
Sources
- IRMI glossary: garagekeepers coverage. Definition; availability to other auto businesses by endorsement.
- IRMI glossary: customer’s auto. ISO garage policy term for autos left with the insured for service, repair, storage, or safekeeping.
This page explains insurance, not law. Have your attorney review indemnity and contract language; our job is making the insurance match it.
Keep reading
By operation
What insurance does a Texas towing company need?
Coverage
Physical damage: how your own truck and trailer get paid for after a loss
Coverage
General liability for truckers: what it covers that your auto policy does not
Coverage
Trailer interchange insurance: who pays when someone else’s trailer is damaged on your watch