Liability Insurance Required?

[Toakenspy]

Hi folks. I am looking for some guidance. I have a small business fitting parking sensors systems on vehicles for the general public. It's a completely mobile fitting service and I have been trying to get some kind of insurance in case one of the installations go wrong and cause any damage to someone's vehicle. When making enquiries to some insurance company they don't seem to have a catagory for what I do. In 11 years I haven't needed the insurance but would feel better by having it anyway. Would this be public liability insurance I would need or something else? Any help or guidance would be very much appreciated.

 

[BigSteve]

What state are you in and what carriers have you spoken with?

 

[xrac]

Can garage keeps liability be purchased for mobile operation?

 

[hesse]

are you looking for physical damage that you do to the car while working on it?

Or for if the system your installing fries the computer in the car?

 

[FEX Quotes]

RLI insurance has a program for in home businesses. I believe mobile auto services are a covered class, but I would check to see if parking sensor installation would be covered.

You likely do not need garage keepers (GKLL) as this coverage is intended to provide physical damage to cars in your care, custody and control. GKLL is normally used for service stations and repair facilities where cars are kept on premises.

 

[BigSteve]

RLI insurance has a program for in home businesses. I believe mobile auto services are a covered class, but I would check to see if parking sensor installation would be covered. You likely do not need garage keepers (GKLL) as this coverage is intended to provide physical damage to cars in your care, custody and control. GKLL is normally used for service stations and repair facilities where cars are kept on premises.

I would think that it does apply. I also may not truly understand the operation but if he has to drive the car at all or have it for any period of time in his sole possession, how else would he be covered if he causes damage to the car?

 

[cottonland]

The "Your Work" exclusion within the standard CGL policy will present a problem for the scenario proposed. My first research would be for the manufacturer of the system as well as the contract between the manufacturer and installer. What does the contract require of the installer.

In my opinion you are going to have to have garage liability.

 

[ModernInsurance]

I'd tend to agree that Garagekeepers is necessary in this scenario. Inland marine would offer the best coverage for your tools and other equipment carried along with you from site to site.

 

[Toakenspy]

Thanks for all your replies. Apologies for not providing further information. I basically turn up to the client's premises, install a 12V parking sensor kit and only test the sensors with the ignition on, but not driving the car. I don't take it away from the client's premises at all. So the insurance would be just to cover any damage to the car during installation (i.e drill a hole only to find there's a whacking great metal impact beam behind it). Although I am always careful and done over 250 installations to date, I would feel so much better if I had some kind of insurance should anything go wrong. As I said, the actual sensors will not 'fry' any electrical components in the car, although I did short out something in a Mazda 6 once that caused the car not to start. So I had to refund him the cost of recovering his car to a garage for them to sort the problem. I hope this gives a much more accurate outline of what I'm looking for. Thanks again.

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I am in Scotland, UK

 

[ModernInsurance]

Not sure if the UK is much different from the US, but in the scenario you've outlined, you'll want to get a commercial general liability policy. Don't skimp on the limits. Make sure it covers "products/completed operations" and you may want to look into errors & omissions coverage as well.

Best of luck and let us know how it goes!