liability insurance co. suggestions?

[SGT]

I "was" an RLI insured for years and promoter of this coverage until recently. What Brent has advised is in fact true. RLI provides a economical product that serves a purpose, just not entirely ours. It is a BOP(Business Owners Policy) with no endorsement for Care Custody and Control(Garage Keeper Leagal Liability or similar) which would cover you while working on a customers vehicle which would be with a preset dollar value on comprehensive and collision. RLI corporate did confirm this for me as my agent has been wrong since writting my policy.

Now, I can tell you I have been quoted by many, many insurance agents for many companies and you will get varying answers on wether you need garage keepers liability coverage based on our service and it has been very difficult to get definite answer. What I have found is some agents are clueless, insurance companies vary in there policy coverages, so be ready to chalange what you are told and get it in writting.
If a GLOP(General Liability Policy) has a provision for coverage while working a customers vehicle thereby eliminating the need for GK(Garage Keepers Liability) endorsement you may not need GK coverage. Be sure you verify this.

I am currently reviewing quotes for double aggregate policies 1mil, 2mil on a GLOP with 35 thousand GK endorsement for 560.00 a year(Erie) and a BOP with 35 thousand GK for 505.00 a year(PennNtl.) I am leaning towards the BOP and not becuase of price but rather a BOP has extra coverages such as tooling coverage that you may need pay additional fee for on a GLOP.

Do your homework and who ever you select make sure you are covered in writting on your declaration sheets.

[SGT]

Sorry I did not update this post sooner. I decided to go with a BOP business owners policy with General Liability limits of 2mil aggregate, 1mil each occurance on of off premise, Garage Keeper Liabilty 35 thousand( this what will protect you should you damage the vehicle such as a dent,scratch, burn the vehicle up or an accident while moving the vehicle or what ever. I also have 10 thousand tooling theft protection on or off premise. There are other built in coverages but the ones I listed should provide complete coverage with no gaps for a WSR technicians needs. The price for my taylored policy was $578.00 per year. They also offered a payment schedule which I believe is a standard offer with all companies which is nice if you perfer to make installment payments.

You may be able to lower your permium if you lower your General Liability limits or Garage Keeper Liability limits and or both depending on your risk tolerance. I am not an agent so do your homework, ask questions and question there answers till you feel comfortable as I found it very hard to get the proper coverage facts of our specialized service. Hopefully this post will help eliminate any confusion you may encounter.

[Brent Deines]

While that may sound expensive to those who do not have garage keepers coverage, that seems like a pretty reasonable rate to me. To keep things in perspective a general liability policy may cost as little as $.80 per day, your policy is costing about $1.30 per day. That extra $.50 per day buys a lot of piece of mind in my way of thinking, and considering I just spent $2.00 for a cup of coffee at a local restaurant this morning it seems pretty insignificant in the scheme of things. Thanks for sharing that info with us Brian.

[SREKANT9]

A lot of people in the windshield repair industry use RLI insurance, although there has been some question as to what is covered and what is not. RLI sells different policies for different needs, so I still believe they are worth contacting. Be very specific as to what you want to be covered for, and go from there.

[Eco Steam]

To everyone out there questioning whether a specific company offers this coverage or that coverage, the BEST thing to do would be to call them and see what is offered in your STATE. I say this because, RLI may only offer Liability there, but here in Texas I have Liability and Garage Keepers with RLI, this in fact does cover me if I screw up a Windshield, or burn through someones paint (has never happened), or whatever up to $30K per incident. In addition, I have $10K if someone decides to break into my vehicle and steal stuff, equipment, computer, stereo, etc.... RLI use to only offer Liability when I used them a few years back, and I paid roughly $360 annually for a $1 million policy then. But now that I have both, I paid $575 give or take a few bucks.

So, no matter who you go with, don't completely give up on RLI, it's best to check and see what they offer in your location. I will tell you this though, your premiums are due in full, no payment plans are offered with RLI. Plus, as stated in a previous post by another forum user, they only insure home based businesses, so as long as you don't have an actual store front, you're safe to use RLI.

Thats my 2 cents.....

Now, to share a video for those Car enthusiasts out there.....I tried to post it where you could play it within the forum, but not sure if that can be done, and if it can, I don't know how

http://youtu.be/AiFYUmfb3rY

[ministry4u]

David,

I am just a one perosn mobile service person. I went through a broker (bolt insurance) and ended up with Liberty Mutual. The coverage I have is 1,000,000 and I was told it covers up to 30,000 damage to each vehicle I'm working on. The premium was between 500-600/yr. There was coverage for collision and other than collision. I guess I just assumed the windshields were covered in the other than collision. Worth checking into though.