Anyone in business understands the need for insurance coverage: it prevents an unfortunate event from becoming a financial catastrophe. Of course, there are premiums to be paid, but not having insurance could cost you much more in the long run – that’s why having the right coverage is so important.
In this article, we will explore the various types of insurance that apply to auto dealerships and their owners.
INSURANCE TO PROTECT THE DEALERSHIP
The past few years have been a reminder that business conditions are constantly in flux. With the stress that can cause, the last thing you need is to worry about how much it will cost if things go wrong – there are various risks that you and your employees face on a daily basis. To begin, let’s look at five types of insurance that can protect your business:
Commercial General Liability Insurance
General liability is the foundation of any business insurance program. This category of insurance provides coverage for bodily injury or property damage resulting from the work you do or the product you sell. Often, this is the only insurance a small business purchases.
Typically general liability insurance covers many incidents, but it does not cover everything. For example, it does not cover damage to property that belongs to you or the businesses that you control.
Having general liability insurance provides value by protecting you if something goes wrong – for example, your customer slips and injures themselves – your company could be facing a lawsuit and significant costs.
Policies typically cover perils resulting from employee or customer actions :
- Bodily injury/property damage
- Personal and advertising injury
- Employee benefits program
- Coverage for medical payments
Commercial Property Insurance
As the description implies, commercial property insurance protects against the risks associated with owning premises used for business purposes. For many dealers, commercial property is one of the most valuable assets they own, so not having the appropriate coverage is a material risk to the health of their business.
Commercial property insurance for your dealership covers you in the event of unforeseen incidents, such as floods, theft, or vandalism. In the case of an incident, it can assist with the cost of repairing or rebuilding your property should an accident happen. It can also help protect assets like equipment and inventory, including replacing stolen property or covering the costs of damage sustained during a theft.
Business Interruption Insurance
What about your profits?
If physical loss or damage occurs to your dealership, these losses could cause a total or partial stoppage of production activity and lead to a reduction in sales. Business interruption insurance can cover any loss of gross profit suffered due to an interruption period.
For instance, if your car dealership is vandalized, your commercial property insurance may cover the cost of repairing the damage. But you may still lose profits if you have to remain closed during business hours to fix the damage.
Insuring the loss of income a business suffers after a disaster could be highly valuable to an auto dealership.
Workers’ Compensation
As well as their buildings, dealers need to protect their employees too.
Workers’ compensation insurance provides employees with a safety net of medical care and compensation should someone become ill or injured at work.
As a business owner, it will protect your employees and protect your company against lawsuits filed surrounding an injury. With multiple skilled employees at a car dealership, protecting them and the company against injury or illness would benefit all parties in the long run.
Cyber Liability Insurance
Imagine if data in your possession gets into the hands of a bad actor.
In today’s digital world, we need to know what goes on within our online assets. With business documents and customers’ personal information stored on your company’s computer networks, safeguarding your business by investing in cyber liability insurance is essential because company data can be a significant source of financial and operational risk for a business.
Cyber insurance helps mitigate the costs associated with a cyberattack or data breach.
This type of insurance will cover financial impacts from:
- Data restoration
- Loss of income and extra expenses
- Cyber extortion (covers hacker ransom)
- Notification costs
- Crisis management
HOW MUCH IS THIS GOING TO COST ME?
Like many things, the cost of auto dealer insurance varies based on scale, risk, and experience:
- Vehicle quantities and value on premises
- Claim type
- Covered parties
- Number and roles of employees
- Types of service provided, e.g., routine maintenance, body shop, etc.
- Age and size of the property
According to insurer.com, automotive businesses who wish to use general liability insurance typically choose policies with a $1 million per-occurrence limit and a $2 million aggregate limit. Your mileage may vary, but a median premium is around $600 per year.
CAN INSURANCE ALSO ENHANCE THE BUSINESS AT A DEALERSHIP?
The online revolution hasn’t passed the automotive world by, auto dealers are increasingly moving online for the car sale itself. In tandem with that, many are also embracing digital insurance sales to stand out.
Salty’s Embedded Insurance®
Salty’s unique Embedded Insurance® platform researches prices and policies across multiple carriers to provide a custom-built policy right when your customer needs it most.
When people buy a car, they want the thrill of driving away in a new car, and the last thing they want to do is leave a dealership to hunt down some insurance. That’s where Salty steps in. Our technology uses artificial intelligence and unique data sources to offer a personalized quote to your customers right at the point of purchase.
People who have used our Embedded Insurance platform…
- Received a bindable quote before leaving the dealership
- Saved money by switching insurers
- Saved time!
- Reduced the stress associated with finding the right insurance
- Had a satisfying customer experience because of the easy-to-use platform
With so many choices for car insurance companies, it can be hard to know where to begin. Save your customers some time, and partner with Salty. We do the homework for them.
THE BEST INSURANCE COMPANIES FOR CAR DEALERSHIPS
There are many good choices out there, but here are some highly-rated providers for your shortlist:
DPG
Dealer Protection Group is one of the few independent brokers in the United States specializing in automobile dealership insurance coverage for new car dealers. DPG creates programs to cover:
- Dealer Open Lot Coverage
- Garage Keepers Liability
- Commercial Property
- Auto Physical Damage
- Business Interruption
- Workers Compensation
- Employee Dishonesty
- Errors & Omissions
- Product Liability & Completed Operations
- Umbrella/Excess Liability
- Garage Liability
- Cyber liability
- Employee benefits
Their goal is to help prevent and protect you from unexpected losses and provide value-added products.
Sentry
Sentry aims to provide customizable property and liability insurance solutions that handle auto dealers’ specific insurance exposures. They can also help you prepare for the future with 401(k) plans and key person protection.
Sentry offers programs that cover:
- Cyber liability insurance
- Business auto insurance
- Commercial property
- General liability
- Workers compensation
Sentry is in all 50 states and, since 1992, has maintained an A+ rating from AM Best.
Gallagher
Whether you own a car dealership, rental car operator, or a company that transports or manufactures vehicles, the Gallagher Automotive team has risk management solutions that support all aspects of the auto industry.
Programs covered include:
- Dealers open lot coverage
- Garage Liability program (premises and auto liability)
- Cyber Liability
- Property insurance
- Workers compensation
- Risk management
They can be found in over 2000 insured locations and have over 50 automotive insurance specialists.
USA Business Insurance
USA Business Insurance brings its customers custom-tailored programs and specializes in small businesses.
- General liability
- Garage liability
- Commercial and business auto
- Workers compensation
- Excess liability
- D&O
- Employment practices liability
The business, which opened its doors in 2007, currently serves clients across all 50 states.
Travelers
Travelers Insurance has been around for more than 165 years and has earned a reputation as one of the industry’s best property and casualty insurers. They remain recognized as leaders in the personal, business, and specialty insurance markets.
Drawing on extensive research and years of experience, they offer:
- Auto and general liability
- Property/equipment breakdown
- Workers compensation
- Excess Liability
While Salty doesn’t provide coverage to protect your dealership, we help you offer coverage to your customers with customized, instantly bindable quotes delivered on the screen of their phone. Salty’s unique Embedded Insurance® platform delivers a seamless experience that saves customers time and money while protecting their investment right at the point of purchase.
Contact us to learn how to make your business smarter! Let us do the homework for your customers so you can focus on finalizing the car deal.
