Customer vehicle insurance through Avéro Achmea

The care, custody and control exclusion is the whole point

Liability insurers exclude damage to property you have in your care, because such damage is predictable and connected with the quality of your work. For a garage, accident repair centre, tyre specialist or valeting business that means the most expensive object on the premises is not yours and is not covered. Customer vehicle insurance puts that right, with its own limit per vehicle and per event that you choose separately.

Workshop, ramp and test drive

The claims that come in on this policy are concrete: a car set wrongly on the lift and tipping over, a tool trolley rolling into a door, paint damage from grinding dust, a fire spreading from a welding point, and a collision on the drive to check whether the noise has gone. Theft from the premises and vandalism at the weekend are also among the usual sections.

What is not covered

The policy does not pay for putting right your own work: if you fit the wrong parts or leave a bolt loose, redoing that repair is your own cost. Also excluded: wear, mechanical defects and faults that were already present, and the customer's consequential loss such as a hire car, loss of income or diminution in value. Theft while the car stood unlocked with the key in it almost always leads to a reduced payment.

Key management and documented handover

Almost every dispute about a customer vehicle turns on two questions: was the vehicle entrusted to your care at the time of the damage, and where was the key. Work with a vehicle intake form on which existing damage is signed off, and with a lockable key cabinet. Without that record you face an argument about damage the customer says was not there before, and that is an argument you will not win after the event.

Retroactive cover (prior risk)

Retroactive cover (prior risk) Included for your staff during work.

Defence & legal costs