Separate property · use · contents
Insuring a garage box or workshop
As soon as work is done in the space (repairs, welding, sanding, spraying) the designated use changes and an insurer assesses the property in a different risk class.
Deze pagina in het Nederlands: Een garagebox of werkplaats verzekeren.
The calculator and the quote form below are in Dutch. Prefer to do this in English? Email info@finassverzekert. nl or call 072 - 509 24 56 and we will take it from there.
Work out for yourself what it would cost.
Enter your details; you will receive a proposal within one working day.
- We compare the offerings of several insurers
- An adviser checks whether the cover suits your situation
- We arrange the switch, including cancellation
A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
If it belongs to your home
A garage or store on the same plot usually falls under your buildings insurance, as an outbuilding. Check that it has been declared; otherwise a limited maximum often applies.
If it is a separate property
A garage unit elsewhere, for example in a block of units, is a a separate object with its own insurance. Your home policy does not cover it.
If the unit stands in a block with a VvE, that association often insures the building. What you installed yourself is owner's interest.
What is kept in it
The contents is not automatically covered by your home contents insurance if the garage is not part of your home. Tools, tyres, a motorcycle or storage must be declared separately.
Is there a vehicle, then it is covered by the vehicle insurance, not by the buildings or contents policy.
Reporting the use
Do you use the garage as workshop or for business storage, that is not private use. It changes the risk class and must be reported; undeclared business use is a ground for refusing a claim.
In brief
<p>Insurers assess a garage or workshop not on what the building is but on what happens inside it. Parking and storage is the lightest class. As soon as grinding, welding, spraying or dismantling takes place, naked flames, sparks, fuel and electrical load are added and the property moves into a higher fire class with the clauses that go with it.</p>
<p>Those clauses are not a formality. A compulsory periodic inspection of the electrical installation, firefighting equipment at fixed points, a ban on naked flames within a certain distance of flammable storage and a fire watch after hot work: if damage arises while you are not complying with a clause, it is not paid.</p>
<p>Besides the building, matters arise here that do not with ordinary parking: tools and equipment, someone else's vehicle in your care, and soil contamination. If it is purely a matter of parking or storage without any work, look at insuring a garage unit.</p>
Where things go wrong in practice
The designated use and the actual use must match the policy
The policy schedule states what the property is used for. Anyone who uses a unit declared as a store as a workshop is insuring something other than what happens. On a claim the insurer checks this and can rely on Articles 7:928 and 7:930 DCC: had the actual use been known, the premium would have been higher or the application refused. Also report a change during the term.
Hot work and the storage around it
Welding, grinding and flame cutting are the classic causes of fire in a workshop. What is kept there also counts: jerrycans, gas cylinders, aerosols, waste oil and lithium batteries charged indoors. Insurers set requirements for the quantity stored and where it is kept. If a fire occurs while those requirements have not been met, rejection follows; and deliberately carrying on without precautions also engages Article 7:952 DCC.
Someone else's car in your care
If you work on someone else's vehicle, you have that vehicle in your care. If it burns out or falls off the lift, that is not damage to the structure and it is not covered as standard on liability insurance either: the usual policy excludes property in your care. That requires express care, custody and control cover. Test drives in someone else's vehicle also call for their own arrangement.
Soil, oil and environmental damage
A cracked drip tray, a leaking oil separator or contaminated firefighting water running off: the costs then lie in cleaning up the soil, not in repairing the building. Buildings insurance does no soil remediation. That requires environmental damage insurance. Damage to the groundwater or to the soil of a neighbouring plot also falls outside the buildings cover and can be charged to you under Article 6:162 DCC.
What does your premium depend on?
- Activities on the premises. Repairs only, or also welding, spraying and battery work: this determines the fire class and therefore the rate.
- Construction type and compartmentation. Masonry construction and a fire-resisting separation from neighbouring units or premises reduce the risk.
- Fire prevention and inspections. Firefighting equipment, an up-to-date inspection of the electrical installation and a fire watch procedure after hot work.
- Storage of hazardous substances. The quantity and storage place of fuels, gas cylinders, paint and lithium batteries count separately.
- Rebuild value and floor area. The sum insured is based on the cost of rebuilding the property including fixed installations.
- Excess and claims history. Previous fire, water or burglary claims and the excess chosen per event.
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
Read more
Within Opstalverzekering
- Opstalverzekeringthe main page
- Garagebox verzekeren heb je een opstalverzekering nodig
- Your own garage box: why buildings insurance (opstalverzekering) is needed
- Garage of garagebox verzekeren alles wat je moet weten over de opstalverzekering
- Oom verzekeringen opstalverzekering garagebox verzekering zakelijk
- Opstalverzekering voor je garagebox is het verplicht en wat dekt het
- Damage to your lock-up: what buildings insurance (opstalverzekering) does and does not cover
Similar pages
- Insuring a garage box
- Your own garage box: why buildings insurance (opstalverzekering) is needed
- Insuring a garage or lock-up: what buildings insurance (opstalverzekering) does and does not do
- Buildings insurance (opstalverzekering) for a garage box
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- Insuring a garage or garage box
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Also relevant
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
Does my insurer allow me to have a workshop in my garage unit?
You may, provided it has been declared and the insurer accepts it. What matters is the designated use on the policy schedule. Report what work you carry out and what you store. Insurers attach clauses to that about firefighting equipment, wiring and hot work. The division regulations for a block of units can also prohibit business use; check that in advance.
Are my tools and equipment included?
Not on the buildings insurance. That covers the building and everything permanently attached to it. Loose machines, a lifting jack, a compressor, hand tools and diagnostic equipment belong on business contents cover. If you rent the property, what you installed on the building yourself falls under tenant's interest. Declare both separately at a realistic value.
Is the car I am working on covered?
Only with care, custody and control cover. Property in your care is excluded on ordinary liability insurance, and the buildings policy covers only the building. If the workshop burns down with a customer's car inside, without that extension it is your own loss. We arrange that cover separately and match the limit to the value of the vehicles you usually have indoors.
What happens if I do not report the business use?
You then run a real risk of rejection. On a claim, the insurer may test whether, with the correct information, it would have written the policy on the same conditions. That follows from Articles 7:928 and 7:930 DCC. Where the risk is demonstrably heavier, the payment can be reduced. If it would have refused the application had the declaration been correct, the right to payment lapses entirely.
What is covered and what is not
What is covered
| Situation | Your home policy | A separate policy for the lock-up |
|---|---|---|
| A fire in the garage that stands on the same plot as your home | Yes | No |
| A fire in a garage unit in a block of units two streets away | No | Yes |
| Theft of tools and winter tyres from that separate unit | No | Provided that |
| The partition and the lighting you installed yourself in a unit in a VvE block | No | Provided that |
| The classic motorcycle in the unit is damaged by a leak from above | No | No |
| You work on cars there for payment without having reported it and a fire breaks out | No | No |
Always put the address of the unit and its use separately on the application, even if both policies are with the same company.