If you repair cars or other vehicles for a living, mechanics insurance provides critical cover.
Carrying out work on your customers’ vehicles involves risk. From driving on public highways to having your tools or machinery stolen, several scenarios can seriously impact your business. Dealing with members of the public could also result in an injury claim against you.
Your mechanics insurance policy is designed to cover these risks, and more.
Whether you’re a mobile mechanic or work from business premises, we can help you find an insurance policy tailored to your business.
Who needs mechanics insurance?
Anyone who services or repairs vehicles will need motor trade insurance for mechanics.
This includes:
- Mobile mechanics
- Part-time vehicle service and repair work
- Full-time mechanics operating from business premises
- Service and repair garages
- MOT testers
- Recovery operators
How much does mechanics insurance cost?
For mobile mechanics working from home, road risks cover starts at just £8.73 a week. *
As with any policy, the price of your mechanics insurance will depend on your businesses’ unique requirements. For instance, you might need one or more of the additional covers mentioned above.
If you want an accurate quote, speak to our team of professional advisers today.
What does mechanics and mobile mechanics insurance cover?
Whether you are a full-time or part-time mechanic, road risks insurance is the minimum level of cover required. You will need this insurance to drive customer vehicles in your care, custody, and control. This includes test driving vehicles (after service or repairs, for instance) or taking them to/from a customer’s home. You are also covered for vehicles your business owns.
Road risks cover is available on a third-party, third-party fire and theft, or comprehensive basis.
We recommend mechanics consider the benefits of comprehensive road risks cover, as it protects the vehicle you are driving as well as any third-party risks. Having sufficient protection in place will also show your customers that their car is in good hands when they give you the keys.
There is a range of additional covers available for mechanics, including:
- Tools and machinery cover – available for items either in work transit or stored in business premises.
- Diagnostic equipment cover – insurance that protects you if expensive equipment is stolen from your workplace.
- Garage buildings cover – insurance that covers damage to your business premises, up to the full rebuild cost.
- Money and key cover – additional insurance that protects you if money or vehicle keys stored safely on-site are stolen.
- Employers’ liability insurance – a legal employment requirement that protects you against injury claims from members of staff.
- Public liability insurance – highly recommended cover that offers protection if a member of the public is injured on your business premises.
- Service indemnity cover – also known as defective workmanship cover or product liability insurance. It provides cover in situations where claims are made due to incorrect fitment of parts, or because of an injury due to defective parts fitted.
- MOT loss of licence cover – an MOT station can’t operate without a licence, so get insurance to cover you if this happens.
- Engineering inspection cover – a standalone policy that provides qualified engineers to carry out equipment inspections (lifting tables, ramps, etc.).
- Vehicle stock cover – if you have occasional vehicle sales, you can protect vehicles stored on-site with this additional cover.
- Demonstration cover – to allow occasional vehicles for sale to be test driven by members of the public.
We offer mechanics insurance from a panel of insurers, so that we can shop around for the best deal for you. If there are any specific insurance covers you need, just speak to our friendly advisers for advice.
Why choose Bollington for mechanics insurance?
- More than 45 years in the Motor Trade industry
- Competitive premiums and instant cover available
- Award-winning service
- Advice from our experts on the best cover for you
- Exclusive policies available
- A wide range of insurers and competitive prices
- Road risks cover – for all motor trade businesses
- Traders combined cover – for premises and contents
- Flexible payment options
We offer additional covers, including:
- MOT loss of licence cover
- Engineering inspection cover
- Business interruption insurance
- Trade credit insurance
- Risk management services
- Employers’ liability and public liability cover
How to save money on mechanics insurance
- Gain experience in a garage before setting up a business yourself.
- If you are just starting as a mechanic, you can transfer your private motor no claims to your mechanics policy.
- Increase the excess on your policy. You can purchase additional excess protection cover if you need it, so speak to our team for more information.
- Service more popular models rather than luxury marques or sports cars.
- Minimise vehicle sales or roadside recovery, and, instead, stick mainly to service and repairs.
- Keep claims to a minimum.
- Maintain high standards to avoid any issues with staff, customers, and regulators.
- Trust Bollington Insurance to get you the best deal.
Frequently asked questions
Why do I need motor trade insurance?
If you conduct business in any area of the motor trade, you will need to obtain insurance. Personal car insurance will not cover you if you are involved in an accident while driving a customer’s vehicle, for example, or when driving a vehicle home from an auction that you have purchased and intend to sell. If you are carrying out work in the motor trade then, as a minimum, you will need road risks insurance to drive vehicles as part of your motor trade activities. If you have business premises (i.e. you don’t operate your business from your home address), then you should consider traders combined cover.I just fix cars at home – do I need motor trade insurance?
Yes, you do. If you fix other people’s vehicles to make a profit – rather than as a hobby for your own personal benefit, using vehicles that you personally own – then you need to make sure that you have adequate insurance to drive the vehicles. Even if it’s just down the road and back, to test your repairs, you still need cover while the vehicle is on the road. You will also need cover for the storage of customers’ vehicles on your premises, which is automatically included in a road risks policy if you work from home. There are optional covers available to protect you (such as public liability and defective workmanship cover, for example), although most mechanics working from home would likely only take out road risks cover to keep the cost of insurance down. It is unlikely that you will be sued for an incident involving a member of the public, or for not doing a job properly, but it might give you peace of mind to be covered against such an eventuality. Talk to us to discuss your options – we’re happy to offer advice about the insurance that suits your needs.Do you offer a range of motor trade insurance quotations, or are you tied to one insurer?
Bollington has access to a wide range of insurance companies, so is able to offer insurance with the company that best fits your needs in terms of cover and price. You will often find that a broker is tied to one insurer, or has a very limited number of insurers that they can approach, so you’re only getting one price. This is not the case with Bollington; we are able to provide insurance with household names such as Ageas (formerly Groupama), Aviva, Allianz, AXA, Travellers and LV, through a range of other insurance companies who can cover specific types of motor trade insurance, such as Tradewise and Tradex. In addition to this, Bollington has what is known as ‘delegated authority’ to underwrite insurance on the behalf of certain insurers, which gives us even more capability to make sure that we can provide insurance as often as possible. This means that Bollington can offer the widest range of motor trade insurance in the business, at the most competitive prices.
