Every car on your hoist belongs to someone else. That's the whole risk.
A mechanic's workshop is full of other people's property, parked, road-tested, and repaired under your care. That's a different exposure to most trades, and it's why standard public liability alone tends to fall short. Cover built around the actual job: the vehicles, the repairs, and the advice that goes with both.
Where a mechanic actually gets exposed
The core exposure isn't the workshop itself, it's what's on the hoist. A customer's car in your care, custody and control is a genuinely different risk to a general business visitor slipping on your floor, and it needs its own kind of cover.
The car damaged or stolen in your care
A customer's vehicle is damaged during a road test, or stolen overnight from your yard while awaiting repair. The customer expects you to make it right, since it was in your custody, not theirs, at the time.
The repair that caused an accident
Brake or steering work you carried out is faulty. The customer has an accident afterward, and the investigation traces the fault back to the repair rather than to driving conditions.
Injury or damage at the workshop
A customer trips on a raised hose or cable in the workshop while waiting for their car, or a fire starts from oily rags or spilled fuel and spreads to a neighbouring tenancy.
Who's going to ask you for it
Repairer licensing and fleet contracts both require it
Motor trade work carries its own specific licensing and contractual requirements:
- State repairer licensing generally requires appropriate motor trade insurance to operate legally.
- Fleet and dealer contracts often set specific minimum cover as a condition of doing business with them.
- Landlords of workshop premises may require evidence of cover as part of the lease.
The exclusion mechanics assume is covered
Two things catch mechanics out. First, rectifying your own faulty repair, with no third-party claim attached, is typically excluded from standard cover; only the consequential damage from a faulty repair is usually included. Second, advice given for a fee, like a valuation or a roadworthy assessment, is often specifically excluded unless an extension is added. "My insurance covers my repairs" isn't quite right unless both of these are checked.
Common questions
Does my public liability cover customer cars while they're in my workshop?
Not automatically. Damage to or theft of a customer's vehicle in your care, custody and control needs a specific motor trade extension, not just standard public liability.
A repair I did was faulty and the customer had an accident. Am I covered?
If product liability is part of your cover, yes, for the resulting accident claim. Simply redoing the faulty work yourself with no third-party involved is typically not covered.
I sometimes give customers a roadworthy opinion for a fee. Does that need separate cover?
Yes, advice given for a fee is often specifically excluded unless an extension is added. Tell us if this is part of what you offer.
What if a customer's car is stolen from my premises overnight?
This is exactly what care, custody and control cover under a motor trade policy is designed to answer, distinct from general public liability.
I'm a mobile mechanic, not a fixed workshop. Does that change what I need?
The care, custody and control exposure still applies whenever you're working on a customer's vehicle, wherever that happens. Tell us you work mobile so the cover reflects that.