Car Dealership Insurance

Helping you focus on running your business

Whether you’re a part-time local trader or long-standing, large franchise buying and selling new and used cars, you’ll need adequate cover. Therefore, having suitable car dealer insurance in place could prove essential—not only to ensure business operations run smoothly, but to adequately protect your vehicles, property, and people.

What is car dealership insurance?

Car dealership cover is a type of motor trade insurance. It’s designed to help protect businesses that sell and buy vehicles, with extra security for stock and property, including theft, loss, and damage. As you’ll see below, Gallagher car dealer insurance policies also extend to employers’ and public liability, safeguarding your business against many accidents that could otherwise lead to costly legal fees.

Who needs car dealer insurance?

It doesn’t matter the size of your car dealership—you have assets to protect. So, whether you operate nationally or simply sell second-hand cars from a small unit on a part-time basis, you’ll still need to consider having adequate cover. You should consider insurance that can protect you against a wide range of eventualities, just in case something goes wrong. From floods and fire to customer accident claims, a comprehensive policy can help mitigate against these risks.

What does insurance for car dealerships cover?

Since every dealership is unique, the exact details of your policy and which extras you need will be different. However, as a minimum, your dealer insurance needs to include road risk protection. This cover is a legal requirement for motor traders that drive vehicles for business purposes, so that you can drive purchased, sold, or customer vehicles.

If you’re driving vehicles back from auction to your premises, road risks protection ensures you have cover. However, there are different levels of road risk cover, ranging from third-party only to comprehensive, so exactly what you’re covered for may differ.

A car dealer insurance policy might include:

Road risk – covers you to drive non-owned vehicles, including customers’ cars or motorcycles and those you’re buying or selling.
Stock cover – protects your stock, equipment, and machinery against risks of damage, theft, and loss.
Premises cover – insures your business premises against detrimental risks, including theft, flooding, fire, and vandalism, as well as business goods, such as tools, office equipment, and other essential items.
Public liability cover – covers fees associated with claims from customers, such as accidents or damage to their property while on your business premises.
Employers’ liability cover – like public liability protection, this covers compensation and claim fees if an employee is injured while at work.

Choose Gallagher car dealer insurance and you have the option of added extras, tailored to individual dealership needs, including:

Engineering inspection – covers inspections to ensure your equipment and machinery are safe to use.
Management liability – covers fees associated with legal costs, fines, and penalties that you may be liable for as a director or member of senior management.
Cyber insurance – protects your business from cyber risks that could threaten infrastructure and IT systems, such as data leaks.
Excess of loss – pays out for losses that exceed a specific limit to provide extra cover for your business.
Crisis resilience – covers your business against specific crises, including terrorism and other major incidents.
Risk management – involves specialist advice and guidance on protecting your business, assets, and staff from risks associated with your car dealership.
Legal expenses – covers fees associated with legal advice and action when challenging or defending your business from claims.

These are brief product descriptions only. Please refer to the policy documentation paying particular attention to the terms and conditions, exclusions, warranties, subjectivities, excesses and any endorsements.

Why choose Gallagher for car dealer insurance?

Sometimes you can’t afford to take risks. That’s why we work with you to calculate the unique needs of your dealership and endeavour to find a policy that’s tailored to your needs. Our flexible policies offer a range from road risk insurance to public liability cover, with the option to include extras tailored to your dealership. Speak with one of our specialists today to get a car dealer insurance quote. Call us on 0800 062 2312.

Road risk
Stock cover
Premises cover
Public liability

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is covered by car dealer insurance?

Car dealer insurance can offer protection for your dealership against risks ranging from theft to vehicle damage to employee injuries. In short, it helps protect you, your staff, and customers should an accident or incident occur. Road risks insurance also covers you to drive vehicles off-premises, such as taking a car for a test drive or transporting vehicles to your premises from an auction.

How much does car dealer insurance cost?

The price of car dealer insurance varies depending on the policy type you choose— especially if optional extras are added. Factors that influence the cost of your dealer insurance include:

The nature and size of your business.
How many people you employ.
The level and type of cover you need.
Where your dealership is based.
The type and value of the vehicles you sell or buy.

There are ways to reduce the overall cost of your insurance. For instance, paying an annual premium and increasing the amount of voluntary excess and you might also want to ensure that all named drivers are aged 25 and over, which could significantly lower your premium. Aside from that, taking steps to ensure your stock and premises are secure is essential to help lower costs—for example, locking all goods away and installing surveillance.