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Insurance Tips for Car Dealerships

Manage your risk to protect your Car Dealership Business Insurance


The Car Dealership industry fights to protect some of the most complex risks in the business sector, with large exposure for property damage which includes vehicles, hail damage in particular as well as typically large asset values, and multiple facets of their business. A car dealership with lots of claims, also puts itself at a very high risk of being uninsurable, with few players in the market willing to offer insurance in the first place.

Our experienced car dealership brokers work alongside our clients to assist them with 2 key factors when it comes to their insurance:

  • Understanding what their risks are, and ways to manage those risks from both a day to day and long term perspective
  • Educating them on their insurance options, and how it responds to all the different aspects of their business.

The biggest concern however for car dealers more often than not is the price it costs to protect their assets and businesses, at one of the most challenging times in their history when it comes to selling vehicles due to manufacturing delays, rising costs of everyday living for customers and rising costs for them to do business, including their insurance.

In this article, we will set out some options that will help you reduce risks and with a proactive broker, reduce premiums, as well as some coverage considerations and options that you may not be aware of.

Reducing risk for your Car Dealership


  • HAIL NETS: Whether your business pays for hail insurance or not, hail nets will go a very long way to adding protection to the companies income, without needing to involve insurance companies at every event to payout claims. This WILL reduce your premium, often with a return on investment only 2-3 years away.

  • SECURITY UPGRADES: Vehicle theft and malicious damage from dealerships and their related mechanical workshops represents a large portion of the claims we see within our client base. Some very effective deterrents include the installation of Bollards, or Minimum 6 foot perimeter security fencing. Manned security or frequent, random security company inspections and the installation of CCTV will also greatly reduce your risks and assist with premium reduction

Management Liability insurance is designed to provide protection to both the business and its directors or officers for claims of wrongful acts in the management of the business.

A business insurance pack can provide cover for your business premises and contents, against loss, damage, theft or financial loss from an insured interruption to the business.

Purchase up to six products under one Business Insurance Package. 

  • SECURITY UPGRADES: Vehicle theft and malicious damage from dealerships and their related mechanical workshops represents a large portion of the claims we see within our client base. Some very effective deterrents include the installation of Bollards, or Minimum 6 foot perimeter security fencing. Manned security or frequent, random security company inspections and the installation of CCTV will also greatly reduce your risks and assist with premium reduction

  • DETAILED WORKSHOP PROCEDURES AND QUALITY VERIFICATION: Dealership mechanical workshops process huge numbers of jobs every day, with dealers offering capped price servicing and very standard service requirements, having well written procedures that include quality verification and proof of work will go a long way to not only building trust with your customers, but also protecting your business against liability claims.

  • PLANNED MAINTENANCE: A critical aspect of your business, in particular where a mechanical workshop also exists, planned maintenance is not only a recommendation, but often also a requirement under aspects of your policy, in particular machinery breakdown and hydraulic equipment breakdown insurance. It also demonstrates care for your staff, customers and vehicles by ensuring your equipment is safe for use.

Some features that may benefit your Car Dealership


  • DEALER HOLDBACK EXTENSION - covers a new car dealers lost commissions in the event of written off vehicles that weren’t able to be sold due to a claimable event

  • TEST DRIVING - covers test drives of your stock vehicles and demos, as well as your staff test driving customers vehicles in the workshop

  • STATIC VEHICLE INSURANCE - covers vehicles whilst not in use or on test drives against fire and peril events at the insured location

  • HAIL INSURANCE - available now as an included section of your primary insurance account, or on a standalone parametric* insurance policy, this covers either a total loss amount or first loss cover, dependent on insurer, dealership size and requirements or customers choice. There are also diminished value extensions available for the purposes of covering the difference in sold price versus wholesale price to ensure the business does not lose money. 

For a more comprehensive education, review and detail around your car dealership risk program, get in touch with Joe Daley and the AJ Insurance Services team to get the information you may be missing out on.




General Advice Warning: This advice is general and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. You should consider whether the advice is appropriate for you and your personal circumstances. Before you make any decision about whether to acquire a certain product, you should obtain and read the relevant product disclosure statement.

All information above has been provided by the author.


Joe Daley, AJ Insurance Services, ABN 19621930390, AFSL 238979

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