Motor trade insurance for businesses working on other people's vehicles

A motor trade policy is not one cover. It is a package of sections selected to match the way the business operates. The sections we commonly look at include:

• Customers' vehicles in your care. The section that makes this a motor trade risk. It can respond while a customer's vehicle is at your premises or being driven for the job, but the exact reach differs sharply between wordings.
• Tools and workshop equipment. Hand tools, diagnostic gear, welders, compressors and equipment carried by mobile operators. Theft conditions matter when gear travels in a vehicle.
• Building, contents and stock. The workshop if you own it, your fit-out if you lease it, and parts, tyres, oils and consumables.
• Public and products liability. Injury to visitors, damage to other property and liability arising from parts or work once the vehicle leaves the workshop.
• Your own vehicles. Service vans, utes, tow trucks and courtesy vehicles can sit alongside the motor trade policy. Larger numbers become a fleet discussion.
• Business interruption. Lost income after an insured event stops or restricts trading. It is not cover for a quiet month.
• Certificates and reports. Some motor trade wordings include cover for professional duties such as certificates, advice or reports, but it must be selected and the wording checked.

We start with the workshop, not a quote screen. How many customer vehicles could be in your care on the busiest night of the year? What are they worth together? Who drives them? Do apprentices road test? What type of work do you do? Does anyone sign roadworthy certificates, inspection reports or other professional documents? What equipment travels in vans, and how is it secured?

We then quote a small number of suitable insurers rather than scatter the risk everywhere. Once the terms come back, we read the wording that matters: the customers' vehicles section, the liability treatment of property in your care, the schedule limits, the driving conditions and the extensions actually selected. The job is not to tell you that you have motor trade insurance. It is to tell you what it will do with the vehicles you are responsible for tonight.

• Leaving the customers' vehicles limit where it was set years ago. Add up what could be on site on the worst night, not the average day, and check whether the limit applies per vehicle or across the site.
• Ignoring what is fitted to service vans. Racking, benches, platforms and equipment added over time may need to be listed as vehicle accessories or portable equipment.
• Assuming customer keys are automatically covered. Theft conditions can change depending on where keys were kept, whether there was forced entry and what options appear on the schedule.
• Treating hot work as ordinary workshop work. Welding, flame cutting, heating and grinding can carry strict safety conditions. Those conditions need to be understood before a fire, not after one.
• Assuming equipment breakdown covers every machine. A compressor may fit squarely inside the equipment breakdown section while a vehicle hoist can be treated differently by the wording. The machine that stops the workshop deserves its own check.