Car garage insurance is an insurance policy that covers the structure and contents of your garage. You can cover your garage against theft, and damages as a result of fire or flooding. If you have home insurance, you can include car garage insurance in it. The garage must be within your property compound. However, some insurers will set a coverage limit for a car garage insurance. The level of car garage insurance depends on the following.
- Car garage attached to a home. In this case, the car garage is inside your home property.
- Car garage detached to your home. The garage is a standalone building and is detached to your home but still within your home compound.
Car Garage Coverage
If you have car garage insurance, it will cover the structure and its contents. When buying a car garage insurance policy, you have to state the sum insured for your garage contents. As such, in case of a fire accident, you will only be compensated for the sum insured. You can claim for items that need replacement or those that need repairs.
It is important to calculate correctly the value of your belongings in your garage. Stating less amount in your insurance policy means that in case of an accident, you will not be compensated for the amount above what is written in the policy. A garage could have so many valuable items ranging from bikes to power tools. Some insurers might require that items like bicycles in the garage be locked up. This is irregardless of whether the garage is locked or not.
The car garage insurance will cover bicycles while they are inside the garage. If a bicycle is stolen outside the garage, it will not be compensated. Make sure to read the car garage insurance policy to understand well what you are covered against.
How to Secure Your Garage and Reduce the Cost of Car Garage Insurance
If you want to pay fewer premiums and heighten the security of your car garage, you can take the following steps:
- Install security features like lights, fire extinguishers and alarms. This will keep thieves away and help you counter and incident before it happens.
- Always lock your garage. You need to keep your garage always closed. This is because to make a claim for theft, there must be evidence of forced entry.
- High-value items should have a separate cover. Items like bikes are only insured while they are inside the garage. If they are stolen outside the garage, you will not be compensated.
- Make sure to include the cost of repairing and replacing the car garage structure. This will cover you in the event that the structure is damaged and it requires repairs or replacement.
Buildings Insurance
If you find that you cannot pay for the car garage insurance, you can include it in your building insurance. As such, the building insurance will cover your garage against damages by fire, theft, lightning, earthquakes, storms and floods. Buildings insurance for your home should also offer coverage for a garage attached to your home. However, this varies from one insurance provider to the other. As such make sure to read between the lines before committing yourself to an insurance policy.
In some building insurance policies, you might have to an accidental damage cover for your garage. This will come as an extra cover to your building insurance policy. In case the building’s insurance policy is only offering a basic cover, it means that your garage will not be covered. Therefore, read the policy document well and ask for clarification where need be.
Cheap Car Garage Insurance
To get affordable car garage insurance, you need to shop around. Get different car garage insurance quotes from different providers and see which one suits your needs. If you do not have the time to request for car garage insurance quotes, you can use online comparison tools. Money Supermarket will help you compare quotes so that you can get the best deal.