Automotive Restoration Insurance Guide
Color Glo automotive work — leather seats, door panels, dashboards, consoles, convertible tops, carpets, vinyl roofs, and interior recoloring — connects multiple coverage lines. This guide explains why auto restoration creates exposures that require more than a standard general liability policy.
Franchise Reality
Key Exposures & Risks
Customer Vehicle in Your Care
Any time a technician works on a customer's vehicle, the franchisee has assumed a custody relationship with that property. General liability's care, custody, or control exclusion may limit coverage for damage to a vehicle during restoration work. Garagekeepers coverage is designed specifically for this exposure — and dealerships may require it by name.
Jobsite and Property Damage
Automotive restoration work happens at dealerships, homes, lots, and garages. A technician's tools, sprayers, and products create exposure to damage at the surrounding jobsite — flooring, adjacent vehicles, walls, or customer-owned property outside the vehicle itself. General liability addresses those third-party claims.
Mobile Tools and Equipment
Repair kits, colorants, sprayers, heat tools, and adhesives travel with the technician to every automotive job. If tools are stolen from the service vehicle overnight or damaged in transit between jobs, Equipment / Inland Marine coverage addresses the loss — not the vehicle policy.
Driving the Mobile Business
Commercial auto is not optional for a mobile franchise. Every trip to a customer's location is a business-use driving event. Personal auto policies typically exclude business use — a gap that can leave the franchisee entirely unprotected in an accident while en route to an automotive job.
Dealership Contract Requirements
Commercial dealership accounts are valuable — and demanding. Dealerships typically require certificates of insurance naming them as additional insureds, specific liability limits, and often Garagekeepers coverage before allowing on-site work. A complete insurance program makes these relationships possible.
Technician Injury During Auto Work
Kneeling inside a vehicle, bending to reach interior panels, handling tools and products in confined spaces — these are real injury exposures for automotive restoration technicians. Workers' compensation is required by law in most states once employees are involved, and the physical nature of auto restoration work makes it relevant.
Protection Strategy
Coverage Built for This Operation
General Liability
Jobsite injury and property damage coverage for automotive restoration work at any customer or commercial location.
Commercial Auto
Coverage for business-use driving to automotive jobs, service vehicles, and hired and non-owned auto liability.
Equipment / Inland Marine
Coverage for tools, repair kits, colorants, and supplies stolen from or damaged while in the service vehicle.
Garagekeepers
Coverage for customer vehicles in the franchisee's care, custody, or control during automotive restoration work.
Workers' Compensation
Statutory coverage for technician injuries arising from automotive restoration work, driving, and tool use.
Property Insurance
Coverage for product inventory, colorants, and business assets stored at a fixed location.
Does your insurance understand your restoration operations?
The Southern Agency reviews your current coverage and aligns it with the real-world exposures of running a Color Glo International mobile restoration franchise.
