Lowering Your Car Dealership Insurance Cost Without Cutting Coverage
- Nate Jones, CPCU, ARM, CLCS, AU
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
Car dealership insurance can be a major business expense, especially when you manage high‑value inventory, employee exposure, and customer activity on your lot. But reducing your premium doesn’t have to mean reducing protection. With the right strategies, you can lower the insurance cost for a car dealership while keeping all essential coverages in place. Here’s how dealership owners can save intelligently.
1. Improve Lot and Building Security
Insurance carriers price based on risk. Stronger security typically equals lower premiums. Consider upgrades such as:
LED lot lighting
24/7 surveillance cameras
Alarm systems
Fencing with locked gates
Key control systems
Many insurers provide discounts for enhanced security. Dealership owners can explore security best practices via industry sources like car dealer associations and local law enforcement crime‑prevention resources.
2. Maintain a Clean Claims History
Your loss history is one of the biggest factors affecting a car dealership business insurance quote. Frequent claims, especially theft, vandalism, or test‑drive accidents, can increase premiums for years. Strategies to help include:
Better driver training for test drives
Secure indoor storage for high‑value vehicles
A clean claims record signals lower risk to carriers, and lower pricing.
3. Set the Right Dealer’s Open Lot (DOL) Limit
Many dealerships either under‑estimate or over‑estimate their inventory value. Overstating limits leads to unnecessarily high premiums. Understating limits creates dangerous gaps.
The best approach: Provide carriers your accurate monthly average and maximum inventory values.This ensures proper protection and more accurate pricing.
4. Bundle Policies Through a Specialised Agency
Agencies that specialise in dealerships, like Wexford Insurance, can bundle coverages and compare pricing across multiple carriers. This often leads to better deals than buying coverage individually.
Specialised agencies also know which carriers offer:
Multi‑policy discounts
Safety discounts
Preferred dealer programs
Better DOL or garage liability rates
5. Consider Higher Deductibles (Smartly)
Raising deductibles on DOL or garagekeepers can lower monthly premiums. Just make sure the deductible is still affordable if a claim occurs.
Get the Best Price for Your Car Dealership Insurance
Not all insurance companies understand dealership operations, and pricing can vary based on your security measures, claims history, inventory values, and employee exposure. Wexford Insurance partners with top-rated carriers that specialise in dealership insurance, helping owners secure the right coverage, without sacrificing protection.
👉 Request your car dealership business insurance quote from Wexford Insurance today and make sure your lot, inventory, and business are fully protected.
