Commercial industry
Computer Repair Shop Insurance
A computer-repair shop is a service account that holds other people’s machines and the data on them. The claim is a laptop that left the bench worse than it arrived, a drive that was imaged without a written grant, a water-damaged logic board you were storing, or a house-call that shorted a customer’s office. General liability, a bailee or property-of-others limit, a tools and parts floater, and commercial auto for on-site calls are the file. A office BOP that never mentioned customer equipment is the wrong chassis.
We place shop-based and mobile computer maintenance and repair operations — walk-in bench work, on-site break-fix, and small multi-tech counters that also sell a few cables and drives. This is not the managed-service or implementation page; that is IT and computer services, where technology E&O and cyber sit first. If you only write software and never touch a chassis, you are there. If the bench is the business, you are here.
Customer equipment in the shop is a care, custody, or control problem. GL typically will not pay for the laptop on the bench. We schedule bailee or property-of-others at the peak number of machines on the rack, not the Tuesday count. A written intake — what you received, the password story, whether you may image the drive — is underwriting and a claim file, not paperwork we invent after a loss.
On-site work is premises-you-do-not-control. A spilled solvent, a tripped cable, a server rack you bumped is GL. The machine you take back to the shop is bailee again. Commercial auto covers the marked car; hired and non-owned covers a tech who takes a personal car to a overflow call. Parts and tools in the van need the floater. If you sell refurbished units from the counter, that is products and a inventory number — writable when it is incidental. A storefront that is really a used-electronics dealer is a different application.
Data is why this class is not appliance repair with a different SKU. You see files, credentials, and sometimes payment-card leftovers. A cyber conversation belongs on the same proposal as the bailee limit: a lost drive, a bench machine that was still logged in, a ransomware event on your own ticket system. We do not treat a “we only fix hardware” sentence as a reason to skip it. Washington techs stay with L&I; we place stop-gap and competitive-state WC. We do not replace L&I.
IT and computer services, appliance repair, and specialty retail are the related pages. A shop that has grown into managed service should see the IT page for the E&O tower; the bench can stay on this account if we describe both. We do not write personal homeowners on a basement shop as a substitute for the commercial package.
Risks we actually schedule
- Customer laptops, phones, or servers damaged or stolen while in the shop or van — bailee, not GL.
- A house-call that damages the customer’s premises or another device.
- Data left on a bench machine, a lost drive, or a ticket-system breach.
- Tools and parts stolen from a marked vehicle.
Frequently asked questions
Does general liability cover the customer’s laptop on my bench?
Usually not. Care, custody, or control is a standard exclusion. We add bailee or property-of-others for machines you hold, at the peak count, not the slow afternoon.
We are a repair shop, not an MSP. Do we still need cyber?
Yes. You still see customer files and you run a ticket system. Hardware-only is not a privacy switch. The IT-services page is for the E&O-and-hosting tower; this page still wants a cyber conversation.
I work from a spare room. Can I put this on a homeowners policy?
No. We do not write personal lines as a substitute for a commercial repair shop. If you work from a dwelling, we schedule a home-based commercial exposure and we say what the form excludes.
Related coverage, industries, and locations
General Liability
Third-party injury, property damage, and products/completed-operations protection for shops, offices, and jobsites.
Coverage detailsInland Marine
Tools, equipment, cargo, installation jobs, and property that moves — the coverage a building policy leaves behind.
Coverage detailsBusiness Owner's Policy
A packaged policy that pairs general liability with commercial property and business income for eligible classes.
Coverage detailsCyber
Ransomware, data-breach response, forensic IT, notification, and business income after a network event.
Coverage detailsCommercial Auto
Owned, hired, and non-owned vehicles — work vans, box trucks, service bodies, trailers, and company cars.
Coverage detailsIT and Computer Services
Technology E&O, cyber, and a package for shops that implement, support, and sometimes host.
Industry pageAppliance Repair
Shop and mobile techs: GL on the house call, a tools floater, commercial auto, and the bailee unit in the van.
Industry pageSpecialty Retail
A hub for independent shops that are not a chain and not a generic “store” — inventory, premises, and the odd extra.
Industry pageOregon
Licensed commercial insurance broker serving Oregon.
State page