The basics
Valet operations carry a special coverage called garage keepers insurance.
When you take custody of someone's vehicle, normal auto insurance doesn't neatly apply. Garage keepers coverage is the policy built for exactly this: protecting vehicles in the care, custody, and control of a business. It's the backbone of valet insurance.
This is a general explainer, not legal or insurance advice — always confirm specifics with your broker.
The mechanics
How a claim actually flows
The coverages in play
Valet insurance is usually a stack of policies, each covering a different kind of risk.
Core
Garage keepers
Covers damage to a customer's vehicle while it's in the operation's custody — the heart of valet coverage.
Liability
General liability
Covers injury or property damage to others arising from the operation.
Auto
Garage liability
Covers incidents involving driving the vehicles as part of the service.
People
Workers' comp
Covers the valets themselves if they're hurt on the job.
→Garage keepers is the one most specific to valet — the policy that answers “who pays for the dent.”
Why documentation decides the outcome
When something goes wrong, the claim turns on one question: what condition was the car in when you took it? A clear record is your best defense.
→A timestamped photo at intake is worth more than any argument later. Documentation is the cheapest insurance there is.
Where Valletto changes the math
Your best insurance is a record of every car's condition.
Garage keepers coverage pays the claim — but a clean digital record of each car at intake, with photos and timestamps, is what prevents disputes and protects you when a guest claims damage that was already there.
The takeaway: valet insurance runs on garage keepers coverage, but the outcome of any claim runs on documentation. A modern operation that logs every car's condition at intake — the kind Valletto enables — turns “whose fault is it” into “check the record.”
Valletto