Garage owner thankful for motor trade insurance after vandals strike

Garage owner thankful for motor trade insurance after vandals strike

The owner of a car garage in Wales says that an act of vandalism could have cost him thousands of pounds in repairs and disruption to normal business if he did not have a motor trade insurance policy.

Six windows were smashed by large rocks and the roof of a car was dented when vandals struck at South Wales Auto Store in Nelson. Fortunately Huw Ludlam, the director and owner of the business, has a motor trade insurance policy that can provide financial protection for incidences like this.

Speaking to Wales Online, the 45-year-old says that he is now looking at an insurance claim of more than £4,000 for repairs, but added that he will have to fork out £1,000 excess himself.

The car damaged in the break-in was a Nissan X-Trail 4x4, which has a value of £7,000. The repair works to this vehicle came to £1,500 and to prevent future vandals repeating the act he revealed that he has decided to install new alarms, at a cost of £900, and a new CCTV system, at a cost of more than £10,000.

He said: “The CCTV was done 10 years ago, and it’s out of date. You have to secure the premises.”

The garage stocks 45 cars at any one time and sells about 20 vehicles a month. However, these figures could take a hit in January as Mr Ludlam said that he had to shut the business for two days while the windows were repaired.

While short-term closures might not be covered, for any business that faces closing its doors for a long period of time as a result of criminal activity, fires or flooding, business interruption cover as part of a combined motor trade insurance policy can provide financial cover for the takings that are lost.