Coverage
When the damaged property was already in your hands
Liability coverage answers for harm to other people's property, and treats that same property differently once it is in your possession. The situation has a name, care custody or control, and the NAIC definition read July 26, 2026 places property held by a bailee inside inland marine rather than liability.
Two jobs, one afternoon. On the first, a hose catches a neighbor's planter and breaks it. On the second, the customer hands you their keys and something goes wrong with their vehicle while you have it.
Both are damage to somebody else's property. Insurance does not treat them as the same event, and the reason is the keys.
The distinction that has its own name
Care, custody or control
The situation where somebody else's property is in your hands. Liability forms treat it separately from ordinary third party damage, which is why a whole category exists for it.
A detailer with a customer's vehicle, a cleaner with keys to a building, a repair shop with equipment left overnight: the common thread is possession, and it changes which category answers.
The practical test is not where the work happened or how careful anyone was. It is whether the property was in your possession at the time. A vehicle being detailed in the customer's own driveway is still in your hands while you have it, which is why mobile operators run into this as much as shops do.
Where the coverage lives
Inland marine
coverage for property that may be in transit, held by a bailee, at a fixed location, a movable good that is often at different locations (e.g., off road constructions equipment), or scheduled property
The regulator definition names property held by a bailee in the same breath as property in transit. A bailee is simply someone holding goods that belong to another party, which is the formal name for the situation this page is about.
That is why the same line of business comes up for two questions that feel unrelated: your own equipment moving between job sites, and a customer's property sitting in your van. Both are property that is not in a fixed building, which is what the category was built around.
The same damage, three different answers
| What happened | Whose property | In whose possession | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
| Broke a planter while working nearby | Customer's | Theirs | General liability |
| Damaged a vehicle handed over to work on | Customer's | Yours | Care, custody or control |
| Own machine stolen from the truck | Yours | Yours | Inland marine |
The middle row is the one people expect to behave like the first row and do not check. Same customer, same job, same day, different category.
The gap list
What this does not settle
Naming varies and the name is not the definition
Garage keepers, bailee coverage and customers' goods legal liability describe overlapping situations under different labels. Matching a name on a quote to a name you read online is not the same as reading what the coverage says.
Possession is a fact, not a location
The situation does not require a shop or a lot. What matters is whether the property was in your hands, which is why mobile operators run into the same question as fixed premises.
Your own property is a different question again
This is about somebody else's property in your care. Damage to your own tools is a third category, even though it lives in the same line of business.
No carrier comparison here
Which providers offer this coverage, under which name, and at what sublimit, is not documented on this site yet. This page explains the category, not the market.
Knowing which category applies is not the same as knowing whether a policy includes it. The second question is on the declarations page.
Common questions
What does care, custody or control mean?
It describes property that belongs to someone else but is in your possession while you work on it or hold it. A customer's vehicle at a detailing appointment, a building you have keys to, equipment left with you overnight. Liability forms treat that situation separately from ordinary damage to a third party's property.
Why does possession change the answer?
Because the two situations are different risks. Accidentally damaging a neighbor's fence while working is the kind of unpredictable event liability coverage is built around. Damaging something that was handed to you deliberately is closer to a responsibility you accepted, and the categories reflect that separation rather than treating both as the same event.
What is the coverage called?
The names vary by context and by provider. The NAIC's inland marine definition names property held by a bailee, which is the general form of the situation. In vehicle contexts the coverage is commonly called garage keepers, and for goods left with a business it is commonly bailee coverage. Reading the definition matters more than matching the name.
Does a mobile detailer need to think about this?
The situation applies whenever a customer's vehicle is in your possession, and possession does not require a shop. A vehicle being worked on in the customer's own driveway is still in your hands while you have it. Whether a specific policy responds is a question about that policy's wording, which is on the declarations and in the definitions section.
Is this the same as covering my own tools?
It is the same category answering a different question. The NAIC definition of inland marine covers both property in transit and property held by a bailee, so your own equipment moving between sites and a customer's property in your custody sit in the same line of business. They are different coverages within it.
How do I find out what my policy says?
Look for the words care, custody or control in the exclusions, and for any endorsement that references bailee, garage keepers, or customers' goods. If the phrase appears in the exclusions and nowhere else, that is the answer for that policy. For your specific situation, talk to a licensed agent or broker in your state.
How this page is sourced
The category definition is quoted from the glossary published by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, read on July 26, 2026.
This page explains a distinction that appears in standard forms. It does not describe your policy, and it cannot tell you whether a particular loss would be covered. We publish general educational content and cannot review anyone's specific situation. For that, talk to a licensed agent or broker in your state, or contact your carrier directly.
Related: the same category answering the question about your own equipment is on tools and equipment, and the vehicle version of a category question is on vehicles and liability. Sourcing standard on methodology.