(888) 900 0205Dry Cleaner Insurance
Everything on a dry cleaner's racks belongs to someone else, and the machines that clean it run on heat, pressure, and solvent.
Dry cleaner insurance is built around exactly that: bailee coverage for the customers' garments in your care, equipment breakdown for the boiler and presses, pollution protection for the solvent side of the trade, and the liability and crew coverage every storefront carries.
Feedback From Real Clients
Jake Killion
1 day ago
★★★★★
Cristo Romo
5 days ago
★★★★★
Sam was fantastic to work with for my business general liability insurance. He provided a great price, was extremely responsive, and made the entire process quick and easy. I really appreciate the excellent service and communication. Highly recommend Sam to anyone looking for business insurance!
Muhammad Sadatullah
2 weeks ago
★★★★★
Tee
2 weeks ago
★★★★★
Communicative and straight to the point... All that was said over the phone matched 100 percent what was in print when documents were received. No deception... just professional and timely service. Check them out.
Tee Jay
2 weeks ago
★★★★★
Communicative and straight to the point... All that was said over the phone matched 100 percent what was in print when documents were received. No deception... just professional and timely service. Check them out.
David Wood
3 weeks ago
★★★★★
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Chris Puleo
3 weeks ago
★★★★★
Easy, fast, affordable. Not much more to say!
Robert Zeigler
1 month ago
★★★★★
Matt Hall
1 month ago
★★★★★
Great process, smooth! Haven't needed to use the insurance, but painless process to set up.
Grace Roofing And Construction
1 month ago
★★★★★
Quick and easy process to get the insurance policy we needed at a great price. Will recommend this company in the future, thanks.
General Liability Insurance For Dry Cleaners
For the storefront, the counter, and the parking spots out front.
General liability insurance may cover customer injuries at the shop, a slip at the counter, a trip over a delivery bag, and damage your operations cause to the leased space and neighbors. What it does not cover is the inventory of other people's clothing behind the counter, which is why the next coverage is the heart of this program.
General liability can help pay for:
- Customer injuries in the shop and entry.
- Damage to the leased space and neighboring units.
- Incidents during pickup and delivery stops.
- Legal defense, whatever the merit of the claim.
Bailees Customers Coverage For Garments In Your Care
For the racks of clothing that are the business.
Bailees customers coverage, written on an inland marine form, may cover customers' garments while they are in your custody, in the shop, at the plant, or on the delivery van, against fire, smoke, theft, and loss. It is the line built for the one exposure every cleaner shares: a building full of property that belongs to the people holding your tickets.
Bailees customers coverage can help pay for:
- Fire, smoke, and water damage to customers' garments.
- Theft and mysterious disappearance of ticketed items.
- Garments lost or damaged in transit on your routes.
Commercial Property And Equipment Breakdown For Presses And Boilers
For the machinery that turns tickets into finished orders.
Commercial property insurance may cover your machines, buildout, and supplies against fire, theft, and similar perils, and equipment breakdown coverage picks up what property forms leave behind: the boiler that cracks, the press that shorts, the compressor that dies on a Friday. In a trade that stops the moment the boiler does, the breakdown side earns its premium in business income alone.
Property and equipment breakdown can help pay for:
- Fire and theft losses to machines and buildout.
- Sudden mechanical and electrical breakdown of boilers and presses.
- Lost income while a covered loss keeps the shop dark.
Pollution Liability For Solvent Operations
For the chemistry, the rest of the policy walks around.
Pollution liability coverage may respond to contamination claims and cleanup demands tied to your solvents, and this trade's history with perchloroethylene is exactly why the conversation matters. Standard liability forms commonly exclude pollution; older sites can raise legacy contamination questions, and cleaners using perc face different underwriting than hydrocarbon and wet-cleaning shops. The honest move is putting the solvent on the table before the carrier finds it.
Pollution liability can help pay for:
- Cleanup and remediation demands tied to solvent releases.
- Third-party contamination claims from neighbors and landlords.
- Legal defense against pollution claims your base policy declines.
Workers' Compensation For Pressers And Counter Staff
For the crew working heat, steam, and machinery all day.
Workers' compensation may cover medical bills and lost wages when an employee is hurt at work, and in this trade, claims often involve burns at the press, strains at the conveyor, and slips on wet floors. Most states require coverage once you hire, with rules that vary by state, and delivery drivers should be listed on the policy under the appropriate classification.
Workers' compensation can help pay for:
- Medical care after burns, strains, and shop injuries.
- Lost wages during recovery.
- Employer liability defense.
Business Owners Policy For Dry Cleaners
For qualifying shops that want the package price.
A business owner's policy can bundle liability, property, and business income for qualifying cleaners at a package rate, with bailee, breakdown, and pollution coverage included. Here is how a BOP works.
A business owners policy can help pay for:
- Third-party injury and property damage claims.
- Covered losses to the shop and its contents.
- Lost income during a covered closure.
Also worth pricing as the shop grows: commercial auto for the route vehicles, with our cargo van program fitting most delivery fleets; crime coverage for the register and safe; cyber liability for the point of sale; excess liability for landlord limits; and employment practices liability.
A claim we saw a few years ago. A press motor shorted overnight and the smolder smoked out the shop before the fire department killed it. The machines survived. The three hundred garments on the racks did not, at least not without professional restoration. The cleaner's bailes customers coverage paid to restore what could be saved and replace what could not, and his ticket system, every item logged with a declared value, with a program for heirloom pieces, turned a nightmare of arguments into a spreadsheet. The shop reopened in nine days.
What's Not Covered Under These Policies
Every policy above has an edge, and dry cleaner claims get denied at predictable points. These are the gaps we check on every incoming shop.
- Customers' garments under general liability alone. Property in your care, custody, or control is excluded there, which is exactly the hole bailees customers' coverage fills.
- A garment ruined by correctly following its care label, which is a customer service conversation and a trade practice question before it is ever an insurance claim.
- Cash stolen from the register without crime coverage, since liability and property forms both walk past money.
- Gradual boiler wear and scale, which is maintenance, while sudden breakdown belongs to the equipment breakdown side.
- Injuries to your own staff, which belong to workers' compensation rather than liability coverage.
- Solvent contamination under a base policy's pollution exclusion, the reason the pollution conversation is not optional in this trade.
- Delivery runs in personal vehicles without hired and non-owned auto coverage.
- Employment disputes with staff that involve employment practices liability.
The broader list lives in our rundown of what general liability typically does not cover.
Why choose us
Numbers that prove it.
Independent. Licensed in all 50 states. Backed by partnerships with the carriers that matter to your business.
1,000+
Trades Insured
18+
Years In Business
240+
Insurance Carriers
Our Partners
We partner with A-Rated AM Best Insurance Companies (ratings subject to change)
FAQs For Dry Cleaners
Are customers' clothes covered if something happens in my shop?
Only with bailees customers coverage. Liability policies exclude property in your care, custody, or control, so the racks need their own line, sized to what actually hangs there at peak. It is the first coverage we check on every dry cleaner submission.
What about wedding dresses and heirloom garments?
High-value pieces deserve a declared-value process at the counter, documented on the ticket, because bailee forms carry per-item limits that an heirloom gown can exceed. Preservation work should be disclosed too, since long-term storage extends your custody and your exposure.
Is perc contamination really an insurance issue?
It is the defining environmental issue of this trade. Solvent releases and legacy site contamination commonly fall within standard pollution exclusions; several states run cleanup programs specific to dry cleaners, and pollution coverage plus honest solvent disclosure is how a shop stays insurable and financeable.
Is my boiler or press covered if it breaks down?
Sudden mechanical and electrical breakdowns fall under equipment breakdown coverage, not the base property form, which treats wear and scale as maintenance. For a business that stops when the boiler does, the breakdown coverage and its business income piece are the quiet workhorses of the program.
What happens to the garments if my shop has a fire?
Smoke is the usual villain, and restoration of smoke-contaminated garments is a classic bailee claim. Coverage may pay to restore or replace ticketed items, subject to limits, and a clean ticket system is what turns three hundred arguments into one organized claim file.
Are my pickup and delivery routes covered?
The vehicles need commercial auto with drivers listed, and the garments on board ride under your bailee coverage in transit. Staff running orders in personal cars need hired and non-owned coverage behind them, and route growth should reach your agent before the audit finds it.
Who covers the garments between my drop store and the plant?
Custody follows the tickets, so the bailee coverage should be written to follow garments across locations and vehicles, whether one company runs both ends or a plant processes for independent stores. Put the actual flow on paper for your agent, because at claim time, the flow is the coverage.
What do commercial linen accounts require?
Restaurants, salons, and hotels commonly require liability insurance at stated limits, with their company named as an additional insured, delivered by certificate before the first route stop and renewed without lapse. The account agreement's insurance section controls, so send it over before signing.
Let Us Protect Your Business Like It's Our Own. Reach Out Today!
We insure the garment care trade, from single-counter storefronts to plants feeding drop-store networks, and we know what a landlord's environmental clause, a linen account, and a bailee-claim adjuster each look for in a cleaner's file. Tell us your solvent, your peak rack count, and where your routes run, and we will build the package around it, bailee coverage first, because the racks are the business. Quotes are free, and certificates go out the same day.
Call 888-900-0205 to get started.