Coverage for the machines and the customer's clothes.
Bailee coverage for garments in your care, property and equipment breakdown, pollution where solvents were used, and workers' comp for laundromats, dry cleaners and wash-and-fold services.
Quick answer Laundromats and dry cleaners can be insured with carriers that write the class, combining bailee coverage for garments in their care, property and equipment breakdown, pollution where solvents were used, and workers' comp, placed by a broker such as Sam Alishahi (CA License #4348151).
- Customers' clothes are covered only with bailee coverage, because general liability and property policies usually exclude other people's property in your care.
- A standard property policy usually doesn't cover a dryer's mechanical breakdown; equipment breakdown coverage does, and it can cover lost income while the machine is down.
- Underwriters ask about past solvents because older dry cleaning solvents can contaminate soil and groundwater, and cleanup is expensive.
- For pickup and delivery, the vehicles need commercial auto, and clothes in transit need to be included in bailee coverage.
- Underwriters ask what solvents a business uses now and what was used at the site before, and the typical value of customers' clothes on hand.
By Sam Alishahi · CA Insurance License #4348151 · Reviewed November 2026 · How this page is researched
Clothes, machines and old solvents
A dry cleaner holds customers' clothes, sometimes expensive ones, and needs bailee coverage when garments are damaged or lost. A laundromat depends on washers, dryers and water heaters that fail. Sites where dry cleaning solvents were used carry pollution questions that underwriters ask about.
I place laundromats and cleaners with carriers that write the class, and put equipment breakdown and bailee coverage at limits that match your volume.
- Bailee coverageCustomers' clothes and linens in your care.
- PropertyThe building or improvements, machines and contents.
- Equipment breakdownWashers, dryers, boilers and water heaters.
- PollutionSolvent contamination at current and past sites.
What underwriters will ask
Having these ready means I can go to market on the first call. The quote form asks for the same things, and anything you don’t know yet can wait.
- Type: laundromat, dry cleaner, plant or drop-off, wash and fold.
- Machines: number and replacement value.
- Solvents: what you use now and what was used at the site before.
- Garments: typical value of customers' clothes on hand.
- Building: owned or leased, square footage and value.
- History: current policies and any claims.
California's perc phase-out, date by date
CARB identified perchloroethylene (perc) as a toxic air contaminant in 1991. Its Dry Cleaning Airborne Toxic Control Measure, Title 17, California Code of Regulations, section 93109, then took the solvent out of dry cleaning in steps:
- January 1, 2008: no one may sell, offer for sale or start a new lease of a perc dry cleaning machine for use in California (subsection (e)(1)), and no new facility may install or operate one (subsection (f)).
- July 1, 2010: existing facilities had to remove perc converted machines and perc machines at co-residential locations, meaning sharing a wall, floor or ceiling with a residence or sitting in the same building (subsections (h)(2) and (h)(3)). Closed-loop perc machines had to go by that date or 15 years after manufacture, whichever came later (subsection (h)(4)).
- January 1, 2023: existing facilities had to remove from service every remaining perc dry cleaning machine (subsection (h)(5)).
South Coast AQMD's Rule 1421 moved sooner. From January 1, 2003, a new facility could not operate a perc system, and an existing facility could run its perc machine to the end of its useful life, then no more than one replacement, and only until December 31, 2020.
Nationally, EPA's December 2024 perc rule under the Toxic Substances Control Act prohibits perc in newly acquired dry-cleaning machines after 6 months and sets a 10-year phaseout, with older machine types going first. EPA opened comments in July 2025 to reconsider the rule, so check its current status.
For your submission, I need the solvent you run now, the year any perc machine left the site, and whether anyone at that address ran one before you. Underwriters weigh the site's history, not just today's machine.
Customer garments and price lists under California law
These Civil Code sections speak to your counter. How they apply to a given claim is a question for your lawyer.
- Section 1838: if a thing is lost or injured during its deposit and the depositary refuses to tell the depositor how it happened, as far as it knows, or willfully misrepresents it, the depositary is presumed to have willfully, or by gross negligence, permitted the loss or injury. Answer damage questions honestly and in writing, then report the claim.
- Sections 1858.1 and 1858.2, repairs and alterations: a business that regularly takes personal or household items from individual customers for repair or alteration must give a written receipt stating, if such is the case, that the items are not insured or protected to their actual cash value against theft, fire and vandalism. Skipping or misstating that receipt makes the business strictly liable for those losses and forfeits its lien. Read your bailee form before you print the ticket.
Price posting (Civil Code 51.6)
The Gender Tax Repeal Act of 1995 bars gender-based pricing for similar services, though differences based on time, difficulty or cost are allowed. It names dry cleaners and laundries serving individuals, and tailors, among businesses that must:
- Post pricing for each standard service, meaning the 15 most frequently requested, in at least 14-point boldface type where customers can see it.
- Hand a complete written price list to any customer who asks.
- Display at least one sign, in at least 24-point boldface type, with the statutory notice on gender pricing.
A business that fails to correct a violation within 30 days of written notice is liable for a $1,000 civil penalty.
Laundromat and dry cleaner insurance, answered
Are customers' clothes covered?
Only with bailee coverage. General liability and property policies usually exclude other people's property in your care.
Does property insurance cover a broken dryer?
Not mechanical breakdown. Equipment breakdown coverage does, and it can cover lost income while the machine is down.
Why do underwriters ask about past solvents?
Older dry cleaning solvents can contaminate soil and groundwater, and cleanup is expensive. Pollution coverage addresses it.
Is pickup and delivery covered?
The vehicles need commercial auto, and clothes in transit need to be included in bailee coverage.
Is perc banned for dry cleaning in California?
Yes. CARB's dry cleaning measure (17 CCR 93109) required existing facilities to remove every remaining perc dry cleaning machine from service by January 1, 2023, and CARB says perc will no longer be used in dry cleaning operations by that date.
Can a California dry cleaner keep clothes until the bill is paid?
Civil Code 3051 gives laundry and drycleaning establishment proprietors a general lien, dependent on possession, on a customer's personal property in their hands for the balance due for laundry or drycleaning work. It also says the section confers no such lien on a wholesale drycleaner for materials received from a drycleaning establishment.
Do you offer laundromat and dry cleaner insurance outside California?
Yes. Clients across the country send the same quote form. Sam Alishahi is licensed in all 50 states and Washington, DC and places policies there directly. The shopping across carriers works the same way. Rules, minimums and markets differ by state — see insurance requirements by state.
Official sources
- CARB: Phase Out of Perchloroethylene from the Dry Cleaning Process
- 17 CCR 93109, Dry Cleaning ATCM (Cornell LII)
- South Coast AQMD Rule 1421, Control of Perchloroethylene Emissions from Dry Cleaning Systems (PDF)
- EPA: Risk Management for Perchloroethylene (PCE)
- DTSC: Discovery and Enforcement Program (program home and About pages)
- Center for Health Journalism (The Tribune, Oct. 6, 2023): How can California help clean up thousands of polluted dry cleaning sites?
- State Water Board: Site Cleanup Subaccount Program
- California Civil Code 1838, 1858-1858.2, 51.6, 3051 (california.public.law, text from leginfo)
- IRMI: A User's Guide to Pollution Exclusions and Environmental Insurance
- IRMI: Equipment Breakdown, More Than Just Boiler and Machinery
Tell me about your business. I'll shop it.
Business type, machines and your current declarations page are enough to start.
Alishahi Insurance · Saman Alishahi, independent insurance broker, California License #4348151. General information, not a quote or a promise of coverage; coverage depends on underwriting and the terms, conditions and exclusions of the policy actually issued. Some policies may be placed with nonadmitted (surplus lines) insurers, which are not members of the California Insurance Guarantee Association (CIGA).
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