Contractors Equipment: Are your clients protected from thieves and vandals?
Imagine: Your client owns a commercial landscaping and excavation business that relies on its heavy equipment to bring in revenue. One night, thieves sneak onto a job site after everyone leaves and make off with several commercial tractors, a forklift and a backhoe. Upon discovering the theft, your client frantically calls you with one question on his mind: “Is the stolen equipment covered by my insurance?”
The answer is, “It depends.”
If the company previously purchased contractors equipment coverage, the equipment should be covered up to the policy limit and subject to policy deductibles. However, if your client assumed his other business insurance policies covered his mobile machinery, you may have to deliver some tough news.
Contractors, excavators and other commercial entities may not see the value in purchasing contractors equipment coverage; however, the risk of loss to equipment through theft or vandalism is very real.
According to a National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) report released in October 2015, a total of 11,625 heavy equipment thefts were reported to law enforcement in 2014. Of those stolen machines, only 23 percent of them were later found. For uninsured or underinsured business owners who rely on heavy machinery to generate revenue, the theft or vandalism of their business investments could be devastating.
Encourage your clients to take appropriate measures to secure their mobile equipment both by physically securing them or limiting their mobility when not in use, as well as ensuring that only authorized personnel have access to machinery. Another tip offered by the NICB to take additional measures overnight and on weekends is to secure equipment with more easily moveable items inside a ring of harder-to-move machinery.
Even the best security is not foolproof, and while clients can (and should) take deliberate steps to secure equipment, those who rely on mobile machinery for their livelihood should consider contractors equipment coverage.
Do you have clients who own mobile equipment? Whether it’s tractors or bulldozers, forklifts or graders, theft and vandalism is a real (and costly) concern. To help motivate your clients to take action, download our free Contractors Equipment Theft and Vandalism Protection Report today.
This is intended as a general description of certain types of insurance and services available to qualified customers. Your policy is the contract that specifically and fully describes your coverage. The description of the policy provisions gives a broad overview of coverages and does not revise or amend the policy.
