Tools & Equipment Insurance
Heavy Equipment Insurance for Contractors
Heavy Equipment Insurance for Contractors — everything contractors need to know to protect their tools and equipment.
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Protecting Your Excavators, Skid Steers, and Specialty Machinery
Your tools and equipment are your livelihood. A single theft or job site loss can sideline your business for weeks. Tools and equipment insurance — also called inland marine or a contractor’s equipment floater — covers your gear wherever it goes: in your truck, on the job site, or in storage.
What Counts as Heavy Equipment
Heavy equipment typically refers to self-propelled or towed machinery used in construction and earthwork: excavators, bulldozers, skid steers, backhoes, trenchers, cranes, forklifts, compactors, and paving equipment. These items are too large and valuable for a standard tools policy limit and often require their own scheduled coverage.
How Heavy Equipment Is Insured
Heavy equipment is typically covered under an equipment floater — a scheduled inland marine policy that lists each piece with its agreed value. Coverage includes theft, fire, vandalism, collision (in some forms), and upset (rollover). Unlike auto insurance, most equipment floaters don’t require a license plate.
Agreed Value vs. Actual Cash Value
Agreed value policies pay the scheduled amount in a total loss with no depreciation debate. ACV policies deduct depreciation — a 5-year-old excavator may only recover 50–60% of replacement cost. For expensive heavy equipment, agreed value is strongly preferred.
Theft Risk for Heavy Equipment
Heavy equipment theft is a $400M+ annual problem in the US. Excavators and skid steers are prime targets — they’re easy to transport on a lowboy and hard to trace without GPS. Most carriers require telematics tracking or VIN-based identification for high-value equipment.
Operator Liability
If your heavy equipment causes injury or property damage while in operation, that’s a general liability or umbrella claim — not the equipment floater. Your GL policy covers the liability; the equipment floater covers physical damage to the machine itself. You need both.