Insurance Where to buy excavator insurance??

[Chuck K.]

I find myself doing more and more small b/h jobs for friends, neighbors church members etc. Most of this is done for little or nothing. If there is any doubt I always request lines marked by calling the Texas one call

My B/H most likely could not damage any type of pipe line my biggest fear is hitting a fiber obtic, tv cable, phone cable etc. that would cost me to repair.

Beings that I do not do this for a living and very little if any profit I dont know if buying such insurance would be worth it..

In any event I figured I would ask where to look for insurance and possibly how much I might expect to pay.

Thanks for any input. Chuck.

 

[ScottK]

What I have read elsewhere is that the property owner's homeowners insurance will pay but the problem is that they might turn around and sue you to collect what they paid out. I don't know what policy to get to cover that though.

 

[jddotson]

I went with a commercial general liability insurance policy with an inland marine rider to cover the equipment through Nationwide. $600 annually with 300k liability coverage and equipment insurance coverage.

 

[kthompson]

Chuck, there can be differences between insurance from state to state. I would not count on my homeowners insurance especially if there is any pay involved. Think that would require a commercial policy. Do you have property insurance on your excavator already? If so find out from them about liability coverage. As to limits, based upon what little I know you may find a $100,000 limit to be popular but if you were to cut the right cable the damage would be much more than that. Process I would go, if you already have insurance on the excavator there first, then to homeowners company and then calling. I would want the agents finger to point out where in the contract the coverage is and if you want to be sure have them initial it. Then if part of your homeowner coverage even if by extra rider added, watch each year for their dropping that coverage with a simple form telling the changes made.

Here they will mark lines to a house or building so that should also be done. I would put that on the owner and have them sign a release they have done that and also there are no owner install lines there. Sadly you might find out a "friend" is not when damage is done. At same time I appreciate your wanting to help out others. Sad today you have to protect yourself so carefully.

At same time be sure you are covered when hauling your machine. When you move from your own work to work for pay, you probably just went commercial.
Then you may talk with an attorney, set up a LLC which owns the machine and does the work and that MIGHT protect you.

 

[Heywood Jannockitov]

You might have to do some digging to find the best rates.

 

[john_bud]

You might have to do some digging to find the best rates.

Excavator --- digging --- oh! I Get it ! A joke.



funny



Yeah, anyway, if you think you may accidentally cut a fiber optic line, phone line, gas line, etc you will need a million in insurance. The cuttor is responsible for the economic loss to the customers. Imagine all the people with out internet on your butt. It can be real spendy real quick.

AND!!! This is important. If you didn't call diggers hotline first, you are responsible and your insurance WON'T cover you. Always call diggers hot line first and don't dig unless the ground is marked. Just too expensive otherwise, especially for a peanuts job.

jb

 

[LBrown59]

You might have to do some digging to find the best rates.

Other wise you might go in the hole.

 

[LBrown59]

What I have read elsewhere is that the property owner's homeowners insurance will pay but the problem is that they might turn around and sue you to collect what they paid out. I don't know what policy to get to cover that though.

I doubt that a property owners insurance would pay damages not caused by the the homeowner.

 

[LBrown59]

1*Beings that I do not do this for a living and very little if any profit
2*dont know if buying such insurance would be worth it..

1*The amount of profit has not a thing to do with it.
A 100,000 damage claim is going to hurt just as bad on a $10000 or a $10 profit.
2*The profit's not worth it if you have to pay out $100000 or so for damages.

 

[MarkV]

Chuck I looked into the same situation a few years ago. The short version was that homeowners will cover you only on your property. My agent called the next step landscapers coverage, which was described to me as tractor use with ground disturbance of less than a 10” depth. It was reasonable and less than $400 per year as I recall. As soon as a backhoe was mentioned it went to contractors insurance and was in the range of $2500 per year. Way to much for the little I want to do off of my place.

All that said, it would be worth talking to an agent and see what is available for limited use. I do agree that I would not mention nor take pay for any of the work. That for sure puts you in the commercial contractor category to an insurance company, as well as your liability risk. A nice thank-you gift often works out well when dealing with friends only.

MarkV