I checked with SWMBO, she says they just bumped up the Personal Property coverage by $20K.
They were most insistant that this would cover the tractor only for my routine property management, on my place only.
Homeowners will cover your personal property worldwide, but equipment used for the maintenance of premises, which is what tractors and lawnmowers and the like are considered if one is not operating for profit are pretty much address dependent. If one penny changes hands involving the operation of your equipment, all homeowners coverage disappears into the vapor. You cannot charge money for the operation of your equipment or forget about your homeowners policy. The only exception they make is for an incidental office or studio on the premises, not for tractors.
the correct insurance is inland marine, which means it's for property that moves, and doesn't stay in one place, a very archaic term. Nothing to do with boats for sure, unless one is insuring their cargo, and that's really called something else. IM riders can be on personal policies for a cheap rate per hundred dollars of coverage, usually less than one percent. The most common form of personal inland marine coverage is jewelry coverage or a jewelry "floater". Commercial/business use will drive that rate up considerably but that rate is negotiable if you have other business insurance with the same carrier.
If you are just going to use your equipment on your own property, and you are worried about the barn fire that takes out everything, then yes, you can just increase your homeowners contents to cover your total limit. Usually buying replacement cost coverage on Coverage C, personal property, bumps the limit to 70% of the dwelling limit vs. 50%, but they will take your money for higher limits for sure. If you have a trailer or routinely rent one to move your equipment, then a separate IM policy is usually not a bad idea. Just remember, don't insure what you can afford to replace, only insure what has to be replaced and would represent a financial hardship doing so. Lose a whole barn of equipment and most of us can't handle that at all without insurance, but everyone is different. Just remember IM coverage is property only, has nothing to do with liability arising from the use of that equipment, and boy that can be hairy if you lend stuff out.
For many years there was a industry standard Farmowners Policy that incorporated some free IM coverage. Today those policies are so modified with little extras that it's hard to compare them, and they are mostly used for business farms.
Just be honest with your usage with your agent. There are lines that can't be crossed here and if you cross them, he/she can't help you.
hope this helps, used to teach this stuff.
