Insurance Help

[gowings]

Looking for information regarding insurance for my compact, my agent told me that my homeowners only insures me on my property, and will not cover me when I remove it to help out friends or family, or the odd job. All the companies I have called here in NM have no clue. Any ideas?

 

[ronjhall]

I just went through the same thing with my home Insurance. When I called to talk to someone they told me that it was not available for my tractor. Since I was not getting anywhere with the person I was talking to in the office I asked to talk to the owner of agency. I now have insurance for my tractor. It's a Inland Marine amendment to our home policy. It allows me to move tractor up to 100 miles of my home for personal use.
Here is a link to a recent thread on Insurance. Click Here
At the same time I got a quote from Farm Bureau. They offered Insurance for same price as my current policy.

 

[JoeR]

I had to do the same thing as Ron. Talk to the owner of the agency. What amazes me most, is that nobody in the office will ask the boss! Instead, they tell you no, or they keep confusing tractor with tractor-trailer.

Joe

 

[MadReferee]

As Ron said, you need an Inland Marine policy. Depending on the type, mine is a Commercial Inland Marine policy, it will cover your tractor for such things as cleanup after a fuel spill, hauling your equipment out of the back 40 after an accident, rental fees while your equipment is being repaired, etc. Prices are usually dependent on how much you are insuring. Mine is $15 per $1000 of value.

Note that this is NOT a liability policy. If you are doing work for others, even if you are not being paid, be careful if you don't have liability coverage.

 

[gamble77]

Thats correct. Most home owners insurance (if they cover it at all) will only cover the unit on the home owners property. It will not cover it at any other time. Most insurance companies can provide another plan to protect it, but of course there goes your monthly bill!!

 

[ronjhall]

The increase on my policy was less than $80 for $18000 of insurance. Actual amount on policy was $99. But since I get discounts it's hard to look at policy and see how much it really cost. My insurance for 2006 went up about $100 but that also included a automatic increase for value of home.

 

[Cliff_Johns]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Note that this is NOT a liability policy. If you are doing work for others, even if you are not being paid, be careful if you don't have liability coverage. )</font>

This is the KEY point. Getting insurance on your tractor is not hard or especially expensive. Getting Liability insurance that covers you useing your tractor on someone else's property(even unpaid personal use) is expensive (very if you have a back hoe).

Note that this is NOT covered by most personal liability policys. You need to check and get verification in writing (don't trust a clerk).

Also, don't make an agreement with your friend not to sue you if you hurt anyone or do significant dammage to their property while on it. It doesn't matter. Their insurace company will sue you anyway whether your friend gives them permission or not.

Cliff

 

[ronjhall]

Your correct. My Insurance is only for the tractor. Not for any damage it might do. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

 

[dbelisle]

I Insured my tractor with my other business vehicles. I have a small plumbing and Heating shop. We do underground utilities from time to time so the tractor and backhoe comes in handy , the liability, comperhesive, unisured motorest, and Medical comes to around $300.00 per year. ( The uninsured motorists is $94.00 but the liability portion is only $29.00 per year, go figure )

I also have a $1,000,000.00 unbrella on my business that the tractor falls under.

In NH you have to register the tractor to drive in on the road, if your have a backhoe you have to register it as a piece of construction equipment, that's around $30.00 a year , or $12.00 a year if it is registered as a tractor only without the hoe.

Any damage I might do with the machine while working it would be covered under my contractor's business policy

Dave in NH.

 

[RonR]

My tractor is the only item for my side biz, so I have inland marine and $1M liability. They were adament that I NOT do excavation, since I don't have a BH, shouldn't be an issue.

Mine is approx $1K per year! And I only found one company locally that would write it. Just starting out the biz, no one wanted to touch it.

Ron