Mobile Plant & Equipment Insurance

Plant & Equipment Insurance for Australian Businesses

For earthmoving contractors, civil businesses, builders and plant operators, machinery is more than an asset — it is what generates the income.

Insurance 2U arranges specialist Plant & Equipment Insurance for businesses operating mobile plant and machinery across construction, civil works, earthmoving and other commercial industries.

We take the time to understand what equipment you own, how it is used, where it operates, who operates it and what happens financially if an important machine is damaged and cannot work.

What Types of Plant & Equipment Can We Insure?

Depending on the insurer, policy and individual risk, we can assist with insurance for equipment including:

Excavators
Mini excavators
Skid steers and Bobcats
Wheel loaders
Backhoes
Bulldozers
Graders
Rollers and compactors
Telehandlers
Forklifts
Crushing and screening equipment
Generators and compressors
Trailers
Attachments and implements
Other mobile plant and specialised machinery

We can assist businesses ranging from an owner-operator with a single machine through to contractors operating multiple items of high-value plant.

Own Plant, Hired-In Plant & Equipment

Not every business owns all the equipment it uses.

Many civil and construction businesses hire machinery when additional equipment is required for a particular contract or project. Depending on your arrangements, you may have contractual responsibility for damage to that equipment while it is in your possession.

We can consider insurance requirements for:

Owned plant and equipment
Hired-in plant where cover is required
Plant hired to other parties
Wet hire where your equipment is supplied with an operator
Dry hire exposures, where acceptable to the insurer
Attachments and accessories
Tools and ancillary equipment

Hire agreements can impose significant responsibilities on the hirer, so it is important to understand who carries the risk if hired machinery is damaged, stolen or involved in an accident.

Plant Damage, Theft, Fire & Collision

Depending on the policy selected, Plant & Equipment Insurance can provide protection against insured events such as accidental damage, collision, overturning, fire, theft and malicious damage.

The appropriate cover will depend on the equipment, how it is used and the insurer’s policy terms and conditions.

Road Risk & Registered Mobile Plant

Some mobile plant operates primarily on work sites, while other equipment travels on public roads between jobs.

Where relevant, we consider the road risk associated with registered plant and machinery, including the interaction between plant damage and motor liability exposures.

Attachments & Accessories Can Add Significant Value

The value of the machine itself is only part of the exposure. Excavators and other mobile plant can have expensive attachments and accessories that need to be considered when establishing insured values.

These can include:

Buckets
Rock breakers and hammers
Augers
Grapples
Compaction attachments
Rippers
Fork attachments
GPS and machine-control systems
Other specialised attachments

We want to understand what is actually attached to or used with the machine so that important equipment is not accidentally overlooked.

Additional Cost of Working — Keeping the Business Operating

When a major piece of machinery is damaged, repairing the equipment is only part of the problem.

The business may have contracts to complete, employees to keep working and customers expecting the job to continue.

Where available under the selected policy, Additional Cost of Working can be an important benefit following an insured loss. Subject to policy terms, limits and the circumstances of the claim, this type of cover may assist with additional costs incurred to keep the business operating while insured equipment is being repaired or replaced.

For a plant operator, the ability to hire temporary replacement equipment following an insured loss can make an enormous practical difference.

Machinery Breakdown

Accidental damage and mechanical breakdown are not necessarily the same thing.

Where appropriate and available, we can consider machinery breakdown options for relevant plant and equipment. Coverage varies considerably between policies, so the applicable wording, limits, exclusions and maintenance requirements need to be understood.

Wet Hire, Dry Hire & Operator Arrangements

How plant is hired can materially change the insurance exposure.

Wet hire generally involves supplying the equipment together with your operator, while dry hire involves allowing another party to operate the equipment.

Insurers may treat these exposures differently. We therefore want to understand:

Who operates the machinery
Whether operators are employees or subcontractors
Whether equipment is wet or dry hired
What percentage of the business involves hire
The experience of operators
The types of sites and projects where the machinery operates

Public Liability for Plant Operators

Physical damage insurance protects the machinery, but businesses operating heavy equipment also need to consider their liability exposures.

An excavator, loader or other item of mobile plant can cause substantial damage to third-party property or serious injury if something goes wrong.

Depending on the business, liability exposures can include:

Damage to underground services
Damage to buildings and structures
Damage to other contractors’ equipment
Injury to third parties
Work on construction and civil sites
Excavation and earthmoving activities
Loading and unloading operations

We can review the Plant & Equipment and Public Liability requirements together rather than treating each exposure in isolation.

Financed Plant & Interested Parties

High-value machinery is frequently financed.

Where required, the relevant financier can generally be noted as an interested party on the insurance policy, subject to the insurer’s terms and requirements.

We can also assist with Certificates of Currency when required for financiers, principals and contractors.

Claims Management — When Your Machine Stops, We Get Involved

A damaged excavator or loader sitting idle can cost a business considerably more than the physical repair.

This is where our claims service becomes particularly important.

Insurance 2U can assist our clients with:

Claim lodgement
Preparing incident information and supporting documents
Communication with insurers and claims personnel
Following up assessors and repairers
Following up outstanding reports and repair quotations
Helping clarify insurer information requirements
Monitoring claim progress
Considering applicable policy benefits such as Additional Cost of Working where insured
Escalating unreasonable delays where appropriate
Assisting with disputed claim matters where required
Advocating for our client’s interests throughout the claim

Our objective is to help move the insurance claim forward so the equipment can be repaired or replaced and the business can get back to work as efficiently as reasonably possible.

Access to Specialist Plant & Equipment Insurance Markets

Insurance 2U has access to insurers and specialist underwriting agencies operating in the Australian plant, equipment and heavy commercial insurance market.

Depending on the individual risk and underwriting appetite, markets we may approach can include:

UAA
High Street Underwriting Agency
ATL
Chubb
Zurich
GT Insurance
Allianz

Not every insurer will be suitable for every business. Insurer appetite and policy terms can vary according to equipment type, values, activities, hire arrangements, operator experience, claims history and other underwriting considerations.

Why Insurance 2U for Plant & Equipment?

Specialist experience: We understand mobile plant, heavy equipment and the businesses that depend on it.
More than the machine: We consider attachments, accessories, road risk, hire arrangements and liability exposures.
Downtime matters: We consider Additional Cost of Working and other relevant options where available.
Specialist markets: Access to insurers and underwriting agencies operating in the plant and equipment sector.
Claims management: We help lodge, manage, follow up and escalate claims rather than leaving our clients to deal with the insurer alone.
Long-term support: We remain available throughout the policy period as equipment and business circumstances change.

Talk to Insurance 2U About Your Plant & Equipment

Whether you operate one excavator or manage a fleet of specialised machinery, talk to Insurance 2U about your Plant & Equipment Insurance requirements.

Specialist Plant & Equipment Insurance — protecting the machinery that keeps your business working, backed by experienced claims support when you need it.