Equipment insurance for mowers, trimmers and trailered gear

For a lawn care business, the equipment is the business. A route runs on one or two commercial mowers, a handful of trimmers and blowers, and a trailer that hauls it all. Lose the trailer and everything on it on a Tuesday morning and you're renting equipment or losing customers by Thursday.

Most owners assume some policy they already have will cover that. Usually none of them do.

Why your other policies don't cover it

General liability covers damage you do to other people's property. Your own mower isn't other people's property.

Commercial property insurance is tied to a building. Insureon puts it simply: property insurance covers your building and its contents, but it doesn't cover mobile property. MoneyGeek applies that to lawn care: commercial property covers gear stored in a garage, shop or storage unit, but it won't pay for a mower or blower stolen from a job site.

Commercial auto covers the truck. The Hartford lists contents inside your business vehicle damaged in an accident as something commercial auto won't cover.

A homeowners policy is written for a household, not a business. Insureon describes tools and equipment coverage as filling the gaps in both commercial property and homeowner's policies.

What an equipment floater covers

The coverage you want is inland marine. The name comes from old shipping insurance; the NAIC defines inland marine as coverage for property that may be in transit, at different locations, or scheduled item by item. For a small lawn business it's usually sold as "tools and equipment" and can often be added to a general liability policy or a BOP, according to Insureon.

Insureon lists lawn mowers, leaf blowers and hand tools among the items it typically covers. The Hartford's contractor's equipment coverage, written for midsize and larger contractors, can include theft and vandalism, accidental damage, fire, certain weather events and losses in transit, and can extend to owned, leased, rented or borrowed equipment.

What it usually excludes

The Hartford's list of common inland marine exclusions is a good checklist:

• Normal wear and tear, deterioration or mechanical breakdown. A mower engine that grenades at 2,000 hours is a maintenance problem, not a claim.
• Employee theft or dishonesty, unless you add coverage for it.
• Intentional damage or illegal acts.
• Vehicles and vehicle-mounted equipment, which are generally covered under commercial auto. Anything bolted to the truck, like a skid sprayer or a plow, usually belongs on the auto policy.
• High-value or specialized items that aren't specifically listed or scheduled.

That last one is where lawn care businesses get burned.

Blanket limits and scheduled items

Equipment policies cover things in two ways. A blanket limit covers a class of items up to a per-item cap without listing each one. Scheduled items are listed individually, usually with make, model, serial number and value.

The caps are lower than many owners expect. Insureon says items worth more than $2,500 may need to be scheduled separately. NEXT's lawn care packages show blanket equipment per-item limits of $3,000 to $5,000 with a $500 deductible, and a separate miscellaneous-tools blanket with per-item limits of $600 to $1,000 and a $100 deductible.

Our rule of thumb: if you'd have to finance a replacement, schedule it. Blankets are fine for trimmers, blowers, hand tools and edgers. Commercial walk-behinds, stand-ons and zero-turns go on the schedule by serial number. Update the schedule when you buy or sell a machine, not at renewal.

Actual cash value or replacement cost

When a scheduled mower is stolen, the policy's valuation clause decides the check.

• Actual cash value is, per the NAIC glossary, "in most cases" replacement cost minus depreciation.
• Replacement cost is the cost of replacing the property without a reduction for depreciation.

An illustration, not a quote: say a mower that would cost $10,000 to replace today is stolen in its fourth season. Under replacement cost, you're paid roughly what it takes to buy the equivalent machine, less your deductible. Under actual cash value, the insurer first subtracts depreciation for four seasons of hard use, and the check may cover only part of the new mower. Replacement cost usually carries a higher premium, and insurers may limit it by age. The Hartford, for example, advertises replacement cost coverage for equipment less than five years old on its contractor's equipment policy.

Ask which valuation applies to scheduled items and which to the blanket. They're sometimes different.

Theft from trailers and job sites

A loaded open trailer parked at the curb while the crew works around back is an easy target, and so is a trailer left hitched in a driveway overnight. None of the following requires a big budget:

• Lock the coupler whenever the trailer is unhitched, and use a wheel lock when it sits for long.
• Chain or cable mowers to the trailer's D-rings, and lock handheld racks.
• Park where the crew can see the trailer from the yard they're working.
• Don't store a loaded trailer at the curb overnight.
• Keep a list of serial numbers with photos, in your phone and somewhere else.
• Consider a GPS tracker on the trailer and your most expensive mower.

If something is stolen, file a police report right away and send the insurer the report number, the serial numbers and the purchase records. A clean inventory is what turns a theft into a quick claim.

The trailer itself

Trailers fall between policies. Because inland marine commonly excludes vehicles, a trailer's physical damage coverage often sits on the auto policy, but that depends on the insurer and whether the trailer is listed. Ask your agent in writing where each trailer is covered for theft and damage, and whether it's covered for liability when hitched. The coverage page has more on setting up trucks and trailers.

Rented and borrowed equipment

Aerators, sod cutters, stump grinders and skid steers are often rented for a job. Read the rental agreement: it usually spells out what you owe if the machine is damaged or stolen while you have it. The Hartford says its contractor's equipment coverage may apply to rented, leased or borrowed equipment under a written agreement. Check whether your policy includes rented equipment and at what limit before you decline the rental company's damage waiver.

What it costs

Source	Monthly premium
Insureon, lawn care	$42 median ($503 a year)
Insureon, all landscaping	$38 median ($450 a year)
NEXT, lawn care	$31 average for 43% of customers
MoneyGeek	$3 to $64 typical range
Insureon, snow removal	$51 median

Insureon notes that the cost depends on the value of your tools and equipment and the type of work you do. Scheduling a fleet of commercial mowers will cost more than a starter blanket, and it should.

Build your equipment list this week

1. Walk the shop and the trailer and list every powered item worth more than a few hundred dollars.
2. Record make, model, serial number, purchase date and what it would cost to replace today.
3. Photograph each item with its serial plate.
4. Send the list to your agent and ask which items are blanket-covered, which are scheduled, and at what valuation.
5. Put a reminder on your calendar to update the list whenever you buy or sell equipment.

For winter gear like snow blowers and spreaders, see the snow removal guide.