Issues getting insurance for rental lift?

[Lupin_IV]

I’ll try to keep it short.
Mostly climb but have been renting a lift when necessary. Expensive but worth it to get the jobs and save for our own. There’s a local company that won’t let you rent anything over 56 feet without certain insurance. They said it’s generally just a standard inland marine policy. We go to try and get the insurance through our broker, and he had a ridiculous time finding anyone that will do it on lifts over like 11 ft or some dumb shit. Obviously the rental company rents the lift so there’s no fuckin way our broker is accurate, but he’s definitely not the dishonest type as my brother has a long history of dealing with him beyond our tree business. Any guesses as to what the deal is here?

He finally found one but it’s an additional 1100 for coverage up to 60k ( makes a 56 footer just rentable) or 1700 for coverage up to 100k (makes an sd64 rentable).
These numbers seem right to you? Anyone have input or suggestions? Willing to politely tell him to fuck off if needed but wanted real human input first vs obscure googling.
I’m interested in folks experiences insuring their owned equipment as well.
thanks.

 

[Reach]

Insuring aerial equipment can be a bit of a challenge, especially if it’s being used for trees, as we are a high risk industry. That being said, we have no problem insuring our equipment.

We have an Inland Marine policy to cover our owned equipment, and then we have a Rented Equipment policy to cover rentals- I believe it used to be attached to our liability policy, but may be part of our Inland Marine now. I don’t remember. I think the Rented Equipment policy is more expensive per dollar of insured value, if memory serves that is because rented equipment is more likely to be damaged because the operators are often less familiar/experienced with a rented machine than an owned machine.

 

[Lupin_IV]

Insuring aerial equipment can be a bit of a challenge, especially if it’s being used for trees, as we are a high risk industry. That being said, we have no problem insuring our equipment.

We have an Inland Marine policy to cover our owned equipment, and then we have a Rented Equipment policy to cover rentals- I believe it used to be attached to our liability policy, but may be part of our Inland Marine now. I don’t remember. I think the Rented Equipment policy is more expensive per dollar of insured value, if memory serves that is because rented equipment is more likely to be damaged because the operators are often less familiar/experienced with a rented machine than an owned machine.

No need to go out of your way to answer but off the top of your head does your rented policy mention lifts specifically and any restrictions or anything on them?

 

[Reach]

No need to go out of your way to answer but off the top of your head does your rented policy mention lifts specifically and any restrictions or anything on them?

I am not aware of any language regarding lifts, our insurance company knows we rented them and I was never told there were any related restrictions.

 

[Lumberjack]

1.5% is a normal rate for inland marine, add some fees and your numbers are spot on.

 

[wisconsintreeguy]

Can't remember exactly but I pay roughly $700-900 a year for 60 or 80k rental equipment value. Don't think "lift" is mentioned specifically in the policy.

 

[ArboristInsurance]

I’ll try to keep it short.
Mostly climb but have been renting a lift when necessary. Expensive but worth it to get the jobs and save for our own. There’s a local company that won’t let you rent anything over 56 feet without certain insurance. They said it’s generally just a standard inland marine policy. We go to try and get the insurance through our broker, and he had a ridiculous time finding anyone that will do it on lifts over like 11 ft or some dumb shit. Obviously the rental company rents the lift so there’s no fuckin way our broker is accurate, but he’s definitely not the dishonest type as my brother has a long history of dealing with him beyond our tree business. Any guesses as to what the deal is here?

He finally found one but it’s an additional 1100 for coverage up to 60k ( makes a 56 footer just rentable) or 1700 for coverage up to 100k (makes an sd64 rentable).
These numbers seem right to you? Anyone have input or suggestions? Willing to politely tell him to fuck off if needed but wanted real human input first vs obscure googling.
I’m interested in folks experiences insuring their owned equipment as well.
thanks.

A good IM policy for your owned equipment will include some amount of rented/leased coverage. If necessary that limit can be increased for additional premium.