New crane causing insurance issue

classictruckman · Mar 3, 2016

Looks. Like only a 40 ton machine so 8k might be pretty good for that radius.

Mark Chisholm · Mar 3, 2016

Yeah, it just didn't seem like 55' radius, but then again it is a picture and the crane is on its toes

littlenick · Mar 3, 2016

TheArborMan said:
So last year I was able to fly under the radar with the crane. I think my agent pretty much just annoyed the shit out of West Bend who eventually caved in and said they covered crane work without changing my liability rates at all?? I guess it worked out good for the year. This year we are back in the same spot. West Bend will not cover any crane work under my current liability policy. Here is a little more background on where I'm at.

Last year I started with a green operator, we took things very slow, mostly in house work, only subbed out about 10 times to trusted friends. I always went with the crane and did the climbing when we subbed out. I was ok with the insurance debacle because we were running very low risk.

This year I plan to sub the crane out when we are not using it in house, 2-3 days a week. My op went to Associated Training Services 3 week class and got his NCCCO. I don't want to fight West Bends decision this year, I want to be properly covered.

My questions for you guys that own a tree and crane service is, do you only have a single liability policy covering in house tree and crane work, also covering subbing the crane out, tree, trusses, hvac, etc? If you do have a single policy covering all tree and crane operations, who is it through? My agent asked if I would want to separate the crane service into a new business with another insurance plan, i'm not a fan of that, I think it will over complicate things. I have a good relationship with my agent and do not wish to leave, unfortunately he does not work with anyone else who owns a crane and has not been much help with the situation.

I used to have West Bend and ran into the same problem with insuring cranes. I ended up going with an insurance company called TreePro and they primarily insure tree companies. I had to go through a huge questionnaire before they would insure me.

ROYCE · Mar 4, 2016

NIP is another company to look into. They are quoting me crane insurance as we speak. But I will have to have the crane on two policies. G/L and Auto. NIP does both my G/L and my auto. I will let you know what they say.