Inland Marine
We admit, it’s an odd term. Inland Marine insurance is often referred to as a “floater policy”, which is perhaps a better description of the coverage. As opposed to Marine Insurance which covers property in transit over water, Inland Marine insurance covers property in transit over land. It is a specific type of property insurance that was primarily designed to do two things:
- Schedule specific property items to be insured at an agreed upon value
- Insure property items that are frequently in transit and off-site, away from your primary business location
In addition to having an odd name, Inland Marine coverage is also unique in that there are multiple types of Inland Marine policies, designed to handle different types of property in different situations.
For residential and commercial cleaning businesses, the need for Inland Marine coverage is significant. Your entire business model revolves around services provided away from your premises. Your tools and equipment are constantly in transit. And your employees are always caring for property that belongs to others, creating a need to insure property that doesn’t belong to you.
Restoration companies may have even more complex Inland Marine insurance needs. If your business model extends to removing and storing property from a damaged building while the restoration process is underway, you have an additional warehousing exposure that needs to be insured correctly. Restoration companies may have the additional exposure of leasing their equipment to others or leasing equipment from others. Both scenarios require specialized coverage considerations.
Your Package Policy may include a small amount of Property Off Premise coverage and some coverage for property of others in your care, custody, or control. But beware. In the event of a claim, package policy language often limits the valuation method for these coverages. You may have less coverage than you think. Cleaning businesses and restoration contractors need the more robust coverage provided by Inland Marine insurance policies that are designed to handle complex property situations. Inland Marine insurance is highly customizable. Review your policy language, business model and property inventory carefully with a qualified insurance broker to make sure you are covered correctly.
Types of Inland Marine Insurance
There are several types of Inland Marine coverage that may be applicable to your business.
- Contractor’s Equipment Floater
- covering equipment such as air movers and generators that moves from place to place
- can also be used to provide physical damage coverage for larger mobile equipment such as forklifts or front-end-loaders
- can be customized to include coverage for rented or borrowed equipment
- can be customized to include coverage for equipment that you lease or rent to others
- Contractor’s Tools
- covering tools and smaller equipment such as vacuum cleaners and hand tools that moves from place to place
- can provide coverage for employee’s tools
- can provide coverage for leased or borrowed tools
- can be written as a “blanket” limit rather than needing to schedule each item
- Bailee’s Coverage / Property of Others
- covering property belonging to others that is temporarily in your care, custody, or control
- can include Warehouse Legal Liability
At Moody, our experienced team have been evaluating the unique coverage needs of cleaning businesses and restoration contractors for over 20 years. As an independent agency, we have access to multiple insurance companies that specialize in Inland Marine coverage. We aren’t limited to one option. We can customize the Inland Marine insurance coverage to fit for your unique cleaning business needs.