Plant & Machinery Insurance — Owned, Hired In, Hired Out

Often it includes a plant section, but the question is what the section actually does. Check three things: the sum insured and whether it reflects current replacement cost; whether hired-in plant is covered at the level your hire agreements require, which is usually full replacement value rather than depreciated value; and whether continuing hire charges are covered at all, since that is the element most commonly absent. A plant section with a sub-limit set several years ago, no continuing hire extension and an unattended vehicle condition nobody has read is technically cover but will not answer a serious loss.

When a hired-in machine is stolen or destroyed, your hire agreement typically keeps charging the daily or weekly rate until the machine is paid for and the contract closed. That can run for weeks while the claim is investigated and settlement agreed. Unless your policy specifically extends to continuing hire charges, those payments are yours. On a machine at a few hundred pounds a week, over a six to eight week settlement period, this is frequently a five-figure uninsured loss sitting behind a claim you thought was covered.

At the replacement value the hire company will charge you, not what you think the machine is worth. Hire agreements are generally written so that if the machine is lost or damaged beyond repair you are liable for a new equivalent, and hire companies do not depreciate for your benefit. Ask for the declared value in the hire agreement and set your hired-in limit against the highest value you are ever likely to have on hire at one time, including any peak periods. Getting this wrong means paying the difference yourself.

Yes, though the panel narrows and the submission has to be built rather than filled in. What changes the outcome is evidence of what you did afterwards — trackers fitted, CESAR marking applied, compound arrangements changed, a documented overnight routine introduced. Underwriters price the risk going forward, not backwards, so demonstrating that the cause has been addressed matters more than the loss itself. Our guides on insurance with a claims history and cover refused elsewhere explain how that presentation is rebuilt.

It needs to be specifically addressed, and it is a common gap. Movement between sites on a low-loader or beavertail sits between your plant policy and your motor policy, and each can assume the other responds. Loading and unloading is a further distinct exposure — a machine coming off a trailer is a frequent claim scenario. Confirm in writing that transit is covered, at what limit, and whether there are conditions about how the machine must be secured during movement.

That is a materially different risk and must be declared. Once a machine leaves your yard with someone else operating it, you have damage exposure from a hirer you do not supervise and potential liability arising from a machine outside your control. Some insurers will not write hired-out plant at all; those that do will want to see your hire terms, whether you check operator competence, and whether the hirer's own insurance responds first. Not declaring it is the kind of non-disclosure that voids cover at claim stage under the Insurance Act 2015.

Only if they are scheduled, and they very often are not. Breakers, buckets, augers, quick hitches, compaction plates and lasers are individually valuable, highly portable and attractive to thieves. Because they are not machines in their own right they get overlooked when the schedule is drawn up. Add them explicitly with values, and review after any purchase — a set of attachments can easily represent a five-figure exposure that nobody has insured.

It depends on fleet value, machine types, where plant is kept overnight, security fitted, whether any plant is hired out, and your claims record — so no general figure would be reliable, and nothing here is a quotation or an indication of what you would pay. What consistently moves the number is evidence rather than size: current replacement values on the schedule, CESAR marking and active tracking on higher-value machines, a documented overnight security routine, and a clear account of anything that has been claimed for before.

Usually not as standard. Plant policies typically cover sudden and accidental external causes — theft, fire, impact, overturning, vandalism — rather than internal mechanical or electrical failure, wear and tear, or gradual deterioration. Breakdown cover can sometimes be added, and for static or process plant it may be better addressed through engineering inspection and breakdown arrangements. Our engineering inspection guide covers where statutory inspection sits alongside this.

Look for a broker who asks to see your hire agreements before discussing premium, who tests your schedule against replacement cost rather than accepting last year's figures, and who reads the unattended vehicle condition to you before you buy rather than after you claim. Miller & Partner approaches every placement through the Insurability Framework — underwriter intelligence, difficult-risk expertise, risk assessment and claims advocacy — which is what allows fleets with a theft history or a hired-out element to be placed on their controls. Start with our Insurability Framework page or the construction insights hub.