CNC & Precision Engineering Insurance | Products Liability Specialists | Miller & Partner
CNC & Precision Engineering Insurance
When the parts you machine end up in aircraft, vehicles, or medical devices, a faulty component isn't a small claim — it's a products-liability exposure standard insurers shy away from. We arrange proper cover for CNC and precision engineering firms, including the safety-critical liability the generic markets won't price, through Lloyd's and specialist insurers.
Precision engineering looks like a clean, low-risk business from the outside — and that's exactly why generic insurance gets it wrong. The real exposure isn't the workshop; it's where the parts go. A CNC subcontractor machining components for aerospace, automotive, defence, or medical applications carries a products and completed-operations liability that dwarfs the premises risk: if a part fails in service, the claim can run to the cost of the whole assembly it sat in, plus recall and consequential losses. A standard online policy either ignores that exposure or caps it far too low. A specialist broker presents the real risk — and the quality systems that control it — to underwriters who price it properly. Below is where the exposure sits, what your cover needs, and how we arrange it.
Where the Real Exposure Sits
For a precision engineering firm, the dangerous gaps are rarely in the property cover. They're in liability — and a generic policy commonly under-serves exactly these points:
- Products & completed-operations liability — a machined part that fails in service can trigger a claim for the entire assembly, not just the component you supplied.
- Safety-critical applications — aerospace, automotive, defence, and medical work carries far higher consequences, and many insurers exclude or restrict these sectors.
- Recall & consequential loss — if a faulty batch forces a customer to recall or rework, the costs can be enormous and aren't covered by a basic policy.
- Financial-loss / efficacy exposure — a part that's out of tolerance can cause a customer pure financial loss (downtime, scrapped production) without any physical injury.
- High-value CNC machinery & breakdown — multi-axis machines are costly to repair or replace, and downtime stops the business.
- Customers' materials & free-issue parts — components and materials supplied by customers for machining are in your care and need cover.
- Contractual liability — supply agreements with large manufacturers often impose liability terms a standard policy won't meet.
What Your Cover Should Include
Placed through the right market, a precision engineering business can be fully and properly insured. The cover should include:
- Products & completed-operations liability at an adequate limit — the core cover, sized to the sectors you supply.
- Public & employers' liability — premises injury and the statutory cover for staff.
- Sector-appropriate cover — terms that don't exclude aerospace, automotive, defence, or medical work where that's what you do.
- Plant, machinery & breakdown — CNC machines, tooling, and the cost of downtime.
- Customer goods / free-issue cover — materials and parts supplied by customers for machining.
- Business interruption — lost income if a breakdown or insured event stops production.
- Stock, tooling & raw materials — at proper replacement value.
Engineering Businesses We Cover
Whatever you machine and whoever you supply, we can build cover around it:
| Business type | Key exposure we address |
|---|---|
| CNC machining subcontractors | Products liability on components supplied to others |
| Aerospace / defence suppliers | Safety-critical liability often excluded elsewhere |
| Automotive component machinists | Recall and consequential-loss exposure |
| Medical / surgical part makers | High-consequence application, strict tolerances |
| Toolmakers & jig/fixture makers | Liability where tooling affects a customer's output |
| Precision engineering with fabrication | Combined machining and hot-work exposure |
How It Works
Tell us what you machine
The components you produce, the sectors you supply, your machinery, quality accreditations, turnover, and largest contracts.
We approach the right market
We present the risk and your quality systems to Lloyd's and specialist insurers who write safety-critical products liability.
You get a real quote
We come back with terms you can buy, at a liability limit that fits your sectors, and handle the placement end to end.
Why a Broker Beats a Generic Online Quote
An online quote engine sees "engineering" and prices the workshop — the machines, the premises, the staff. What it doesn't understand is that your real exposure is the component leaving the door and ending up in something that matters. So it sets a products-liability limit against turnover, quietly excludes the very sectors you supply, and leaves you exposed on the one claim that could be catastrophic.
A specialist broker reverses that. We start from where your parts go and what happens if one fails, size the liability to the real worst case, make sure your sectors are covered rather than excluded, and present your quality accreditations to underwriters who reward them. If you also weld or fabricate, see our welding and fabrication insurance page; if you run finishing processes, our powder coating and metal finishing insurance page; and for casting and molten-metal work, our foundry and casting insurance page.
Frequently Asked Questions
Because the real risk isn't the workshop — it's where your parts end up. A component you machine could sit inside an aircraft, a vehicle, or a medical device, and if it fails in service the claim can run far beyond the value of the part itself, into the cost of the whole assembly, recall, and consequential losses. A generic policy prices the premises and sets liability against turnover, which can leave you badly underinsured on exactly the exposure that matters. Specialist cover is built around that products-liability risk.
Those sectors carry high-consequence, safety-critical applications, so many standard insurers exclude or heavily restrict them rather than assess the risk. That's not the same as being uninsurable — specialist underwriters in the Lloyd's market write these sectors regularly. The key is presenting your quality systems and accreditations properly, which is what we do. We make sure the sectors you actually supply are covered, not quietly excluded in the small print.
The right limit reflects the worst-case consequence of a part failing in service and the sectors you supply — not simply your turnover. A component worth a few pounds could sit inside a machine, vehicle, or device worth far more, and the claim follows the consequence, not the part. We help you set a limit that matches your real exposure and meets the requirements in your customers' supply contracts.
Yes, considerably. Accreditations such as AS9100 for aerospace or ISO 13485 for medical devices, along with ISO 9001 and robust inspection and traceability systems, demonstrate to underwriters that your failure risk is well controlled. Presented properly, strong quality systems can improve both your terms and the willingness of specialist insurers to write the high-consequence sectors. We make sure they're put in front of the right market.
They should be. Materials and components supplied by customers for you to machine are in your care, custody, and control, and need specific cover so that damage to them in your process doesn't fall back on you. A generic policy may not include this. We make sure free-issue and customer materials are covered as part of the placement.
The components you machine and the sectors you supply, your annual turnover and largest contracts, your CNC and other machinery, any quality accreditations you hold, your premises and staff, and whether you carry out any fabrication or finishing in-house. With that we can approach the right specialist market and come back with terms.
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