Mobile Equipment

Mobile Equipment

Typically, auto policies written for commercial operations that include a vehicle exposure (Business Auto, Garage, Trucker, and Motor Carrier Coverage) are missing an important coverage: Auto Medical Payments. This coverage handles the reasonable expenses of necessary medical and funeral services suffered by persons (other than those listed as insureds) in an eligible loss. The coverage includes expenses from related sickness, disease and/or resulting death. Usually such expenses have to take place within three years of the date of an eligible loss. Such coverage is extremely important to businesses that carry passengers or that allows persons other than the insured to ride in or drive vehicles.

One purpose of the coverage is to quickly pay an injured party's medical expenses from a covered accident in order to minimize the chance of a claim or a lawsuit. A second reason for the coverage is related to the first. If an insured's customer or client is injured, the insured will want to provide immediate aid. The action could result in retaining the customer/client's future business and goodwill.

You might think that a policy that is designed to protect autos and trucks that are used by a business would cover any and all types of vehicles. That is a dangerous and wrong assumption, at least with regards to providing complete protection. There are instances when coverage for damage to certain types of vehicles and the legal responsibility for their use may have to be covered by two different policies. Mobile equipment falls into that nether region of insurance coverage.

The simple distinction between regular commercial vehicles and mobile equipment is that, while vehicles have the primary purpose of transportation of persons or property, the primary purpose of mobile equipment is to perform the special function of the particular equipment. With the latter property, its mobility acts merely to get the equipment to a site in order to complete a given job.

Because of this difference, mobile equipment qualifies for coverage under:

· A commercial automobile policy when the loss involves operation of the property as a vehicle, particularly traveling to and from job sites, while being loaded, entering in and out of it, and in similar circumstances.

· A commercial property or commercial general liability policy when the loss involves operation of the property as equipment. Generally the equipment is parked and anchored during such use.

Many types of mobile equipment are used in construction, mining, farming, commercial cleaning, sign installation, roadwork and other heavy-duty work situations. The variety of mobile equipment, consisting of both self-propelled units and trailers, is endless.

Examples of Mobile Equipment

Though not an inclusive list, examples of mobile equipment include:

Asphalt pavers	Tractors	Graders	Backhoes	Mowers
Manlifts	Buckets	Scrapers	Power shovels	Rollers
Fellers/bunchers	Front-end loaders	Rear-end loaders	Stone crushing plants	Drilling rigs
Mounted generators	Borers	Concrete mixers	Trenchers	Off-highway trucks
Forklifts	Crew Transports	Shredders	Conveyors	Mobile Communication Centers
De-limbers	De-barkers	Chippers	Grinders	Compactors
Peeling Machines	Pile drivers	Tower cranes	Skidders	Slashers
Mobile cranes	Derricks	Excavators	Bulldozers	Traffic Light Service Trucks
Boom Trucks	Cranes with magnets	Track-type loaders	Log loaders	Pumpers
Recyclers	Grapplers	Distributors

Therefore, when you have to protect a vehicle that also functions as equipment, be sure that you discuss your proper coverage needs with an insurance professional.

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