Mobile Plant & Equipment Insurance
Plant and equipment insurance for the machines your business runs on: excavators, dozers, loaders, graders and the rest of the gear that earns its money on site.
Machines you own, hire in or hire out, covered for accidental damage, theft, breakdown and the liability that comes with running them.
Plant & Equipment Insurance From Brokers Who Know Civil Work
When a machine breaks down, the job stops and the hire charges keep running. That costs too much to leave to a general business policy that was never written for plant.
A single excavator can be worth hundreds of thousands before you count the attachments, and most operators run a mix of owned and hired plant across several sites.
We arrange plant and equipment insurance that stays with the machines wherever they work: on site, in transit between jobs and out on hire. It also covers the liability that comes with running them.
Paul Cohalan founded All Trucks Insurance. He and the brokers on his team have worked civil, mining and construction jobs, so they know what plant is worth and how it gets damaged.
Get the Right Plant & Equipment Insurance With Paul
“Most operators insure the machine and forget the attachments, the breakdown cover and the gear they hired in. The cover has to be set up around how your plant actually earns its money.”
Paul Cohalan
Founding Principal Broker
Call Paul on 1300 78 78 25Backed by Australia's Leading Plant & Equipment Insurers
We arrange plant and equipment insurance with the insurers who know heavy machinery and civil work, under a brokerage licence backed by Steadfast.
What Counts as Mobile Plant and Equipment
Mobile plant is machinery that tracks or drives around a site under its own power, or gets floated between jobs, rather than sitting bolted in one place.
That covers most of the yellow goods a civil or earthmoving operator runs: excavators, dozers, loaders, graders, rollers, skid steers and telehandlers, plus the attachments that swap between them. Cranes, forklifts and elevated work platforms sit in the same family.
Registration decides which policy a machine goes on. A machine registered for road use can end up on a motor policy. Unregistered mobile plant belongs on a plant and equipment policy that follows it onto site, into transit and out on hire.
Fixed plant, such as crushers, screens, conveyors and workshop gear, is insured and priced differently from mobile plant. We arrange cover for fixed and mobile plant, and the first thing we do is work out which of your machines belongs on which policy.
- Self-propelled machines that move around a site and between jobs
- Towed and floated plant that travels to the job on a low loader
- Attachments, buckets, hammers and augers that move between machines
- Registered and unregistered units, which usually sit on different policies
Machines We Arrange Plant & Equipment Insurance For
If it earns its money on a site or a road job, we can arrange cover for it. Every operation is different, so we set up the cover around the machines you run, the sites they work on and how you hire them.
Excavators
Dozers & Earthmovers
Loaders & Skid Steers
Graders & Rollers
Cranes & Lifting Plant
Forklifts & Telehandlers
Generators & Site Equipment
Tools & Attachments
Don't See Your Machine Here?
Tell us what you run and how you use it, and we will get you a quote.
What Plant & Equipment Insurance Can Include
Owned, hired in or out on hire, these are the covers plant owners ask us for most.
Accidental Damage, Fire & Theft
Sudden and accidental damage, fire, vandalism and theft of your machines, wherever they are working or parked up.
Mechanical & Electronic Breakdown
Cover for the machine itself breaking down, the failures that stop a job and that accident-only cover leaves out.
Hired-in Plant
Machines you hire in, including what the hire agreement makes you liable for and the hire charges if one is damaged.
Plant on Hire to Others
Damage to your machine, and what you are liable for, while it is hired out and working under someone else's control.
Plant in Transit
Damage while machines are floated, towed or carted between sites, a common and expensive loss for plant owners.
Public Liability While Operating
Claims from other people for injury, or damage to their property, caused while your plant is working on a job.
Attachments & Accessories
Buckets, hammers, augers and GPS units add real value to a machine, and they are easy to leave off the policy.
Continuing Hire & Downtime
Hire charges you keep paying, and income you lose, while a damaged machine is off the job and being repaired.
We also arrange road risk cover for registered plant driven on public roads, cover for fuel theft, and one-off cover for a single high-value machine.
Hired-in Plant and Plant on Hire to Others
Most plant operators do not only run their own machines. They hire some in and hire some out, and the cover has to deal with each of those, which is where the gaps usually show up.
Hired-in Plant
Machines you hire to do the work
- Your liability for damage under the hire agreement
- Continuing hire charges if a hired machine is damaged
- Short-term and project-based hire built into your cover
Plant on Hire to Others
Your machines, working for someone else
- Damage to your plant while it is in someone else's control
- Your liability when a machine is hired or sub-let out
- Wet hire (your operator goes too) and dry hire, matched to the contract
Where Plant Owners Get Caught Out
These are the mistakes we see most often, the ones that turn a damaged machine into an uninsured loss and a stalled job.
Relying on the Hire Company's Cover
The hire agreement usually puts damage to a hired machine on you. A damage waiver only caps what you pay the hire company, so it is not the same as insurance.
Confusing Breakdown With Accidental Damage
A lot of plant losses are mechanical or electronic breakdowns, not collisions. Cover that only pays for accidental damage leaves those failures uninsured.
Forgetting Plant in Transit
Machines are damaged being floated and towed between sites more often than operators expect. If transit is not covered, every move is an uninsured gap.
Under-Declaring Attachments
Buckets, hammers, augers and GPS add tens of thousands to a machine. If they are not on the schedule, where the policy names each item it covers, they are not paid for.
No Cover While on Hire to Others
When you hire your plant out, it leaves your control but it is still your machine. Without cover for it on hire, damage on someone else's job comes back to you.
Downtime Treated as a Repair Bill
A machine off the job costs you lost income and hire charges as well as the repair. Without downtime cover, that cost keeps growing while the work waits.
How We Arrange Your Plant & Equipment Insurance
We start with the machines you run and how you work them, and only then talk about price.
1. Understand Your Plant
The machines, the attachments and what they are worth, plus what you own, what you hire in and what you hire out.
2. Map How You Work It
The sites, the transport between them, the hire agreements and where the machines are most likely to get damaged.
3. Arrange the Right Cover
We arrange plant, breakdown, hired-in, hired-out and liability cover with insurers who know heavy machinery.
4. Renewals, Claims & Ongoing
We keep values current as you add and retire machines, deal with the insurer for you when you claim and adjust the cover as the work changes.
What Shapes Your Plant & Equipment Insurance Premium
There is no flat rate. Your premium depends on the machines, what they are worth and how you work them. A broker who understands that can explain your plant to the insurer in the best light.
We do not quote a number off a website. Send us your plant list and how you use it, we take it to the insurers, and we go through the quotes with you.
- The machines you run and their declared values
- Attachments, GPS and accessories on each machine
- Whether you own, hire in or hire out plant, or all three
- The sites and conditions the plant works in
- Plant in transit between sites
- Claims history, security and where machines are stored
- Breakdown and downtime cover and the limits you need
Related Cover
Most operators need more than one policy. Here are the covers they usually add.
Get Your Plant & Equipment Insurance Sorted
Whether you run one machine or a yard full of them, you need a broker who knows what your plant is worth. We arrange your plant and equipment insurance and deal with the insurer for you when you claim.
Send us a list of your machines and attachments, the sites they work on and what you hire in or out, and we will come back to you with a quote.
Plant & Equipment Insurance FAQs
It can cover accidental damage, fire and theft to your machines, mechanical and electronic breakdown, hired-in and hired-out plant, plant in transit, public liability while operating, attachments and accessories, and continuing hire or downtime. The right mix depends on the machines you run and how you work them.
They overlap. Mobile plant is machinery that moves around a site or gets floated or towed between jobs, like excavators, dozers and loaders, plus their attachments. Plant and equipment is the wider group that also takes in fixed plant, such as crushers and screens, and workshop gear. We can arrange cover for both together.
Yes. Hiring a machine in usually makes you liable for damage to it under the hire agreement. A damage waiver only caps what you pay the hire company, so it is not insurance. Hired-in plant cover protects you for that liability and for continuing hire charges if the machine is damaged.
Yes. When you hire your plant out it leaves your control, but damage to it can still come back to you. Plant on hire to others covers damage to your machine while it is working under someone else's control. It is matched to whether you hire it out wet (with your operator) or dry (without).
It depends on the cover. Many plant losses are mechanical or electronic breakdowns rather than collisions, so we make sure breakdown cover is included where you need it, not just accidental damage.
They should be, but only if they are declared. Buckets, hammers, augers and GPS guidance add a lot of value to a machine and are easy to leave off. We make sure they are on the schedule, so the insurer knows they are there if you need to claim.
Only if your policy includes it. Plant in transit cover pays for damage while machines are floated, towed or carted between sites. Standard cover can leave transit out, so we build it in where you need it.
There is no flat rate. Premiums depend on the machines and their values, attachments, whether you own or hire plant, the sites you work, transit, claims history and security. We take your details to the insurers and go through the quotes with you rather than quoting a number off a website.
Yes. We arrange cover for excavators, dozers, loaders, graders, rollers, cranes, forklifts, telehandlers, generators and site equipment across civil, earthmoving, construction and mining operations.
We arrange plant cover with Australian insurers that write heavy machinery and transport, including NTI, Global Transport (Allianz), HMIA, Zurich, QBE and UAA, under a brokerage licence backed by Steadfast.
Compliance Disclaimer: This information is general in nature and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Please consider the relevant Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) before making any decision.