Plant & Equipment Insurance
Cover for the mobile plant and equipment your business runs on, excavators, dozers, loaders, graders and everything that earns on a site.
Owned, hired-in or hired-out, against accidental damage, theft, breakdown and the liability that comes with operating it.
Arranged by brokers who have worked civil, mining and construction operations and know what plant is actually worth and how it gets damaged.
The Machines Are the Business, Insure Them Like It
When a machine is down, the job stops and the hire rate keeps running. Plant is too central to the work to leave on thin or generic cover.
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 place plant and equipment cover that follows the machines wherever they work, on site, in transit and on hire, and the liability that goes with operating them.
Paul Cohalan leads the firm, and that same standard runs through every specialist transport broker on the team.
Plant & Equipment We Insure
If it earns its money on a site or a road job, we place cover for it, yellow goods, attachments and the support gear around them.
Excavators
Dozers & Earthmovers
Loaders & Skid Steers
Graders & Rollers
Cranes & Lifting Plant
Forklifts & Telehandlers
Generators & Site Equipment
Tools & Attachments
What Plant & Equipment Insurance Can Include
Plant cover is built from the lines your operation actually needs. These are the covers we place most for plant and equipment owners.
Accidental Damage, Fire & Theft
Comprehensive cover for sudden and accidental damage, fire, vandalism and theft of your machines, wherever they are working or parked.
Mechanical & Electronic Breakdown
Cover for breakdown of the machine itself, the failures that stop a job that collision-only cover leaves out.
Hired-in Plant
Cover for machines you hire in, including your liability under the hire agreement and continuing hire charges if they are damaged.
Plant on Hire to Others
If you hire your plant out, cover for damage and your exposure while the machine is working under someone else's control.
Plant in Transit
Damage while machines are floated, towed or transported between sites, a common and expensive exposure.
Public Liability While Operating
Liability for injury or property damage caused while your plant is operating on site or on a road job.
Attachments & Accessories
Buckets, hammers, augers, GPS and the attachments that add real value and are easy to under-declare.
Continuing Hire & Downtime
When a machine is off the job, the hire charges and lost income do not stop. Cover that helps absorb the gap.
We also place road risk for registered plant, theft of fuel and ad-hoc cover for single high-value machines.
Hired-in Plant and Plant on Hire to Others
Most plant operators do not just run their own machines. The cover has to follow the way you actually use plant, and that is where the gaps appear.
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
- Cover that does not assume the hire company has it sorted
- Short-term and project-based hire built into your program
Plant on Hire to Others
Your machines, working for someone else
- Damage to your plant while it is in someone else's control
- Your exposure when a machine is hired or sub-let out
- Wet and dry hire arrangements aligned to the contract
- Knowing your machine is covered off your own site
Where Plant Owners Get Caught Out
These are the plant-specific assumptions we see turn a damaged machine into an uninsured loss and a stalled job.
Relying on the Hire Company's Cover
Hiring a machine in does not mean it is insured the way you think. The hire agreement usually puts the liability for damage on you, and a damage waiver is not the same as cover.
Confusing Breakdown With Accidental Damage
A lot of plant losses are mechanical or electronic breakdowns, not collisions. Cover that only responds to accidental damage leaves the failures that actually stop a job exposed.
Forgetting Plant in Transit
Machines are damaged being floated and towed between sites more often than operators expect. If transit is not covered, that movement is an uninsured gap.
Under-Declaring Attachments
Buckets, hammers, augers and GPS guidance add tens of thousands to a machine. If they are not on the schedule, they are not paid when they are damaged or stolen.
No Cover While on Hire to Others
When you hire your plant out, it leaves your control but not your balance sheet. Without hired-out cover, damage while it is working for someone else can land back on you.
Downtime Treated as a Repair Bill
A machine off the job is lost income and continuing hire charges, not just a fix. Without downtime or continuing hire cover, the loss compounds while the work waits.
Get Your Plant Cover Right With Paul
“Operators insure the machine and forget the attachments, the breakdown and the gear they hired in. The plant is the business, the cover has to be built around how it actually earns.”
Paul Cohalan
Founding Principal Broker
Call Paul on 1300 78 78 25Why Plant Operators Use a Specialist Broker
Plant cover lives in the detail, values, attachments, hire agreements and breakdown wording. A specialist broker makes sure the cover matches the machines and the way you work them.
We Fight Your Claims
When an insurer disputes a plant value or a breakdown, we push back with the detail and hold them to account, the same way we pulled a fleet total loss from a 48 per cent offer up to the full insured value.
We Get the Values Right
We work the machine values and the attachments with you, so the schedule reflects what is actually on site, not a figure set years ago.
We Read the Hire Agreements
Hired-in and hired-out plant is where operators get caught. We make sure the cover matches what the hire contracts actually put on you.
We Understand the Work
We have worked civil, mining and construction operations. That is why the specialist insurers know we understand plant risk.
Backed by Australia's Leading Plant & Equipment Insurers
We place plant and equipment business with the specialist underwriters that actually understand heavy machinery and civil risk, under a brokerage licence backed by Steadfast.
How We Arrange Your Plant Cover
A straightforward process built around the machines you run and how you work them before we talk price.
Understand Your Plant
The machines, the attachments, the values, what you own, what you hire in and what you hire out.
Map How You Work It
The sites, the transport between them, the hire agreements and where the machines are most at risk.
Arrange the Right Cover
We place plant, breakdown, hired-in, hired-out and liability cover with insurers who understand heavy machinery.
Renewals, Claims & Ongoing
We keep values current as you add and retire machines, fight the claims and adjust as the work changes.
What Shapes Your Plant Insurance Premium
There is no flat rate for plant and equipment cover. Your premium reflects the machines, the values and how you work them, and a broker who understands it can present your risk in the best light.
We do not quote a number off a website. We build your plant risk profile properly and put it to the market, request a custom quote and we will work it through 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
Transport operators rarely need just one policy. These are the covers most often arranged alongside it.
Talk Plant With a Specialist Broker
No call centre, no generic form. A broker who understands what your machines are worth and how they earn.
Get a Plant Insurance QuoteGet Your Plant Cover Sorted Properly
Whether you run one machine or a yard full of them, the right cover starts with a broker who understands what your plant is worth and how it earns.
Tell us about your machines, your sites and how you work them, and we will build cover that actually fits.
Plant & Equipment Insurance FAQs
Plant and equipment insurance 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 refers to self-propelled machines like excavators, dozers and loaders, while plant and equipment is the broader category that also includes attachments, generators, lifting gear and site equipment. We arrange cover across both under one program.
Yes. Hiring a machine in usually makes you liable for damage to it under the hire agreement, and a damage waiver is not the same as 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 not your exposure. Plant on hire to others covers damage to your machine while it is working under someone else's control, aligned to your wet or dry hire arrangements.
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 significant value to a machine and are easy to under-declare. We make sure they are on the schedule so they are paid at claim time.
Plant in transit cover responds to damage while machines are floated, towed or transported. It is a common exposure that standard cover can leave out, so we build it in where it is needed.
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 build the risk profile properly and put it to the market rather than quoting a number off a website.
Yes. We place cover for excavators, dozers, loaders, graders, rollers, cranes, forklifts, telehandlers, generators and site equipment across civil, earthmoving, construction and mining operations.
We place plant and equipment business with Australia's specialist heavy machinery and transport insurers, 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.