Your business property does not always stay inside your building.
Contractors transport tools between jobsites. Service companies carry specialized equipment in their vehicles. Landscape companies move mowers and equipment from property to property. Restoration contractors deploy expensive drying and extraction equipment at customer locations.
Inland Marine Insurance helps protect certain business property, tools, equipment, and materials while they are being transported or used away from your primary business location.
At Eastman Insurance Solutions, we look at where your property actually goes, how it is used, and what a loss would mean to your operation. The goal is to identify the gap between property protected at your premises and the equipment your employees depend on every day in the field.
What Is Inland Marine Insurance?
Despite the name, Inland Marine Insurance generally has nothing to do with boats or marine operations.
Commercial Inland Marine is a category of property insurance designed to cover certain movable property and property that regularly travels between locations.
Depending on the policy and business, this may include:
- Contractor tools
- Mobile equipment
- Specialized machinery
- Diagnostic equipment
- Equipment transported in service vehicles
- Property temporarily located at jobsites
- Certain materials awaiting installation
- Property belonging to others in your care
- Other scheduled or covered mobile property
The exact property covered depends on the policy form, classifications, limits, deductibles, valuation provisions, exclusions, and endorsements.
Why Isn't Commercial Property Insurance Enough?
Commercial Property Insurance is designed primarily to protect covered property associated with scheduled business locations.
The problem for many contractors and field-service businesses is simple:
A significant portion of their property doesn't stay there.
Tools may spend most of the week inside service trucks. Equipment may move between jobsites. Restoration equipment may remain inside a customer's building for several days. Landscaping equipment may travel hundreds of miles during a normal workweek.
That mobility can create coverage considerations that a traditional property policy alone may not adequately address.
Inland Marine helps extend property protection to certain equipment and property while it is in transit, temporarily stored, or being used away from the primary business premises, subject to the terms of the policy.
Which Texas Businesses Should Consider Inland Marine Insurance?
Inland Marine is particularly relevant for businesses that depend on tools and equipment that move with their employees.
HVAC & Mechanical Contractors(opens in new tab)
HVAC and mechanical contractors can have significant investments in hand tools, power tools, diagnostic equipment, recovery machines, vacuum pumps, specialty equipment, and other property carried between jobsites.
Plumbing Contractors(opens in new tab)
Plumbing companies commonly transport tools, drain-cleaning equipment, inspection cameras, locating equipment, pumps, and other specialized property between service calls and construction projects.
Electrical Contractors(opens in new tab)
Electrical contractors rely on hand and power tools, testing equipment, meters, cable equipment, lifts, and other mobile property that may spend much of its useful life away from the contractor's shop.
General Contractors(opens in new tab)
General contractors may have tools, equipment, temporary property, and materials distributed across multiple active projects. The larger the operation becomes, the more important it is to understand where that property is located and how it is insured.
Asphalt & Paving Contractors(opens in new tab)
Asphalt and paving companies can have substantial investments in mobile equipment, tools, and specialized machinery that move from project to project.
Landscape & Lawn Care Companies(opens in new tab)
Mowers, blowers, trimmers, power equipment, trailers, and specialized landscaping equipment are fundamental to daily operations and routinely move between customer locations.
Property Restoration Contractors(opens in new tab)
Restoration companies frequently deploy air movers, dehumidifiers, extraction equipment, moisture-detection equipment, generators, and other specialized property at customer locations for extended periods.
Garage Door Service & Installation Companies(opens in new tab)
Garage door contractors transport installation and repair tools, ladders, diagnostic equipment, specialty tools, and other property between residential and commercial jobsites.
Appliance Repair & Installation Companies(opens in new tab)
Appliance repair technicians may carry diagnostic equipment, specialty tools, replacement components, and other business property in service vehicles throughout the day.
The common denominator is not the industry.
It is mobile property.
If your company regularly takes valuable tools or equipment away from its primary location, Inland Marine deserves consideration.
What Can an Inland Marine Claim Look Like?
For contractors and field-service companies, Inland Marine losses often involve everyday operational situations.
Tools Stolen From a Service Vehicle
A contractor parks a service vehicle overnight. The vehicle is broken into and thousands of dollars of tools are stolen.
Equipment Stolen From a Jobsite
Tools or equipment are left at an active project and disappear before the crew returns the following morning.
Restoration Equipment Damaged at a Customer Location
A restoration company has drying equipment deployed at a customer's property when some of the equipment is damaged during the project.
Equipment Damaged in Transit
Covered equipment is damaged while being transported between the company's shop and a jobsite.
Landscape Equipment Theft
A landscaping crew stops between jobs and discovers that equipment has been stolen from its truck or trailer.
These are examples of potential exposures. Whether a specific loss is covered depends on the policy, covered property, cause of loss, limits, deductibles, exclusions, and circumstances.
What Does Inland Marine Insurance Typically Cover?
The answer depends heavily on the particular Inland Marine form.
For many contractors, the most relevant protection is commonly referred to as Contractors Equipment or Tools and Equipment coverage.
| Exposure | Potential Inland Marine Protection |
|---|---|
| Tools | Covered hand and power tools used in field operations |
| Mobile equipment | Certain covered equipment that moves between locations |
| Property in transit | Covered property while being transported |
| Jobsite property | Certain covered property temporarily located away from your premises |
| Specialized equipment | Diagnostic, testing, restoration, or trade-specific equipment |
| Employee tools | Certain employee-owned tools when specifically provided for by the policy |
Not every piece of property is automatically covered.
Businesses should understand whether equipment must be scheduled, what limits apply to unscheduled tools, where coverage applies, and how the policy values property following a loss.
Inland Marine vs. Commercial Auto
These policies protect different exposures.
Commercial Auto Insurance primarily protects covered vehicles and automobile-related liability and physical damage exposures.
Inland Marine Insurance can protect certain tools, equipment, and other covered property transported inside or on those vehicles.
Owning a commercial auto policy does not necessarily mean everything inside the vehicle is insured.
For a contractor with $20,000 or $30,000 worth of tools inside a service truck, that distinction matters.
Inland Marine vs. Commercial Property
Commercial Property and Inland Marine are both property coverages, but they generally address different aspects of the exposure.
Commercial Property Insurance focuses primarily on covered property associated with insured business premises.
Inland Marine Insurance can address certain movable property and equipment that travels away from those premises.
For many contractors and service companies, the two work together.
The building, office contents, inventory, and equipment at the shop may fall within the Commercial Property program, while tools and mobile equipment used throughout the field may require Inland Marine protection.
Inland Marine vs. Installation Floater
These coverages are closely related.
An Installation Floater is generally a form of Inland Marine coverage designed specifically to protect certain materials, supplies, fixtures, and equipment that are intended to become part of a completed installation.
For example, an HVAC contractor may need protection for expensive equipment after it is purchased but before the installation is completed.
The contractor's tools used to perform that installation represent one exposure.
The equipment being installed represents another.
This is why we evaluate Inland Marine based on the contractor's actual operations rather than treating it as a single generic coverage.
Equipment Theft Is an Operational Risk, Not Just an Insurance Problem
Insurance can help transfer part of the financial impact of a covered equipment loss.
It cannot eliminate the disruption.
When a contractor loses an entire set of tools, the business may also lose productivity while equipment is replaced. Crews may be unable to complete scheduled work. Projects can be delayed. Customers can be inconvenienced.
That makes equipment protection both an insurance issue and a risk management issue.
Businesses should consider controls such as:
- Tool and equipment inventories
- Serial-number documentation
- Secure vehicle storage
- Trailer locks and security
- GPS tracking for valuable equipment
- Jobsite storage procedures
- Employee accountability
- Equipment theft reporting procedures
The better approach is to reduce the likelihood of the loss while having appropriate insurance in place if prevention fails.
Your Equipment Exposure Changes as Your Business Grows
A small contractor may begin with a truck and several thousand dollars of tools.
As the company grows, that can become multiple service vehicles, trailers, specialized equipment, warehouses, project materials, and hundreds of individual tools distributed among multiple crews.
That creates a different risk.
Growing businesses should periodically evaluate:
- Total equipment values
- Equipment assigned to each vehicle
- Unscheduled tool limits
- Newly purchased equipment
- Employee-owned tools
- Property stored at jobsites
- Equipment rented or leased
- Property borrowed from others
- Geographic coverage limitations
- Valuation provisions
An Inland Marine policy that was adequate several years ago may no longer reflect the property your company has accumulated.
The EIS Approach to Inland Marine Insurance
At Eastman Insurance Solutions, we don't begin by asking how much Inland Marine coverage you want.
We first want to understand what you own and where it goes.
What equipment do your crews depend on?
What stays at the shop?
What travels in the trucks?
What gets left at jobsites?
What would be difficult or expensive to replace tomorrow?
Those questions help determine how Inland Marine fits into the company's broader property and risk management strategy.
It is part of our Beyond the Coverage™ approach to commercial insurance: understanding the operation first and structuring insurance around the risks that actually exist.
Frequently Asked Questions About Inland Marine Insurance
Protect the Property That Keeps Your Business Moving
For contractors and field-service businesses, tools and equipment are not simply assets on a balance sheet.
They are what allow your employees to perform the work.
If that property travels with your crews, sits at jobsites, or moves between customer locations, your insurance program should account for that reality.
Eastman Insurance Solutions helps Texas businesses evaluate their equipment exposures and build insurance programs around how their operations actually function.
Are you ready to experience the EIS Difference?
If you're unsure how your tools, mobile equipment, or property away from your premises are currently insured, we can help you review the exposure.