Here's something most moving company owners learn the hard way: your commercial property insurance probably doesn't cover the hand trucks, furniture pads, straps, and dollies you haul to job sites every single day. That $15,000 worth of equipment sitting in your truck right now? If it gets stolen from a client's driveway or damaged in an accident, you're replacing it out of pocket unless you have the right coverage.
That's where equipment and tools insurance comes in—and despite what the name suggests, it has nothing to do with boats or water. It's called inland marine insurance, a holdover from the 1800s when insurers first started covering goods moving by train and truck instead of ship. Today, it's the coverage that protects your moving equipment wherever it goes: loading docks, storage facilities, highways, or parked outside your house overnight.
What Equipment Insurance Actually Covers
Think of equipment insurance as protection for anything you use to run your moving business that isn't permanently bolted down at your main location. This includes hand trucks, furniture dollies, moving blankets and pads, tie-down straps and bungee cords, appliance carts, tool sets, ladders, GPS devices, and even the shelving and ramps in your trucks.
The coverage kicks in for several scenarios. If someone breaks into your truck at a motel during a long-distance move and steals your equipment, you're covered. If your dolly gets crushed when another vehicle rear-ends your truck, you're covered. If a fire breaks out at the storage facility where you keep extra pads and straps, you're covered. Even vandalism—like someone slashing your moving blankets or spray-painting your hand trucks—typically falls under this protection.
The critical difference between this and your standard commercial property policy is the mobility factor. Commercial property insurance covers what's at your business address—your office furniture, your computers, your stuff inside the building. Inland marine insurance follows your equipment wherever it goes. For moving companies that operate entirely in the field, that's the difference between having coverage and having none at all.
Scheduled vs. Blanket Coverage: Choosing Your Approach
When you set up equipment insurance, you'll need to decide how to list your stuff. You have two main options, and most moving companies end up using both.
Scheduled coverage means you list each expensive item individually on your policy with specific details: make, model, serial number, and value. This works great for high-ticket equipment like power liftgates, electric pallet jacks, or specialty moving equipment that costs thousands of dollars each. The advantage is that if something happens, there's no question about whether that specific $8,000 liftgate was covered—it's right there on the schedule. The downside is the paperwork. Every time you buy new equipment, you need to update your policy.
Blanket coverage sets one total limit for a category of equipment. You might have a $50,000 blanket limit that covers all your hand trucks, dollies, straps, and pads collectively. This is way easier to manage for the dozens of smaller items you accumulate. Buy five new furniture dollies? They're automatically covered under your existing blanket limit. The catch is you need to make sure your total blanket limit is high enough to replace everything if disaster strikes.
Most moving companies use a hybrid approach: schedule the expensive stuff individually and use blanket coverage for everything else. That way you get specific protection for your biggest investments while keeping the administrative burden manageable. Just make sure your insurance agent actually writes the blanket coverage into your policy language—having a casual conversation about it isn't enough.
Why Theft Protection Matters More Than You Think
Theft isn't some rare occurrence you can ignore. Work trucks and trailers are incredibly common targets because thieves know they're full of equipment worth thousands. Someone can spot your branded moving truck in a parking lot and know exactly what's inside: tools, dollies, straps, maybe some electronics. Construction companies alone lose between $300 million and $1 billion per year to equipment theft—and moving companies face similar risks.
The good news is that equipment insurance typically covers theft anywhere it happens. Your truck gets broken into at a job site? Covered. Equipment stolen from a storage unit? Covered. Someone swipes your dolly from an unsecured loading dock? Covered. Even if your equipment gets stolen from your vehicle parked at home overnight, you're typically protected.
That said, prevention still matters. Insurers look more favorably on businesses that take basic security measures: locking trucks, parking in well-lit areas when possible, removing high-value items overnight, using GPS tracking on expensive equipment. These habits can help keep your premiums lower and reduce the hassle of filing claims.
What This Coverage Actually Costs
The average equipment insurance policy costs around $800 per year to cover $100,000 worth of property, typically with a $1,000 deductible. That breaks down to about $0.80 per $100 of coverage, or roughly $67 per month. Most small to mid-size moving companies pay less than $40 per month for adequate coverage.
Your actual premium depends on several factors. How much equipment do you own? What's it worth? Where do you operate—urban areas with higher theft rates typically cost more. What's your claims history? Do you have security measures in place? These all factor into your quote.
Here's the math that matters: losing $15,000 worth of equipment to theft or damage would take years of premiums to equal. One claim basically justifies the coverage for the next decade. And that's assuming you only have one incident—which isn't a safe bet when your equipment is constantly on the move.
Equipment Insurance vs. Other Moving Company Coverage
Don't confuse equipment insurance with cargo insurance—they protect completely different things. Equipment insurance covers your stuff: the tools and equipment you use to do moves. Cargo insurance covers your customers' stuff: the furniture and belongings you're transporting. You need both, but they serve different purposes.
Similarly, commercial property insurance protects what's at your physical business location—your office, your warehouse, your fixed assets. It doesn't follow your equipment to job sites. And commercial auto insurance covers your vehicles themselves, not the equipment you carry inside them. For comprehensive protection, moving companies typically need all of these coverages working together.
One important note: if you do long-distance moves across state lines, you may need federal DOT-compliant cargo coverage on top of your equipment insurance. Requirements vary by state and cargo type, so check with your insurance agent to make sure you're meeting all legal requirements for your specific operation.
Getting Started with Equipment Coverage
Before you call an insurance agent, do some homework. Create an inventory of all your equipment with estimated replacement values. For expensive items, gather serial numbers, purchase receipts, and photos. This makes the quoting process faster and helps ensure you get adequate coverage.
When you talk to agents, be clear about how you operate. Do you work locally or across state lines? Where do you store equipment overnight? Do you lease any equipment or own it all? These details affect what coverage you need and how much it costs.
Ask about deductibles—higher deductibles lower your premium but increase your out-of-pocket cost if you file a claim. For most moving companies, a $1,000 to $2,500 deductible strikes a good balance. And make sure you understand the claims process before you need it. Some policies require police reports for theft claims or proof of forced entry. Knowing the requirements in advance prevents headaches later.
Equipment insurance isn't the most exciting part of running a moving company, but it's one of the most practical. It's the safety net that keeps one bad day—a theft, an accident, a fire—from putting you out of business or forcing you to operate with inadequate equipment. For less than you probably spend on truck maintenance each month, you can protect the tools that make your entire operation possible.
