Inland Marine Insurance
Inland Marine Insurance in Memphis, TN
Despite the name, inland marine insurance has nothing to do with boats on the Mississippi. It covers business property that travels: the tools in your truck, the equipment on a job site, and the goods headed to a customer. For contractors and shippers, inland marine insurance in Memphis fills a gap that a standard property policy leaves wide open. Jones Enterprises Insurance Brokers helps you match this coverage to the gear and goods your business moves every day.
What Does Inland Marine Insurance Cover?
Inland marine insurance covers business property that moves or sits away from your main location, such as tools on a job site, equipment in a truck, or products on the way to a buyer. A standard commercial property policy mostly protects what's at your building. It typically reaches only 100 feet past the described premises, and its off-premises extension often stops at $10,000. Inland marine picks up where that limit runs out. It can also cover customers' property while it's in your care.
Common Inland Marine Policies
Inland marine is a family of policies, each written for a different kind of moving property. Most businesses need only one or two of them.
Contractor's Equipment
This is the most common form for trades. It covers tools, generators, compressors, and heavy equipment on the job, in storage, and on the road between sites. You can list each piece or carry one blanket limit for everything.
Installation Floaters
Materials you're installing for a client, like HVAC units, cabinets, or electrical panels, belong to you until the job is accepted. An installation floater covers them in transit and on site until the client takes ownership.
Goods in Transit and Motor Truck Cargo
Products you ship or haul are covered against loss, theft, and damage while they're on the move. Motor truck cargo is the version for businesses that carry freight in their own trucks or for other people.
Bailee Coverage
Repair shops, cleaners, and storage businesses hold property that belongs to someone else. Bailee coverage pays when a customer's item is damaged or stolen while you have it, whether or not you were at fault.
Trade Show and Exhibition Coverage
Display booths, samples, and demo equipment travel to shows and sit in a hall for days. An exhibition floater covers them on the road and at the event.
Fitting the Coverage to What You Own
The right setup depends on what you carry and what it's worth. Expensive single items, like a skid steer or a laser level, are usually listed by serial number. Smaller hand tools are often grouped under a blanket limit per item or per loss. Our agents go through your equipment list, compare inland marine forms from different insurers, and explain how each one values a loss.
Contractors often carry this policy with builder's risk insurance, which covers the building materials going into a project. Businesses that haul goods usually pair it with commercial fleet insurance for the trucks themselves. The Jones Enterprises Insurance Brokers home page lists our other personal and business policies.
Inland Marine Insurance for Memphis Contractors and Shippers
Memphis moves a lot of freight, and plenty of local trades work across three states in a single week. We help contractors, repair shops, and shippers in Memphis, Germantown, Horn Lake, and West Memphis protect property that rarely stays in one place. The agency also serves Nashville and Dallas, and offers business coverage nationwide.
Answers on Inland Marine Coverage
Why is it called inland marine?
The coverage grew out of ocean marine insurance in the early 1900s. Shippers wanted the same protection for goods moving by rail and truck that they had for cargo at sea. The name stuck even though the coverage now rarely involves water.
Does it cover rented or leased equipment?
Yes, if you add leased or rented equipment coverage. Rental contracts usually make you responsible for damage, and this coverage costs less over a season than paying the rental company's daily damage waiver.
Is theft from my truck covered?
Usually, with conditions. Many policies cover theft from an unattended vehicle only if it was locked and shows signs of forced entry. Read that clause before you leave tools in the truck bed overnight.
Is equipment in storage covered?
Yes. Contractor's equipment coverage applies at your yard or a storage unit, as well as on job sites and in transit. Property at your main building may also fall under your commercial property policy, so the two should be reviewed together.
What deductible should I expect?
Deductibles of $500 or $1,000 per loss are common on contractor's equipment policies. A higher deductible lowers the premium, which makes sense if you can absorb a small loss like one stolen drill.
Coverage That Travels With Your Work
Make a quick list of your tools, equipment, and what you typically haul, along with rough values. One of our friendly agents will turn it into an inland marine quote that follows your property wherever the work goes.