Skid steer loader insurance has to follow a machine that rarely stays in one place. It spends the night on a trailer, works in backyards and driveways, swaps attachments several times a day and is often hired out when it is not working for you. Each of those habits changes the cover you need. Skid steers and compact track loaders usually sit on a machinery and equipment insurance policy, and the detail of that policy decides how well a claim lands.
Theft Starts on the Trailer
Compact loaders are stolen because they are easy to move. A machine chained to a tandem trailer in a driveway or yard can be gone with a single hitch-up. Many compact machines also use common keys, so the key on your ring may start plenty of other people’s machines too.
Insurers look at what stands between a thief and the machine:
- A GPS tracker on the machine, and ideally a second one on the trailer.
- An immobiliser or keypad start in place of a common key.
- Wheel clamps or hitch locks on the trailer.
- Overnight storage in a locked shed or secure yard rather than on the street.
- Serial numbers photographed and stored away from the machine.
Some policies apply a higher theft excess, or specific security conditions, to machines left on trailers or on unsecured sites. Read the theft condition before you assume a claim will be straightforward. The trailer itself is a separate item: it needs its own cover or its own line on the schedule, with a value that reflects what it costs to replace. Our guide to custom trailers and attachments goes further on that.
Attachments Are Where the Value Hides
A skid steer earns its keep through what hangs off the front. Buckets, four-in-one buckets, augers and drive units, trenchers, pallet forks, sweepers, grapples, mulchers, profilers and post drivers can add up to a large share of the total value of the kit.
- List each attachment with a value, or confirm in writing how the policy treats unlisted attachments.
- Check whether attachments stay insured when they are detached and sitting in the shed, on the trailer or at a customer’s site.
- Hydraulic attachments such as trenchers, mulchers and profilers work hard and cost more to repair. Tell the underwriter they are part of the fleet.
Residential Sites Carry Their Own Liability
Skid steers do much of their work in places that were never designed for machinery: narrow side access, driveways, landscaped yards and footpaths. The liability exposures are specific.
- Damage to what surrounds the job. Fences, retaining walls, pavers, garage doors, pool surrounds and neighbouring property.
- Underground services. Irrigation, stormwater, gas, water and telecommunications lines sit shallow in residential ground.
- Driveways and kerbs. Tracks and tyres mark concrete and crack kerbs, and the owner expects it fixed.
- People nearby. Homeowners, children and pets are closer to the machine than on a commercial site.
Public liability can respond to injury to others or damage to other people’s property, subject to the wording. It generally will not pay to repair the work you were engaged to do. Some policies carry exclusions or sub-limits for damage to underground services, or for damage caused by vibration or removal of support, so check them if you dig near structures. If you run larger earthmoving gear alongside the loader, our earthmoving insurance page shows how the pieces fit together.
Rollovers, Ramps and Loading
A compact loader has a short wheelbase and a high centre of gravity once the bucket is raised. Tipping on slopes, sliding off soft batters and toppling from loading ramps are classic losses. Loading at the trailer is a particular risk: a wet ramp, a misaligned track or a trailer that is not level on its jockey wheel can turn a routine job into a claim. Ramp condition, tie-down points and a practised loading routine all matter, and they are worth documenting.
Who Operates the Machine
Underwriters want to know who is in the seat. An owner-operator with years on compact plant is a different risk from a rotating crew of labour hire workers or a family member who helps on weekends. Declare every category of operator you use, keep copies of tickets and site inductions, and record who was operating on each job. Licensing and competency requirements vary by state and by site, so check the current requirement for the work you do. If a claim arises, a clear record of who was operating, and their experience, is one of the first things an assessor asks for.
Hire-Out: Dry Hire and Wet Hire
Many owners hire the loader out between jobs. The insurance question depends on how.
- Wet hire, with your own operator, generally leaves the liability and the damage risk with you.
- Dry hire, machine only, shifts responsibility to the hirer under the hire agreement, but only to the extent the agreement says so and is signed.
Hire-out must be declared to your insurer. Theft by a hirer who simply never returns the machine, sometimes called conversion, is often excluded unless the policy specifically extends to it. Collect identification, keep signed agreements, and see our guide to dry hire insurance for how hirer damage and damage waivers work.
Transit Between Jobs
A compact loader can spend part of every working day on a trailer behind a ute or light truck. Check that the plant policy extends to the machine while it is in transit and while it is being loaded, and whether that extension still applies when someone else’s truck or float moves it. The towing vehicle’s motor policy is a separate policy again, and it may or may not respond to damage to the machine on the trailer behind it.
Setting the Sum Insured and Excess on Skid Steer Loader Insurance
The sum insured should reflect what it would cost to replace the machine and its attachments today, not the finance payout or a depreciated book figure. For newer machines, replacement or agreed value is worth discussing. For older machines, market value may be the practical basis, but understand what that means at claim time. Our explainer on market value versus agreed value sets out the difference.
On the excess, consider:
- A higher accidental damage excess if small claims are rare for you.
- The separate theft excess, and whether it reduces when GPS and immobilisers are fitted.
- Any higher excess that applies while the machine is on hire to others.
Mechanical and hydraulic failure is a different risk from accidental damage. A failed hydraulic pump or drive motor is generally a breakdown matter rather than an accidental damage claim, so ask whether machinery breakdown insurance makes sense for a machine the business depends on.
Common Questions
Does a compact track loader rate differently from a wheeled skid steer?
It can. Values, repair costs and track wear differ. Tell the underwriter exactly what you run, including make, model and serial number.
Is track damage claimable?
Wear to tracks is generally excluded as wear and tear. Sudden accidental damage, such as a track cut on exposed steel reinforcing, may respond depending on the wording.
What about a machine left at a customer’s site overnight?
Your policy should follow the machine, but check any conditions for unattended sites. Some policies require specific security measures when a machine is left out overnight.
Talk It Through
Request a quote or call 1300 983 940 and we will set up your machinery and equipment insurance around how your loaders actually work.
General advice only. This article does not take your objectives, financial situation or needs into account. Consider the relevant PDS and Target Market Determination before deciding on a policy.