Machine and attachments
Damage to the excavator plus buckets, hammers, augers and quick hitches, generally scheduled by value.
Excavator Insurance
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Excavator Insurance
Cover for excavators from mini diggers to large tracked machines.
Excavators are the most commonly insured machine on an Australian site and the most commonly damaged. They work near underground services, on unstable ground and alongside other trades, so damage to the machine is only part of the exposure.
What is it?
Excavators range from 1.7t mini diggers used in residential work to 30t-plus tracked machines on civil and mining projects, from makers including Caterpillar, Komatsu, Hitachi, Kobelco, Volvo, Kubota, JCB and Sany. Attachments such as buckets, hammers, augers and grabs are usually scheduled in their own right.
What does excavator insurance cover?
Hired-in plant
Machines you hire and are contractually responsible for, which needs its own wording.
Underground services
Striking power, water, gas or comms while digging, which is frequently excluded or separately worded.
What affects the cost?
- Machine value, age and hours
- Whether work is residential, civil or mining
- Transport between sites
- Operator ticketing and experience
- Overnight site security
Worth raising on the call
- Underground service strikes are the single most expensive excavator claim - confirm the wording.
- Attachments are often under-scheduled relative to their real value.
- Theft from unsecured sites overnight commonly carries conditions.
Claims we are commonly asked about
Fibre or water main cut in a trench
A machine digs to a plan that is out of date and takes out a fibre bundle or a water main. The repair itself may be modest, but the network operator's rectification costs and the disruption claim behind it are often far larger.
Machine rolls down a batter
Tracking across a slope or working too close to a trench edge, the ground gives way and the machine goes over into the excavation. Boom, cab and hydraulics are usually damaged and a crane is needed to recover it before repairs can even be quoted.
Mini excavator taken off a float
A machine left on a trailer outside a motel or on a fenced site overnight is gone by morning, often with the attachments still on the trailer. Recovery rates are low unless GPS tracking is fitted.
Worth confirming in the wording
- Worth confirming whether damage to underground services, and the loss the asset owner suffers as a result, sits inside the liability section or needs its own extension and sub-limit.
- Worth confirming whether cover expects Before You Dig searches, potholing or hand-exposing of services before mechanical excavation begins.
- Worth confirming how theft is treated when a machine is left on a site or trailer overnight, and whether locks, immobilisers or GPS tracking are conditions of that cover.
Common questions
Does excavator insurance cover hitting a gas or water main?
Underground services damage is commonly dealt with by a specific extension rather than by the general liability section, and it often carries its own sub-limit and conditions about locating services first. Whether it responds depends on the policy terms and on what you did before digging. It is one of the first things worth confirming for any wet civil work.
Are buckets, hammers and augers covered automatically?
Attachments are generally scheduled by value rather than covered as a blanket item, so anything not listed can be missed at claim time. A full attachment set can add up to a large share of the machine's value. It is worth listing them, including quick hitches and tilt buckets, and reviewing the values each renewal.
Do I need public liability as well as machinery cover?
They do different jobs. Machinery or mobile plant cover generally responds to damage to your own machine, while public liability responds to injury or damage you cause to others. Most principal contractors and councils require evidence of public liability at a limit they specify, commonly ten or twenty million dollars, before you go on site.
What does excavator insurance cost?
It depends on the machine value, age and hours, whether the work is residential, civil or mining, how often the machine is floated between sites, operator ticketing and experience, overnight site security, the excess and claims history. A 1.7 tonne mini on residential work and a 30 tonne machine on civil projects sit in very different places.
General information only. Cover, limits and exclusions depend on the PDS, TMD, eligibility, underwriting and the policy terms. See mobile plant machinery insurance for the wider picture.
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