Machine, blade and circle
Damage to the grader, mouldboard, circle, ripper and scarifier attachments.
Grader Insurance
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Grader Insurance
Cover for motor graders on council, civil and mine haul road work.
A grader spends its life on unsealed roads, haul roads and formation work, often shared with traffic. The machine itself is robust, but the blade, circle and mouldboard take impact damage from culverts, pit lids and buried rock, and the GPS machine control gear mounted on the blade is a standing theft target worth a great deal on its own.
What is it?
Motor graders are long, articulated wheeled machines with a mouldboard slung between the axles, used to cut and maintain road formation. Caterpillar, Komatsu, John Deere, Volvo and New Holland are the makes commonly used here by councils, civil contractors and mine sites. Most working machines now carry Trimble or Topcon machine control, along with rippers and scarifiers.
What does grader insurance cover?
Machine control equipment
GPS masts, receivers and control boxes, frequently stolen and often left off schedules.
Working under traffic
Third-party exposure while grading roads open to the public, subject to the policy terms.
What affects the cost?
- Machine value, age and hours
- Council, civil or mine site work
- Machine control equipment fitted
- Overnight parking on remote road sections
- Operator ticketing and experience
Worth raising on the call
- GPS machine control kit is worth listing separately, both for theft and for accidental damage.
- Graders left on remote road sections overnight attract different theft and vandalism terms.
- Blade and circle damage from buried obstructions is common, so check how wear is defined in the wording.
Claims we are commonly asked about
Blade catches a culvert headwall
A grader trimming an unsealed road catches a buried culvert headwall or a raised pit lid, damaging the mouldboard, circle and drawbar. Repairs to the circle assembly are significant, and insurers commonly question whether the damage is impact or accumulated wear.
GPS mast taken overnight
A Trimble or Topcon mast and receiver are removed from a grader parked on a rural road section overnight. Machine control components are portable, valuable and frequently absent from the plant schedule, which is where these claims come unstuck.
Motorist hits a windrow at dusk
A vehicle strikes a windrow or the machine itself on a road left open to traffic during grading. This is a liability matter, and the traffic management plan, signage and whether the windrow was left overnight all become central to the claim.
Worth confirming in the wording
- Worth confirming whether GPS machine control masts, receivers and cab hardware are separately scheduled and covered against theft while left fitted to a machine parked outside a locked yard.
- Worth confirming whether damage to the mouldboard, cutting edges, circle and scarifier from striking buried obstructions is covered as impact damage or limited as wear and tear.
- Worth confirming whether liability while grading a road open to traffic is conditional on an approved traffic management plan, signage or after hours windrow removal being in place.
Common questions
Does a motor grader need registration?
Graders that travel on public roads generally need a form of registration, and most states have a conditional or plant registration category with its own conditions and compulsory third party requirements. Machines that work only within a closed site are usually treated as plant. It is worth confirming the position with your state road authority and making sure the cover matches how the machine actually moves.
Is machine control equipment included in the machine's insured value?
Usually not automatically. Grade control masts, receivers and control boxes are commonly aftermarket and need to be listed separately on the schedule for both theft and accidental damage. The full set can represent a large share of an older grader's value. Reviewing the schedule after any machine control installation is the practical fix.
What does grader insurance cost?
It depends on the machine and where it works, and quoting a figure before underwriting would be misleading. Machine value, age and hours, whether the work is council, civil or mine site, machine control equipment fitted, overnight parking on remote road sections, operator ticketing and experience, and claims history are the main drivers. Theft exposure on machine control kit is a real part of it.
Am I liable if someone hits a windrow I left overnight?
Liability generally turns on negligence, so signage, delineation, lighting and whether leaving the windrow overnight was reasonable in the circumstances all matter. Where you are working under a road authority contract, that contract usually sets the required traffic management standard too. Whether the liability section responds depends on its wording and any road works conditions attached to it.
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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