Public liability
Third-party injury and property damage caused by your operator on the client's site, subject to the policy terms.
Wet Hire Insurance
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Wet Hire Insurance
Cover for plant supplied with your own operator on someone else's site.
Wet hire means your machine and your operator, and that keeps the risk with you. Unlike dry hire, where the hirer usually carries responsibility for the machine, you remain the operator, the employer and the party whose actions caused the damage. That puts public liability, care custody and control, and workers compensation at the centre of the arrangement.
What is it?
Wet hire is supplying plant with a qualified operator to a client, usually charged at an hourly rate with minimum hours. It is standard practice for excavators, dozers, cranes, floats, tippers and compaction plant across civil, mining and demolition work. The alternative is dry hire, where the machine goes out alone and the hirer's own policy and the hire agreement carry more of the exposure.
What does wet hire insurance cover?
Care, custody and control
Damage to the client's property that you are working on or around, which standard liability commonly excludes.
Your own plant
Damage to your machine while it is working under someone else's direction on an unfamiliar site.
What affects the cost?
- Machine types supplied
- Client contract terms and indemnities
- Operator tickets and experience
- Sites worked, including mine and rail access
- Annual wet hire turnover
Worth raising on the call
- Check whether the hire contract asks you to indemnify the principal for matters outside your control.
- Care, custody and control is the extension most wet hire operators assume they have and often do not.
- Workers compensation for the operator sits with you, not the client, under a wet hire arrangement.
Claims we are commonly asked about
Operator damages a green slab
Your excavator tracks across a slab poured two days earlier at the client's direction and cracks it. Damage to the very property you are working on is commonly excluded from standard public liability, which is why care, custody and control comes up so often in wet hire.
Your machine hit by another contractor
Your dozer parked on the client's site overnight is struck by another contractor's truck and nobody owns up to it. Recovering from the other party often takes far longer than claiming on your own policy, so knowing whether your plant cover responds first matters.
Operator injured on the client's site
Your operator is injured while working under the client's supervision on an unfamiliar site. Workers compensation for that person remains yours as the employer, and the client may separately seek indemnity from you under the hire contract, so two obligations run at once.
Worth confirming in the wording
- Worth confirming whether the liability section covers damage to the specific property you are working on, not only to surrounding property.
- Worth confirming whether an indemnity you give the principal in a hire contract falls within what the liability policy will accept, since contractual liability is commonly limited.
- Worth confirming whether cover responds when the client directs your operator to work outside the agreed scope, without a spotter or outside the agreed hours.
Common questions
What insurance do I need to wet hire plant?
The usual stack is public and products liability, plant and equipment cover for your own machines, workers compensation for your operators, and motor cover for anything registered. Many client contracts specify minimum limits and require indemnity to principals wording. Reading the contract before you quote the job is generally the only way to know what you are being asked to carry.
Who is responsible if my machine is damaged while on wet hire?
Because your operator is running the machine, responsibility generally stays with you rather than shifting to the hirer as it commonly does under dry hire. The hire contract can change that in either direction, so the terms matter. It is worth checking what your agreement says before assuming the client's policy will pick it up.
Is wet hire insured differently to dry hire?
Yes, and the difference matters. Dry hire puts the machine in someone else's hands and usually shifts more of the exposure to the hirer and the hire agreement, while wet hire keeps you as operator, employer and the party whose actions caused the damage. Insurers rate the two differently, so it is worth being clear about which you actually do.
What does wet hire insurance cost?
It depends on the work rather than a fixed rate. The main drivers are the types and values of machines supplied, the contract terms and indemnities you agree to, operator tickets and experience, the sites you work including mine and rail access, annual wet hire turnover, and claims history.
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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