Inland Marine Insurance — Minnesota

Your property policy covers the building.
Your auto policy covers the truck.
Neither covers what is inside it.

Not the sixty thousand dollars of tools in the bed. Not the skid steer sitting on a jobsite overnight. Not the tooling you left at a customer’s plant, or the finished goods on a trailer somewhere outside St. Cloud. Inland marine is the coverage for property that moves.

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Tools and equipment away from your premises

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Property in transit, inbound and outbound

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Equipment you rent, lease, or borrow

Two policies, and the gap between them is where most of what you own actually sits.

Commercial property is written around a described premises. Coverage for property away from that address is limited, often to a sublimit measured in a few thousand dollars. Commercial auto covers the vehicle and the liability from operating it, not the cargo inside.

A $3,000 off-premises sublimit against $70,000 of tools
Equipment schedules that have not been updated in three years
Rented equipment the rental agreement makes you responsible for
Actual cash value settlements on ten-year-old machines

Despite the name, inland marine has nothing to do with water. It is the coverage class that developed for property in motion, and it is where most contractor and manufacturer exposure actually lives.

What it covers

✓ Scheduled equipment and blanket small tools
✓ Rented, leased, and borrowed equipment
✓ Materials in transit and at temporary storage
✓ Installation floaters for work in progress
✓ Customer property in your care

For Contractors

Contractors equipment coverage

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Scheduled Equipment

Larger items listed individually with stated values — skid steers, excavators, compressors, trailers, lifts. For anything meaningful these should be written on a replacement cost basis, not actual cash value.

A ten-year-old machine settled at actual cash value pays a fraction of what replacing it costs. On equipment you would have to replace to keep working, replacement cost valuation is worth the premium.

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Small Tools Blanket

Everything below the scheduling threshold, covered under a blanket limit with a per-item cap. Check that cap. A blanket limit that looks adequate overall can still fall short on a single expensive tool.

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Rented, Leased & Borrowed Equipment

Rental agreements almost always make you responsible for damage to the equipment and often for the rental company’s lost rental income while it is out of service. Both need to be covered, at a limit sized to peak season.

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Installation Floater

Materials and equipment purchased for a job, from the moment they are in your possession through transit, storage, and installation, until the work is accepted. Distinct from builders risk, which covers the structure itself.

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Employee Tools

Tools owned personally by your employees and used on your jobs. Usually excluded unless specifically addressed, and a reliable source of friction after a jobsite theft.

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Property in Transit

Materials and equipment moving between your yard, a supplier, and the jobsite. Covered while in motion, which neither your property nor your auto policy handles.

For Manufacturers & Distributors

Property in motion and property in someone else’s building

Motor Truck Cargo

Goods you are hauling on your own vehicles. Required if you haul for others, and worth carrying even when you only ever haul your own product.

Transit Coverage

Raw materials inbound and finished goods outbound, whether on your trucks or a common carrier. A carrier’s liability is limited by contract and is usually far below the value of the freight.

Tooling, Dies & Molds at Customer Locations

Property you own that lives permanently at a customer’s plant. It is off your premises, which means it is off your commercial property policy.

Property of Others in Your Care

Customer-owned material, parts sent to you for processing, or equipment you are servicing. Bailee coverage. Your general liability specifically excludes damage to property in your care, custody, or control.

Exhibition & Trade Show Property

Equipment, samples, and display property away from your premises for trade shows and customer demonstrations.

Temporary Storage & Staging

Product at a third-party warehouse, staging yard, or overflow location that is not a scheduled premises on your property policy.

Where Programs Fall Short

Four things to check on your current schedule

Actual cash value on equipment you could not work without

A ten-year-old skid steer settled at actual cash value pays a fraction of a replacement. Replacement cost valuation costs more in premium and is almost always worth it on anything that stops a crew when it is gone.

The schedule has not been updated

Equipment gets bought, sold, and traded. Schedules do not keep up. Most policies cover newly acquired equipment automatically, but only for a limited window and only if you report it. Miss the window and the new machine is uninsured.

Theft protective warranties nobody read

Some policies condition jobsite theft coverage on specific security measures — locked enclosures, fencing, alarms, or removal of equipment after hours. If those conditions are not met, the claim can be denied outright.

No rental reimbursement

If your equipment is damaged, is there coverage for renting a replacement while yours is repaired? For a contractor in the middle of a job with a deadline, that is frequently the more urgent number.

Minnesota’s construction season compresses everything into a few months. A piece of equipment out of service in July costs more than the same loss in January, which is why rental reimbursement and expedited replacement matter more here than the limits alone suggest.

Quick Limit Estimate

What inland marine limit does your operation need?

Four questions on what you own, what you rent, and where it goes.

Our Process

Three steps to an equipment schedule that holds

Build a Real Schedule

We inventory what you own, what it would cost to replace today, and which items belong scheduled versus blanketed. Most schedules we review are missing recent purchases.

Set Valuation and Conditions

Replacement cost where it matters, and a clear read on theft conditions, storage requirements, and reporting windows before they become a claim problem.

Cover What You Rent and Haul

Rental agreements, transit exposure, and property at customer locations, so the policy matches how the business actually operates rather than how it looks on an application.

Frequently Asked Questions

What contractors and manufacturers ask us about inland marine

Historical accident. Marine insurance originally covered cargo at sea, and as goods began moving overland the same underwriters extended the concept inland. The name stuck. It has nothing to do with boats or water, which is a separate coverage entirely.

Only at the described premises, and away from it usually only under a small sublimit measured in a few thousand dollars. For anyone whose tools live in a truck, that sublimit is rarely anywhere near adequate. A contractor with a $3,000 off-premises sublimit and $70,000 of tools across four trucks is a common finding.

No. Commercial auto covers the vehicle and the liability arising from its operation. The contents of the vehicle — tools, equipment, materials, finished goods — are a separate exposure and need inland marine coverage.

Almost certainly. Rental agreements typically hold you responsible for physical damage to the equipment and frequently for the rental company’s lost rental income while the unit is out of service. Confirm your policy covers both, at a limit that matches what you actually rent during a busy season.

Builders risk covers the structure under construction and is generally carried by the owner or general contractor. An installation floater covers the specific materials and equipment you are installing, from the moment they are in your possession through transit, storage, and installation, until the work is accepted. A subcontractor usually needs the floater even when a builders risk policy exists on the project.

Generally yes, but frequently subject to conditions. Some policies require secured storage, locked enclosures, fencing, or alarms as a condition of coverage. Those conditions are worth reading before the trailer disappears rather than after.

Usually both. Schedule the larger items individually with stated values, and blanket the small tools under a single limit with a per-item cap. The per-item cap is the part people forget to check — a blanket limit that is adequate overall can still fail on one expensive tool.

Most policies include automatic coverage for newly acquired equipment, but only for a limited period and only if you report it. Miss the reporting window and the new machine is not covered. This is the most common gap we find on contractor schedules, and it is entirely avoidable.

Related Coverage & Industries

Inland marine fills the gap between your property and auto coverage. These pages explain how it fits:

Commercial Property Commercial Auto Builders Risk Contractors & Trades Excavation Contractors Masonry & Concrete Landscaping Commercial Trucking All Business Coverage

Get Your Quote

Cover what leaves the building.

Send us your current equipment schedule and we will tell you what is missing, what is valued wrong, and what conditions are attached that you have not read.

Equipment schedule reviewed and valued current
Replacement cost where it actually matters
Rented and borrowed equipment addressed
Transit and bailee exposure covered
Theft conditions explained before you need them
50+ carriers compared

Start your free quote

Fill out the form and an agent will be in touch within one business day.

Most contractors know their liability limits. Very few know their equipment schedule.

Scheduled versus blanket, replacement cost versus actual cash value, per-item caps, theft conditions, and reporting windows on new purchases. None of it is complicated, and all of it is where inland marine claims go wrong.

Featured Agent

Dane Roti, CPIA

Commercial Lines Agent

Most contractors can tell me what their liability limits are without looking. Very few can tell me what their equipment schedule says, and that is usually where I find the biggest gap between what someone owns and what they have actually insured. It is a fifteen-minute conversation and a look at one page of your policy. If the schedule is in good shape I will tell you so and we can both get back to work.

(952) 960-8450 Email Dane

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Your property policy covers the building.Your auto policy covers the truck.Neither covers what is inside it.