Liability

[Storm56]

Storm I am interested in your reply applying to homeowners insurance and my 'not for hire' tractor on the road. My homeowners insurance told me that I am only covered on my property. As was mentioned by others, I am not covered trailering equipment from one property I own to the other by homeowners. That was up to my auto insurance, same agent. Best I could tell if driving the tractor on the road no one covered me. I was fine once I was on my other property. It got really in a "grey area" when we started discussing family land that we have part interest in.

So, is it a company vs. company thing or a state by state thing when you are covered? Just wondering your take on homeowners insurance vs. tractor.

Thanks,
MarkV

Mark - I see you are from GA, insurance varies from state to state, so as I stated previous, these comments are reflective of PA. These comments are all geared towards LIABILITY, ie, you being responsible for damages to someone else.

As a rule the liability from your homeowner policy "follows" you. For example you are visiting your buddy in CA and during a friendly baseball game you throw the ball through his picture window smashing his good china. Your homeowner liability will step up to the plate and pay the claim. The same would apply to your diving your tractor on the road to maintain another property you own or to help your buddy. The key here is it cannot be for hire as pretty much all homeowner policies exclude any business activity.

Trailering is a whole different issue. If you cause damage to someone while trailering your tractor, then LIABILTY will come from the vehicle pulling the trailer. Physical damage to YOUR tractor is a whole different issue as I am discussing liability that you would be the cause of.

Insurance works differently on individual and commercial policies. But as a guideline your personal auto policy will pick up the tab. On a commercial auto policy, if the GVW of the trailer is over 3000, the trailer needs to be added to the policy for liability. Under 3000 GVW trailers are covered automaticly. Again we are speaking of liability, damage that you cause to someone else.

 

[Soundguy]

that's pretty much how my agent described it to me. liability my trailer causes is car insurance. damage to my tractor onmy trailer would need to be a rider or seperate policy.

soundguy

 

[bc realtor]

Here in British Columbia I have insurance through the province for liability. They charge me the same as a golf cart $17 because of the weight of the machine is only 2600lbs. Coverage for loss of the tractor or liability when working with the tractor comes from my commerial policy @ 1200/ year. Worker Compensation costs me 3.7% of the monnies the tractor earns to cover myself and employees. I also carry liability insurance for my trailer , wagon and atv. last time I was pulled over I pulled out five policies that I carry and asked the officer to pick one.:laughing: