Machinery Breakdown Insurance and Plant & Equipment Insurance can both insure machinery, but they are designed for different exposures.

What does Machinery Breakdown Insurance address? #

Machinery Breakdown generally focuses on certain sudden and unforeseen internal failures of machinery.

Examples can include:

• Mechanical failure.
• Electrical failure.
• Pressure-related breakdown.
• Internal equipment damage.

It is commonly associated with machinery installed at business premises.

What does Plant & Equipment Insurance address? #

Plant & Equipment Insurance is commonly used for items such as:

• Excavators.
• Loaders.
• Cranes.
• Earthmoving equipment.
• Mobile plant.
• Construction machinery.

Depending on the policy, it can cover exposures such as:

• Accidental damage.
• Theft.
• Fire.
• Collision.
• Other insured physical damage.

Can the policies overlap? #

Potentially.

Some Plant & Equipment policies can include machinery breakdown sections or extensions, while Business Insurance policies can contain separate Machinery Breakdown sections.

The actual wording needs to be checked.

Which policy does a business need? #

That depends on:

• Type of machinery.
• Whether it is fixed or mobile.
• How it is used.
• Main causes of potential loss.
• Contract requirements.
• Business Interruption exposure.

A construction contractor with mobile excavators can have very different insurance needs from a manufacturer with fixed production machinery.